My 25- year-old son felt so threatened by another person that he decided to get and carry a loaded firearm — illegally. He was removing it from his side when he accidentally fired it and killed his friend. She was only 22 years old.

I have always been anti-gun. It makes me sick to know that anyone can get a gun so easily – and, worst of all, illegally. The shock and grief that has gone through both of our families and our community cannot be measured. We all have to live with the fact that her life is over. And, the fact that my son took someone’s precious child away from them, I just don’t know how he or any of us are going to learn to live with that.

Two young lives are destroyed. She is dead and he’s going to prison. Their families and friends are inconsolable.

We will never be the same.

My daughter in law’s sister was one of the innocent people that was a victim of the Pittsburgh area gym gunman last year. In addition, two very close families lost young sons to suicide with handguns that were in their house.

There is no reason for the public to own handguns. Owners of rifles for hunting purposes should be required to secure them so that no one has easy access.

Gun violence has personally affected me in a very tragic way several times.

I am close to three families whose sons have all taken their own lives with guns found in their homes. It would have been so much better if their families did not have guns. Also, last year, a very, very sweet young lady almost lost her life because of a random shooting. This young lady is still suffering from emotional and physical devastation after having been shot by a madman who randomly decided to shoot as many people as he could before taking his own life.

How much violence do we have to see before there are better laws for gun control?

On August 4, 2009, my sister-in-law named Meena took a trip to her local fitness center to participate in a women’s dance class. During the class, a man entered the fitness center carrying several guns. The man, who we now know was clearly mentally disturbed, turned off the lights and began firing on the women in the class. The man killed several of the brave women and injured many others,
including Meena who was shot three times.

Meena has made a full physical recovery; however, she and our family will never forget the horrible violence that occurred on August 4, 2009.

Meena is a survivor and a hero. No one deserves to go through the trauma that she endured. No one else should suffer from the violence resulting from weak and ineffective gun laws.

My oldest son, Justin Antione Solomon, was only 19 years old when he was shot and killed.

Justin was due to enroll in Wayne Community College on August 3, but he never got the chance. He was killed on August 1, 2009, when he went to purchase a car but was instead shot by the “seller” who had really only intended to rob him. Justin was shot twice in the back and once in the leg. As he fell to the ground, his attackers ran off.

This tragedy happened just down the street from our home, and it has affected my family more ways than one. We had to move because my three children couldn’t bare to pass by the spot where it happened. Every time we would leave the house, we would go the other way so that we wouldn’t have to pass by the street.

Before this happened, my oldest daughter and I had the perfect relationship, but since my son’s death, we have lost our connection and drifted apart. My other son, who is 10, has been very angry and mad at the world. And I really hate seeing my children like this. My youngest child, 5, still talks about her brother in the present. She was mad when we moved into a place without a basement, as Justin’s bedroom had been in the basement. She’s always saying, ” When Justin comes back, I’m going to live with him.” My husband is angry and hurt because Justin died on his mother’s birthday and a couple months after her death. He was still healing from his mother’s death when this happened to our lovely son, and it simply tore him up.

Our family’s finincial situtation has changed, too, and I’m now the sole provider, and it’s very hard for me. I think about my son every day, and I cry every night. I miss him so much sometimes I feel like running away from everything and everybody. But we are all just keeping our faith in God and trying to stay strong.

I thank God that the two guys who killed my son were caught. The first guy is 19 years old and he will have to do 20 years, and the second person is 20 years old and he’s facing life in prison. It’s sad because it was a senseless crime that could have been prevented, and now three young lives are wasted and gone! Our young people need help, they need to know that it is a better way!

My name is Catherine A. Green and I am the executive director of ARTs East New York, a non-profit organization serving the artistic development and socio-economic issues in our community.

We just held our very first event on Saturday, Dec. 12 and it was a brilliant success, there were dancers, films and poets to enjoy for the local community for free. See the video here. Click here to read more.

By Grant Segall
December 09, 2009, 4:30PM
Ada Marie Hagan
1919-2009

MADISON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Ada Hagan’s daughter Susan told Bill Clinton in 2001 that her mother had raised 14 staunch Democrats.

“Mr. President, over your two terms, that translated into 28 votes that my mother was personally responsible for,” said Susan. “I believe she put you over the top in Ohio.” Click here to read more.

What is it that decides our fate? Is it the people we meet? The choices we make? Or is it the things that happen to us, things beyond our control?

For resident Suzanne Verge, a decade of passionate work can be traced back to one person and one defining moment that arrived when she was 15 years old.

That moment came on Dec. 10, 1978, when a typical Sunday morning was interrupted by a knock on the door. It was an officer from the Santa Monica Police Department, who had come to tell Verge’s family that her brother, Peter, had been murdered at the age of 18, fatally shot a mile away from his home.

Click here to read this inspiring story.

Five months after Columbine, Congress still failed to do the right thing by closing the gun show loophole.

It was a time when everyone thought no one was interested in gun violence prevention.   A group of women in Tulsa felt differently and began to organize the Million Mom March – Tulsa for Mother’s Day 2000.   Mary Leigh Blek of the Bell Campaign flew in to Tulsa to address the group.   She inspired them to march on with examples of how she and other activists worked to improve gun laws around the country. Click here to read more.