Gun Violence Issue by The Daily Sundial

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COMMUNITY MOURNS DEATH OF FRATERNITY MEMBER PAGE 6 Photography by Logan Bik

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LETTER EDITOR from the

I started my student journalism career one month before the Las Vegas shooting in 2017. My ﬁrst assignment at The Sundial was a response to the Jacksonville shooting last August and four months later I covered the Borderline shooting. A few weeks before the start of the fall semester this year, after the three mass shootings in Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton which had killed a total of 34 people, our team had a conversation about our need to highlight the topic of gun violence, deciding we would cover it in one of our news magazines in September. None of us expected something so close to CSUN to happen just days before this issue was to come out.

SUNDIAL STAFF Editor-in-Chief

Madison Parsley editor@csun.edu

Managing Visual Editor Joshua Pacheco photo@csun.edu News Editor Gillian Moran-Perez city@csun.edu Assistant News Editor Kimberly Silverio-Bautista city@csun.edu Chief Copy Editor Ivey Mellem copydesk@sundial.csun.edu Copy Editor Munina Lam copydesk@sundial.csun.edu A&E Editor Ivan Salinas ane@csun.edu Assistant A&E Editors Kayla Fernandez Deja Magee Moss ane@csun.edu Opinion Editor Raychel Stewart opinion@csun.edu Sports Editor Bryanna Winner sports_sundial@csun.edu

The Sundial editors and I attended the memorial of a fellow CSUN community member last week. We witnessed a community struggling to cope with a life lost at the hands of someone else. This tragedy was a reminder that we can’t ignore the violence taking over our country and hope it will go away. This year alone there have been 289 mass shootings taking the lives of 313 people. It is time to say we have a problem and put aside our thoughts and prayers so we can finally take action. It is up to our generation to get ahead of what has gotten out of control. The Gun Violence issue starts with our cover story of the tragic murder-sucide of a Northridge family that took Michael Lertzman’s life and our coverage of his memorial where we saw the power of the community as they came together to celebrate his life (pages 6-7). Our playlist is curated to show how musicians express gun violence and how it affects our lives today (page 10), we discuss the growing fear of being a target of gun violence in the Latino community (page 11), and the opposite stances of two professors’ perspectives on students carrying guns on campus (page 12). This issue is dedicated to those affected by gun violence. We hope that this will be a call to action to take back the safety we have lost and to make a change to better serve future generations.

Assistant Sports Editor Andres Soto sports_sundial@csun.edu Photo Editor Logan Bik photo@csun.edu Social Media Manager Natalie Fina sundialsocialmedia@sundial.csun.edu Graphic Designers Ewan McNeil Elaine Sanders Illustrator Joelena Despard Audio Editor Pejvauk Shahamat sundialpodcast@gmail.com Video Editors Andrea Esparza Elaine Sanders Assistant Video Editor Brendan Reed-Crabb Web Developer Rugved Saurabh Darwhekar online@csun.edu Sales Representatives Pathik Patel Kelly Salvador Olivia Vakayil Estefano Vasquez Arlene Yeghiayan Sales Support HaoWen Hsueh Distribution Lead Brendan Reed-Crabb Distribution Nicole Benda Emilio Bravo

Thank you,

Publisher Arvli Ward arvli.ward@csun.edu

Madison Parsley

General Manager Jody Holcomb jody.doyle@csun.edu

Editor-in-Chief

Business Manager Sandra Tan sandra.tan@csun.edu

“Games & Identity” Page 5

CONTENTS Deja Magee

A list of banned video games for their high content of gun violence.

Published weekly by the Department of Journalism at California State University, Northridge Manzanita Hall 140 18111 Nordhoﬀ St., Northridge, CA 91330-8258 News - 818-677-2915 | Advertising - 818-677-2998

“Latino Communities Fear for Their Safety” Page 11 “Professors Discuss: Guns on Campus” Page 12

Kimberly Silverio-Bautisa

Evan Gerstmann Erik Gilbert

Since the El Paso mass shooting in August, Latinos have been worried for their safety as they become more and more of a target of gun violence.

Two professors’ perpectives on carrying guns on college campuses.

