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Faculty Advisor

Jessica Jerome

Abstract

This study examined a novel data source: the contents of letters that students wrote to local, state, or national politicians about gun control for a class assignment in order to collect evidence of the impact of direct and indirect gun violence on the lives of DePaul students. For the study, we coded and analyzed 83 de-identified student letters for themes pertaining to the experience of exposure to gun violence and mass shootings. Our findings include a high prevalence of student exposure to direct incidences of gun violence; strong negative emotions surrounding the fear of gun violence intruding into students’ daily lives; and an emergent theme of a ‘right to safety’ from gun violence expressed by some of the students in the study.

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