Has gun violence ever touched you or someone you knew?

[union_maid]

13. Yes

A young man, son of a friend of ours was killed in a robbery. We'd known him since he was a little kid. The extra awful thing was that he'd been hit by a car when riding a bike when he was a very young teenager. He was in a coma for a very long time and emerged from it with some brain damage. His mother traveled about 100 miles round trip a day - after work - to help him rehab, which he did, although things were still harder for him than they would have been otherwise, but he kept on keeping on and made progress. He was in his twenties when this happened. He had gotten his own place and was working in an electronics store in a perfectly OK suburban neighborhood. Two guys had just been released on parole, got hold of guns, went in to rob the store and for whatever reason, shot him dead. They killers were caught, but that was small consolation for his family and friends.