The Alliance for Justice, a Washington D.C.-based activist group, and the Physicians for Social Responsibility will help celebrate “First Monday 2000: Unite to End Gun Violence” on Monday.
And two campus organizations will host events to commemorate the day. The First Monday program, which promotes social justice and speaks out against gun violence, is in its sixth year.
“We have to get involved in this issue,” said Scott Fairchild, a spokesman for the Alliance for Justice. “The overwhelming majority of Americans support common-sense gun laws.
“Right now Americans can’t pass these kinds of laws because the well-entrenched gun lobby in the capital is holding our legislation hostage.”
The MSU School of Social Work will host the premiere of the film “America Up in Arms,” featuring actor Martin Sheen. The movie, dealing with three families’ losses due to gun violence, is being shown at all First Monday events across the country.
The film will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Union’s Iowa Room. A panel discussion will follow with representatives from the Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, the Council Against Domestic Assault, Students Against Firearm Endangerment and the Eastern High School Peer Mediation program.
Erin Buchanan, a social work graduate student, worked on the committee that put together this First Monday event.
“I heard about the shootings in different schools and it made me think about the impact on the friends and families of both the victims and the shooters,” Buchanan said.
Also, on Oct. 10 and 11, the MSU-Detroit College of Law will host a two-night forum sponsored by the Public Interest Law Society and the MSU-DCL Alumni Association in the MSU-DCL Building board room.
The forum will include representatives of faculty and law officials, the Michigan Partnership for Prevention of Gun Violence and the Million Mom March.
Susan Matta, public interest law society president, said she feels it is important her group help bring gun violence awareness to the campus because it affects all individuals within the community.
“We’re not taking an anti-Second Amendment stance, it’s more of a chance to educate on it,” she said. “Gun violence doesn’t discriminate. It’s been such a major issue lately that I thought it was something we should be involved in.”
