(Dest Senator David Perdue, Jason Riley 2 member of te Wal Steet oun adil board wrol: tat he poti s ot our gun inure. Narie tear erg awe, orncet cope prosecitrs and jadgae. The problem = Sick cemiraly ich i a functon af Back pathology, which utimatey stems rom the breaksown of te black fal." Smuring yeu te advocate gat his dee of lang black culture for he des of many young lowincome conmunits foe thatlead io areatrcrine and qun violence. While aurs ‘veryone, Hach and brown communis ae bing detoyed by the sus {un cuture and lax qunlavs. fh lnvincome communities, edscaton 's generally posrrle ‘monbers o these communis in yetcal poverty In the oorestneighborhcods in America. ther is a {rang corsation to gun vblece and turmol, Ratam ang syste nequty create poverty Sestoyng ‘conmuniiasofcolr Racism dacen' aura gun valence bus cosioesoramis cantons ean be deeply Conecid. Because communis of olor are often in those conditions, fey aa te binges osese fram gun vilonce ‘community, ane otters ike mine, that are often ignored in the debate abcut un coriliaws. I hink that ‘hare needs fo be star background checks, the age to buy 8 gun shoud bs rased, stand your ground laws stould be repeals, and daycare programs should be provided or amis in lw-hcoms In my community, and other black cormunites ke mine, young people have easy acess to guns. GGeurga, you only need tobe 1 to uy a handgun, yu have permlsion tram a paren, tin you can have a handgun as mina: Yeung people sometimes buy guns b pote themsaWves. Thishas lato ‘bomary guns n aur communes whch lead to greatrviolonce, Raising tha age a ba able te have 2 {gun would help lint aooss Io laens who can cutentygeta gun too easly. Aisa, creating sricter Pecpe with volt histories ormental nesses should net have access m guns anda sme background check could enforce is. Repeating “tard your ground” awe alo il fghtaganstmuderin my communty. hk Groria, noi have these aus which allow someone to murder someon alse thoy foal "teatonsd." Dus loracsm anddiszmnaton, many Black people have been murdered éue his law Anyone can argue and say thay tek treatenecand te aniyather wines was ie person they murdered, ty are protected 9y law shouldbe repealed. Prowtaig soca programs ike ree daycare fr fares niowincome areas cannelp gt agatrst gun Aandemational suse many young pecple face. Since so mary kids ar growing up without parents Bound, they are net being given the same stably as kids inhomes thathave parerts and adul figures around oho ase them Kids wimout Ins are more pone evidence stead et beng taught WAYS 1 Tank you or your caraful consideration ofthese plciasto beter protect communis across GeogiaDear Senater Isaakson, ‘There is an obvious gun issue in this country and in the state of Georaia. There is also a systemic racism issue. About a year ago, the Parkland shcoting occurred. Due te this incident, there have been policies put in place to bring more police into schools and give teachers guns. These types cf “solutions” might seam to help, but they actually bring more violence to students of color like myself. Gun violence is an issue for everybody, but young black males are being cisproportionately, affected by it, and something must be done to stop it. 1 call on you, Senator Is to help end the tremendous gun violence facing Atlanta. There must be policies that will decrease the deat caused by gun Violence in black communities. I also ask that you take your gun contral policies a step further by investing in low-income communities where gun violence Is considered tha norm. Creating equal laws to pratact all paople in Georgia is ood ‘and necessary, but it doesn't always mean that the laws are equitable if young, black maies are stil being adversely affected. ‘There needs to be greater investment in the sacial, emotional, and mental health of youth with programs for families and schoo's. There also needs to be gun Control palices that will create less guns and access to guns by mentally unstable or violent people, To invest in communities where gun violence is the norm, students should be recuired to take social, emotional learning courses ftom élementary school al the way through to high school. These courses can support youth In learning how to, deal with their emticns and learning posite conflict management skills. Also, courses and resources should be offerec to cuppert parents in teaching their children postive conflict management strategies. For many femilies, having free daycare that can teach these things would be tremendously helpful as well. I these investments in low-income communities became a reality, there would be a drastic change in the amount of violence sean, Gun polices that viould advocete for low-income communities would involve (greater background checks and raising the age to Duy 2 gun. I have seen too many young people with access to a gun of people who have criminal histories who have access to a gun. There needs to be less guns and they also should not bein the hands of the wrong people, 1 believe thet these solutions will greatly benefit communities of color facing horrific amounts of gun violence cally. thank you for your time reading ry letter. Sincerely,