SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) -- People are coming together to fight gun violence and remember those lost.
This weekend was the congressional national day of remembrance for homicide victims.
In San Francisco, a group held a vigil.
The organizer told me she lost her son to gun violence.
She says you're never supposed to burry your child and the pain is unimaginable.
"15 years old -- didn't get to experience life. Bullets have no names. They just fly and they hit you and they take your life."
Remembering the all those lost by gun violence.
Everett Butler says it's going to take all of us to turn things around -- and his jacket echoed that sentiment.
"It takes the hood to save the hood. It means it takes all of us to save us."
"It's going to take San Francisco to save San Francisco."
Organizer Mattie Scott's son, George C. Scott, was killed 25 years ago but she is still fighting for change.
She says gun violence is one of the leading causes of death for Black and Brown men ages 14-35.
"We're tired of going to funerals, we want to go to graduations."
Her son was actually at a graduation party in the western addition neighborhood of San Francisco.
A fight started -- he took the people involved outside.
It escalated and he was shot five times with a semi-automatic weapon.
His son turned six the day after his death, Scott had to tell him his father was gone.
"And that scream I heard on the phone from my grandson is a scream that wakes me up everyday to do this work."
Now she continues to fight for more gun control laws -- working to raise the age to purchase a gun, creating longer waiting periods and banning ghost guns.
"Ghost guns are the leading cause of death."
A ghost gun is a privately made firearm that does not have a serial number.
That was a topic of focus at the vigil.
Democratic leader Christine Pelosi, SF Police Chief William Scott and SF DA Chesa Boudin all attended.
Scott says it's still an uphill battle.
"A hundred mothers have to go to cemeteries in Oakland, how sad is that? that breaks my heart. It breaks my heart."
In addition to events like this, Scott works with the Brady united against gun violence campaign to try and bring about more change.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3ANFMjb
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