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Because of high production costs, members of the CSUN community are permitted one copy per issue. Where available, additional copies may be purchased with prior approval for 50 cents each by contacting The Sundial business oﬃce. Newspaper theft is a crime. Those who violate the single copy rule may be subject to civil and criminal prosecution and/or subject to university discipline.

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GUN VIOLENCE IN THE U.S.

TOP CAUSES OF DEATH FROM GUN VIOLENCE IN 2018

at a glance

By Gillian Moran-Perez / Illustration by Joelena Despard

TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS: 36,383 1,500 ARE MINORS

White men make up

74% of this number SUICIDE 22,274 PEOPLE

UNDETERMINED 295 PEOPLE LAW ENFORCEMENT SHOOTINGS 496 PEOPLE UNINTENTIONAL SHOOTINGS 487 PEOPLE

HOMICIDE 12,830 PEOPLE

600

women are shot by an

Black Americans

are

10x more likely

to die by gun homicides than white Americans

intimate partner

U.S. gun homicide rate

25x

is higher than other high-income countries

MISSISSIPPI RANKED WORST IN GUN SAFTEY

CALIFORNIA RANKED #1 IN GUN SAFTEY LAWS

FLORIDA MOST IMPROVED IN GUN SAFTEY SINCE PARKLAND SHOOTING

Fewer people die in states with strong gun laws while more people die in states with weak gun laws

12 states do not require a concealed carry weapon permit at all

Only 13 states require licenses to own/possess firearms

It takes 2 minutes to complete a background check before purchasing firearms

$221,000,000,000

OPINIONS

INDIRECT COSTS LOSS OF LIFE

Why do people own guns?

6 out of 10

FOR PROTECTION

4 out of 10 FOR HUNTING

LOSS OF WAGES

COST OF GUN VIOLENCE

LOSS OF PRODUCTIVITY

$8,600,000,000 DIRECT COSTS

SINCE 2014

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES

3 out of 10 FOR SPORT

HOSPITAL BILLS PRISON TIME

TOTAL COST:

People with mental health issues should be prevented from purchasing guns.

$229,000,000,000

POLICE INVESTIGATIONS

89% BIPARTISAN SUPPORT 0

100

Support for school ofямБcials and teachers to carry guns in elementary and high schools.

22%

DEMOCRATS

97% SUNDIAL

REPUBLICANS

TOTAL PRICE OF ONE

MURDER

$441,000

69%

APPROXIMATELY

$14,000,000,000 IS PAID BY

OF GUN OWNERS

SUPPORT UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS SEPTEMBER 18 - 24, 2019

Statistics gathered from Giffords Law Center, Pew Research Center and Mother Jones

TAXPAYERS EVERY YEAR DUE TO GUN DEATHS 3

GAMES

IDENTITY

Here’s a look at video games that have been banned in other countries.

By Deja Magee In today’s society, video games have become a scapegoat for violence. From “Mortal Kombat” to “Call of Duty” to “Left 4 Dead 2,” the U.S. and other countries alike have cracked down on them to curb the influence on violence that may affect their countries. Recently, video games have been in the news again because of the frequent mass shootings that have been happening in America. These games have been deemed unfit in other societies for their aggressive nature.

Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni

Grand Theft Auto 4

Autralia & Russia

Thailand

This PlayStation Vita video game based off the anime of the same name about schoolgirls living with a virus that can make them turn into weapons when sexually aroused is something that isn’t unusual when it comes to animation coming out of Japan. For that reason alone, Australia banned it from being released in the country. However, Russia had another reason for banning the game altogether. Because of the country’s Gay Propaganda Law, they weren’t going to release it because they considered the game to be promoting homosexuality.

“Grand Theft Auto IV” is an oldie but a goodie in terms of offenders that have been banned from countries. However, this case, in particular, is special. In 2008, a distributor from Bangkok stopped sales of the popular M-rated video game because of a teenager who confessed that they robbed and killed a taxi driver while trying to recreate its gameplay. It was so severe that high school students were urging their local arcades to pull the game from being played.

