After Oxford: Reducing Gun Violence and Increasing Mental Health Support

By Judith Sheldon
Detroit Branch

March 2022

In immediate response to the Oxford High School shooting and the steadily increasing number of children impacted by domestic gun tragedies, the Detroit Branch hosted an online forum on reducing gun violence on January 27, 2022.  

The panelists included Jayanti Gupta from the youth advocacy group March for Your Lives Michigan and National; Leslie Adadow, an experienced school social worker; and Barbara L. Jones, Community Dispute Resolution Specialist with the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Wayne State University. Speakers were Michigan State Senator Rosemary Baylor and U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin.  

The discussion was moderated by Laura Dewey, Detroit Branch President, and focused on reducing gun violence, increasing the number of social workers in schools, and supporting legislation to create safe storage.

Both Senator Bayer and Representative Slotkin are sponsoring bills for the safe storage of all firearms, and they are supporters of “red flag” laws as well. They were clear that their efforts to support safe storage are not connected to Second Amendment issues.

One of the panelists, Jayanti, has friends who attend Oxford High School. She spoke passionately about the shooting that occurred on November 30, 2021, in which four students were shot dead by a 15-year-old sophomore. His parents had illegally purchased a gun for him a few days prior. “If there ever was clear evidence of a nation in crisis and an utter failure to contain gun violence, this is it,” she said. She went on to talk about the mental health support and gun control that’s urgently needed. By doing nothing, she said, “our politicians are signing our death warrants.” 

Leslie spoke about the dire lack of mental health supports in schools and outlined the policies needed to address mental health problems. Barbara emphasized the need for connecting with people and organizations and deep communication with those we may disagree with to change the human condition.

Each of the 124 attendees received a follow-up Resource Flyer with suggestions for further learning and drafts of letters to elected officials and school administrators calling for, respectively, safe gun storage laws and more mental health workers in schools.  

A video of the event can be viewed here.

The Detroit Branch and co-sponsors are following up this event with a two-part interactive workshop called “Beyond Oxford: Dialoguing Across Differences,” in which dialogue skills will be enhanced for more productive and civil public discourse. On March 24 and 31, each hour-long session will be facilitated by Barbara L. Jones, who served on the forum. It is not necessary to have attended the “After Oxford” forum to attend the cost-free “Dialoguing Across Differences” workshop. Register for parts 1 and 2 here.

Please share with your friends and be prepared to interact and learn from each other. We hope to see you there!

For more information or to get the Resource Flyer, contact wilpfdetroit@att.net.

Contact: Laura Dewey, deweylaura@att.net