SAN DIEGO — Local community organizations and elected officials came together to work on ways to reduce gun violence across San Diego neighborhoods.
“Every gun is meant for violence, it is the very nature of a gun, whether its self defense, or deliberate violence towards somebody else you can't help but have violence,” Councilmember District Seven Raul Campillo said.
Through a town hall meeting at the Linda Vista library, the community got the opportunity to discuss steps to curb violence due to gunfire. It’s an issue that remains at the forefront of local organizations pushing for safer communities.
“In San Diego and any other city it's a really, really big deal and things have to be done about it and so for my part I like education, opportunity and a renewed and changed mindset,” Shaphat Outreach Community Public Safety Professional Robert Wood
Shaphat Outreach provides support in the community in an effort to help steer people away from violence. Wood said some neighborhoods, specifically those in underserved areas have been heavily impacted by gun fire.
“The main area that really gets hit a lot I would say would be south east San Diego and then you never know where its going to go because people from areas travel to different areas and when they do is bring those violence tendencies with them sometimes,” Wood said.
Monday’s meeting opened a larger conversation on what elected officials can do to tackle this issue.
“One of the main things they can do in California is funding to make sure people are educated on ways to prevent violence in their own lives so a good example is safe firearm storage,” San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention President Therese Hymer said.
San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan shared that ghost guns are a major concern. The weapons have no serial numbers and are unregistered. Stephan said, there needs to be better regulations that control the production of these ghost guns.
“Unfortunately, one of the things that we are finding most responsible for violence are unregistered guns, so its not the guns that are lawfully owned.” Stephan said.
Stephan explained just how important it is to tackle gun violence and create a safer environment for the next generation, she said there needs to be more opportunities for children to grow up in safe neighborhoods.
WATCH RELATED: Town hall in Linda Vista aims to reduce gun violence across San Diego County