How Can We Stop Gun Violence in Our Community?

Commentary by Khamari Reed. Photo Courtesy of Flickr.com

I feel like people should not have access to guns. I've lost friends to gun violence like, Niko Estep Jr., Davon McNeal, and more. It hurts to lose my close friends and family to gun violence. Guns should be hard to get because people lose loved ones and there's a lot of homicides happening in our city.

Graph Courtesy of NICJR.

A study by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform found that, "Homicides have risen gradually in the District of Columbia since 2017. This trend continued through 2022, as DC and other US cities experienced increased violence. The homicide rate in DC was about 180% higher in 2022 (30.2) than it was in 2017(16.7), and DC experienced an even higher rate of homicides in 2023.” 

Gun restrictions must be made for Maryland and Virginia as well, especially for young people who are causing most of the gun violence in our city. 

We need to put an end to gun violence in Washington DC because too many people have lost their lives, and people have lost loved ones. We will lose more people if guns aren't restricted in the DMV area. 

Khamari Reed is a freshman at Friendship Collegiate Academy.