50 signatures reached
To: All Black Mothers and Grandmothers
Black Moms and Grandmothers Against Toy Guns
To All Black Mothers & Grandmothers,
Gun violence has plagued our communities for far too long. Our children grow up playing with toy guns without fully understanding the deadly consequences of the real ones. Once they are adults they quickly resort to gun violence to settle their conflicts.
Now our children die at the hands of each other due to gun violence or they die at the hands of police as a result of them having toy guns that look real.
Let's all commit now to not buying our children toy guns and not letting them play with toy guns. Also, let's not buy video games that promote gun violence.
Gun violence has plagued our communities for far too long. Our children grow up playing with toy guns without fully understanding the deadly consequences of the real ones. Once they are adults they quickly resort to gun violence to settle their conflicts.
Now our children die at the hands of each other due to gun violence or they die at the hands of police as a result of them having toy guns that look real.
Let's all commit now to not buying our children toy guns and not letting them play with toy guns. Also, let's not buy video games that promote gun violence.
Why is this important?
It is up to us as Black mothers and grandmothers to protect our children from being killed by guns. Black youth carrying toy weapons are being shot by the police all too often.
According to the site Nationwide Children's, nearly 1,500 children younger than 18 years of age die from shootings every year.
Here are a few cases of police officers accidently shooting children who had toy guns:
-February 2015: A 15-year-old child, an innocent bystander, in Los Angeles, California accidentally shot by police officer after he saw someone else pointing a toy gun. The child who did have the gun could face charges for "brandishing a replica weapon in the presence of a police officer." (Source: Police Shoot Teenage Boy Because Someone Nearby Had A Toy Gun, The Free Thought Project February 12, 2015)
-November 2014: a 12-year-old Black boy Tamir Rice, was shot by a Cleveland, Ohio police officer after the boy pulled a BB gun from his waistband. (Source: Cleveland police offer shoots 12-year-old boy carrying BB gun, Northwest Ohio Media Group November 22, 2014)
- August 2014: A Black young man, John Crawford, was holding a BB gun when police shot and killed him in Beavercreek, Ohio. (Source: CBS News August 7, 2014)
According to the site Nationwide Children's, nearly 1,500 children younger than 18 years of age die from shootings every year.
Here are a few cases of police officers accidently shooting children who had toy guns:
-February 2015: A 15-year-old child, an innocent bystander, in Los Angeles, California accidentally shot by police officer after he saw someone else pointing a toy gun. The child who did have the gun could face charges for "brandishing a replica weapon in the presence of a police officer." (Source: Police Shoot Teenage Boy Because Someone Nearby Had A Toy Gun, The Free Thought Project February 12, 2015)
-November 2014: a 12-year-old Black boy Tamir Rice, was shot by a Cleveland, Ohio police officer after the boy pulled a BB gun from his waistband. (Source: Cleveland police offer shoots 12-year-old boy carrying BB gun, Northwest Ohio Media Group November 22, 2014)
- August 2014: A Black young man, John Crawford, was holding a BB gun when police shot and killed him in Beavercreek, Ohio. (Source: CBS News August 7, 2014)