Felicia Pendleton is speaking out against gun violence in Philadelphia, PA after her son, 20-year-old Jayvon Mitchell-Pendleton, was shot and killed while walking on the sidewalk in North Philly’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood in March. Police charged a 15- and a 20-year old with Jayvon’s murder, but Pendleton says still she has no answers as to why her son was murdered.
“As far as I know, my son and his friend were just walking down the street. They were laughing and joking and they were actually ambushed. They never seen the shooters even coming,” she said.
While my heart goes out to Pendleton for her unimaginable loss, I vehemently disagree with her plan to end gun violence.
“Do away with the toy guns. Do away with the cap guns because it goes from cap guns, toy guns, to real guns,” she said. “It’s so easy to pull that toy gun trigger ― just as easy as it would be for a 15-year-old to pull the trigger [of a real one.]”
Eliminating children’s toy guns thinking that pulling a plastic trigger will somehow lead anyone to murder is ludicrous. The key to stomp out gun violence? Education.
“After you deal with a loss, you’re in a highly emotional state, so I understand her perspective and what she’s trying to get at but I’m not a fan of banning anything,” said Maj Toure, founder of the Black Guns Matter organization. “To say ‘let’s just ban everything because some people have been affected by other people’s irresponsibility’ is like putting a BandAid on a broken leg.”
“Just because you grew up with a Super Soaker water gun, that doesn’t mean you’re going to transition into shooting anyone.”
Maj’s plan to end gun violence? Education.
“How about we inform our children about what real firearms are, educate them properly, teach them about guns. The NRA has a great program, the Eddie Eagle program for kids,” Toure concluded. “Training and education programs for kids to teach gun safety is the answer, not ignoring reality and banning anything.”