Mass Effect

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

Command & Conquer China A different type of ban from China, but another ban nonetheless — “Command & Conquer: Generals” was banned in mainland China. Its government banned this game because a lot of the situations in the game involve the destruction of many of their monuments, such as the Three Gorges Dam and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Singapore

Everquest Brazil

Banning a game from 1999 in 2008 is an unusual choice, but that is exactly what Brazil did. The 1999 RPG game “Everquest” was, and still is, banned in Brazil due to a federal court ruling. The game was considered an attack against the democratic state as well as the subversion of public order and teaching its players war strategies.

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SEPTEMBER 18 - 24, 2019

Another country that banned a video game for same-sex situations, Singapore banned the successful sci-fi game “Mass Effect” before its release in 2007 because of one lesbian love scene. However, the ban only lasted two days after the Singapore Media Development Authority deemed it fit to be released and sold in their country, but they did mention that they would be selectively using their own movie ratings system before they had their own full game rating system implemented in January 2008.

Mexico The Mexican state of Chihuahua did not appreciate “Ghost Recon” upon its release. They ordered that all copies of the game be confiscated due to claims of portraying the people of the state in a negative light. The game involves American soldiers fighting in the northern region of Mexico, portraying it as a violent area. Mexican authorities deemed it offensive and banned the game in the entire state.

Members of the community honored the lost lives of the Lertzmans outside of their home in Northridge, California on Sept. 12. People stood in line to drop off their candle and have a moment on the stairs leading up to the front door.

Jewish songs were sang in both English and Hebrew as a way of celebrating the life of Michael Lertzman.

Candles and flowers flood the front steps of the Lertzmansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; home. People gathered outside of the home and left notes, flowers, candles and other personal items.

Volunteers directed traffic away from the people paying respect to the Lertzmans. Mourners stood on the lawn nearly shoulder-to-shoulder and the rest flowed into the streets.

CITY@CSUN.EDU

COMMUNITY MOURNS DEATH OF

FRATERNITY MEMBER by Rayleen Silva and Gillian Moran-Perez / Photography by Logan Bik A Los Angeles deputy city attorney killed himself after fatally shooting his son, a CSUN fraternity member, and wife Wednesday morning at their home five minutes away from CSUN, authorities confirmed Wednesday evening. Eric Lertzman’s daughter recalled seeing him holding a gun before she escaped through a bathroom window as her father tried to shoot her. “It was totally incomprehensible to her how this could happen,” Cindy Stern, sisterin-law of Lertzman, told the Daily News. “She heard a bunch of shots and was able to make it from her bedroom to the powder room to escape out the window.” Lertzman’s daughter ran to a neighbor’s home across the street and the two approached the Lertzman home. “I went with her to the door, and I knocked on the door, yelled — nothing,” Greg Demos, the neighbor, told local television news station ABC7. “We went to the back. She had locked the doors and left. She said my mom and my brother are still inside. We pummeled on the door, yelled for her dad, yelled her mother’s name and brother’s name. No answer. And that’s when we called the police.” The county coroner’s office identified the two homicide victims as 60-year-old Sandra Lertzman and 19-year-old Michael Lertzman, a member of CSUN Fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi. Authorities said Lertzman, 60, shot his wife in their bedroom before attempting to shoot his daughter. As she fled, Lertzman shot and killed his son, Michael, and returned to his master bedroom where he then killed himself, according to the LAPD. “The motive behind this tragic murder-suicide is still under investigation, but investigators believe the recent loss of a

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loved one and ongoing health issues played a significant role,” the LAPD said in a news release. According to Stern, Lertzman had surgery two weeks ago and was about to have another. The LA Times reported that Lertzman had also lost his mother recently, according

“He will always be watching over us, whether it be laughing at our stupid mistakes, or him being proud of all that we will do, just as we will never forget him, he will never forget us.” to his son Michael’s Instagram page and her obituary. “This is a horrible tragedy,” said Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer in a statement on Wednesday. “As we search for answers to how this could happen, we mourn the victims and envelop those left behind with our love during this time of unbearable loss. Of course, we will provide members of our City Attorney Family with needed counseling and support.” According to the LAPD’s Devonshire Division, the incident was immediately contained and did not pose a threat to the community.

