SAN DIEGO — A community meeting was held Thursday to discuss the impact of ghost guns and gun violence across San Diego.
The event brought together a diverse group of people to highlight how these issues impact Black and Latino communities the most.
“We respond quickly when its police violence, rightfully so, but we should be just as concerned when it comes to community gun violence because this impacts us the most," said Bishop Cornelius Bowser with Shaphat Outreach.
The forum was held by Shaphat Outreach, a nonprofit organization dedicated to stopping gun violence by providing outreach services to youth and adults involved in gangs.
“There’s a lot of people hurting out there in society due to the violence, do to gangs..// 6:01:51 “By us doing what we’re doing we’re allowing ourselves to be of service to the community," said Alvin Hayes, a former gang member and now mentor with Shaphat Outreach.
The forum focused on the rise of ghost guns.
“Now we’re starting to see a considerable percentage of firearm-related deaths connected to ghost guns," said USD professor, Dr. Cis Martinez.
Ghost guns are untraceable firearms that can be bought online and built at home. The homemade guns are the fastest-growing gun safety problem across the country and it’s particularly impacting Latino and black communities.
“The bulk of gun violence or firearm-related deaths occur in black or Latino communities but sadly they don’t get enough attention, yet they constitute the majority of firearm-related deaths," said Martinez.
Martinez says the rise of ghost guns in states like California, is in large part due to tougher state regulations that create the need for a black market.
“There’s a new underground black market of these firearms," he said.
Among those present at tonight’s meeting were former gang members and families affected by gun violence.
“The guy that killed my son, he was selling guns, he had serial guns, he had ghost guns," said one father.
"No parent should have to bury their child," added one mother who lost her son.
The forum aims to continue conversations about the impacts of gun violence and come up with ways to address it.
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