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A bullet to the heart turned this Hispanic mother into a fighter so that weapons do not fall into the wrong hands

2020-09-21T20:43:53.865Z


"He died 15 to 17 minutes after the bullet. There was no goodbye," he laments, "and sadly we see that the violence becomes normal." So she tries to avoid it.


WASHINGTON.— Lisa Espinosa remembers every detail of the day her youngest son was shot four years ago outside a nightclub in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while trying to stop an altercation.

That act of good Samaritan cost her instantly, and launched her mother into activism against gun violence.

In a telephone interview with Noticias Telemundo, Espinosa assured that the death of Raymond Pantoja, at age 26, plunged her into unimaginable pain - almost like the bullet that nested in her son's heart that April 10, 2016-, but now it is mobilized so that other families do not suffer a similar tragedy.

"He died from a single bullet to the heart, 15 to 17 minutes after impact. There was no goodbye, and sadly we see that violence becomes normal," he explains, "I felt that his death could not be in vain, because he died doing a good deed. "

"That bullet went through my heart and that of his daughter, that of all the people who loved him," said his mother, of Puerto Rican origin.

Espinosa tries to stifle crying and apologizes with "I'm sorry, it's very difficult", recalling her long search for her son's murderer, without any witnesses willing to speak out for fear of reprisals.  

Six months later, a man, Giovanny Perales, was arrested for third degree murder and weapons crime.

In May 2019, he was sentenced to up to 28 years in prison, with five years of probation. 

Lisa Espinosa, a Puerto Rican mother who lost her son in 2016 to gun violence, encourages Latino voters to elect candidates who support expanding criminal background checks on gun buyers Photo courtesy of Lisa Espinosa, activist from Everytown for Gun Safety / Telemundo News

As a tribute and celebration to his son, a young rap fan, Espinosa created the Ray's Rhythm for Justice Foundation, which brings together families of victims of violence at an annual gala and offers scholarships to teenagers aspiring to music careers.

But he also fights for legal change, because, he explains, up to 

3,600 Latinos die a year from gun violence

;

and Latino children and youth are three times more at risk than whites.

Espinosa belongs to the Everytown for Gun Safety group that, in an exclusive in Spanish with Noticias Telemundo, announced on Monday a bilingual advertising campaign of one million dollars aimed at Latinos in Florida and Arizona, two key states in the electoral contest.

The campaign, produced in conjunction with Priorities USA Action, praises the leadership of Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden and accuses President Donald Trump of failing in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and gun violence, and of “capitulating ”Before pro-gun groups

that have spent $ 31 million to support his re-election.

The Trump Administration accuses Biden and the rest of the Democrats of wanting to eliminate the constitutional right to own weapons, an issue that mobilizes conservatives despite being false.

A gun seized every 48 minutes: Chicago victims and activists demand tighter gun control

Nov. 30, 201901: 39

In this way, Espinosa fights against a phenomenon that claims the lives of almost 38,000 people in the United States every year, almost a hundred a day.

"For me,

human life is more important than protecting a gun,

" he explains, "there is a federal law that requires the use of three-shot guns to hunt birds, but we have no laws to protect people from assault weapons."

The activist moved to Arizona in 2019 to take care of her mother, and from there advocates for an

expanded background check on gun buyers and a ban on the manufacture and sale of assault rifles,

“because praying will not change the stuff".  

Perales had a criminal record and

should not have had access to guns

, but police found him drugs, multiple assault rifles and "a room full of bullets," said Espinosa, who now helps raise Raymond's only daughter, Johanna, 10. years.

Johanna, 10, lost her father, Raymond "RJ" Pantoja, in 2016 to gun violence.

Her grandmother, Lisa Espinosa, became an activist for the Everytown For Gun Safety group to demand gun control Photo courtesy of Everytown for Gun Safety activist Lisa Espinosa / Noticias Telemundo

According to Everytown, as many as 300,000 Americans may have purchased guns this year before completing a criminal background check.

A 2019 analysis by the Pew Research Center indicated that 30% of Americans own a gun, and 42% live in a home where there are guns, and the percentage is higher among white men and people in rural areas.

In general, most Americans support more restrictions on access to guns.

James Aldrete, a political adviser in Texas, said a poll he conducted for EquisResearch and Everytown in July in Texas, Arizona and Florida showed that Latinos have stepped up their

support for a universal background check on gun buyers in the

aftermath of the massacre of 23 people in El Paso (Texas) last year.

Pressure grows in Congress for tighter gun control

Sept.

9, 201901: 49

Even Latinos who own guns support preventing gun violence, the survey showed, which also revealed the interest of Hispanics in strengthening public safety.

[What motivates young Latinos to vote?

Racism, the coronavirus and the economy]

Espinosa considers it important to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

but also to demand measures against poverty, racism, and police brutality 

that affect Hispanics.

Urge them to vote for Congressional candidates who support solutions to gun violence.

And he applauds that Biden has proposed measures to strengthen background checks and prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands.

"Will it be able to comply with 100%?

Probably not, but if he can achieve one, two or three things ... ", he concludes," we need a good leader, because the one we have now is not working. "

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2020-09-21

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