A school yearbook is kept for memories of experiences and of people. It is to enjoy a round of listing of your school batchmates according to where they are now: the married lot, the divorcees, the pregnant club, the unreachable ones or the rich and famous. Now, imagine a yearbook that only contains portaits of dead people who were gone too soon to even start a future.
Members of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, mothers of victims of gun shooting are tough enough to use the death of their children as an awakening tool to end gun violence in the country. They released a yearbook with pictures of young victims of gun violence and printed it alongside each victim's respective stories.The aim, according to New York Times, is to bring awareness to the drastic effects of gun violence involving the youth.
"Every year, millions of students in the U.S. get their yearbook signed by their friends. But not all students get the chance to experience this tradition. In the last 15 years alone, over 30,000 young Americans have lost their lives to gun-violence before getting the chance to graduate high school," the unconventional yearbook description read.
Some of the stories of gun violence in the yearbook include that of the 10-year old Naiesha Person who was out on a family barbeque when a stray bullet fatally shot her. Another was 13-year-old Brooklynn Mohler who died when her friend accidentally shot her with her dad's loaded gun.
Some were victims of mass shooting like 6-year-old Dylan Hockley who died at Sandy Hook School when a gunman opened fire on December 14, 2012. 15-year-old Chanelle Star Rosebear was also killed in school with six other classmates on March 2005.
Other stories in the yearbook were those killed because of fights. Kedrick Ali Morrow Jr., 17, was shot during a brawl at his graduation party. Alphonza C. Bryant, 17, was killed during a gang fight that he wasn't part of to begin with.
According to New York Times, the yearbook features the lives of 11 young victims of gun violence out of 31,104 children who were killed before their 18th birthdays. 1,111 of them were from New York that in comparison, already has stringent gun contol laws in place.
Gun violence in the U.S. continues to persist. As per the digital yearbook's site, 38 states in the U.S. allow people to buy a gun without a criminal background check. It is easy to buy from a private gun seller. The New Yorkers Against Gun Violence believe that universal background checks save lives.
Recently, a bloodbath happened at Pulse night club in Orlando when Omar Mateen opened fire and killed 49 people. Following the Orlando mass shooting, the U.S. Senate had been pushing for a gun control bill but has since failed to pass four gun measures (via Reuters).
How many more victims of gun violence will the Senate allow to happen before it can pass a more effective gun control bill? What do you think can help the government to finally solve the growing problem of gun violence in the U.S.? Share your thoughts on the Comments section below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.