Police said there were no other suspects, and the investigation is ongoing. A vigil was hosted last night at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house for Michael, where a rabbi led friends and family into prayers and his closest friends followed with moving speeches. Josh Sigal, one of Michael’s best friends, described Michael as “compassionate, carefree, and most of all, a goofball.” Sigal shared memories of their high school friend group called Dr. Dreidel, the name chosen for their connection with their Jewish faith. He recalled what Michael’s sister had said at their grandmother’s funeral earlier this week, that the grandmother will always be with them in spirit. “He will always be watching over us, whether it be laughing at our stupid mistakes, or him being proud of all that we will do, just as we will never forget him, he will never forget us,” said Sigal. Jacob Freedman, 20, a pledge brother, described Michael as the most genuine person he has ever met. “Every time he walked into a room his smile and his laugh just emanate, that’s the one thing I remembered about him,” Freedman said. Sigal continued to thank the community and the fraternity for showing up. They have been at Michael’s house since yesterday, mourning together and also cheering each other up, according to Sigal. The fraternity led all of Michael’s supporters down the street to his house, where people lined up in front of his door, taking a moment to send prayers and lay down a candle in his memory. The fraternity then chanted “Gold and Blue” in support of Michael where many brothers, old and new, put their arms around each other and filled the night with their chant.

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I Gave You Power Nas

“I Gave You Power” is an emotionally-intense rap track that reflects the dark side of gun violence and how it effects everyday life. Nas’ poetic lyrics paint a vivid penetrating picture on the power a gun can give you. “I might have took your first child / scarred your life / crippled your style / I gave you power / I made you buck wild.” Nas raps as if he is the gun and how much harm and damage he will bring into your life.

Just A Friendly Game Of Baseball Main Source “Just A Friendly Game Of Baseball” is a timeless ’90s jam that insanely relates to the political climate in America today. The lyrics discuss the ongoing battle African Americans face with guns and police brutality — black men and women losing their lives senselessly, police killing people of color — and compare it all to a friendly game of baseball, showing that this is an act that occurs too frequently. It’s a constant losing game for people of color because cops who have committed these absurd crimes are not being held accountable for their actions.

Kid with Guns Gorillaz Singer Damon Albarn is warning that future generations will never get to truly experience a world where there is peace because their ancestors have destroyed that opportunity for them. Chaos will always be on the rise. It will be a future where kids will equip themselves with weapons to protect themselves. There is so much violence in the world being uploaded online, it desensitizes and brainwashes kids to become unbothered by it.

Folsom Prison Blues Jonny Cash This classic country tune tells the story of an unjust delinquent living in disorder after the crimes he committed. While serving in the U.S. Air Force, Cash was inspired to write this song after watching the film “Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison.” The most famous line from the song is: “But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.” Cash came up with that iconic line after trying to think of the evilest reason to kill a man.

GUN VIOLENCE PLAYLIST Mass shootings and gun violence are constantly being discussed in today’s media. The songs in this playlist open your eyes to how much these dangerous weapons affect our lives every day. By Kayla Fernandez

XXX. Kendrick Lamar “XXX.” is a track off of Lamar’s Grammy award-winning album, “DAMN.” Like the many politically-driven tracks off the album, this specific song sheds light on a young black man’s mentality of living in crime-infested and lowincome neighborhoods. From topics like gun control, police brutality and immigration, Lamar is blatantly calling out the American government for their hypocrisy and corrupt minds.

Pumped Up Kicks Foster the People Foster the People’s 2011 hit indie-pop single is a head-bobbing tune, but if you take a closer listen to the lyrics you’ll soon realize it’s about a kid preparing to shoot up his school. This song doesn’t necessarily raise awareness for gun control, but it gives you a glimpse into the wicked mind of a mass shooter. You have to admit the cheeriness of the chorus will make you forget that you are singing about kids outrunning a bullet. As school shootings started to become more frequent, radios took a break from playing the track, because people were concerned that it would spark more violence. In reality, the meaning of the song is just the perspective of a kid losing his mind and plotting a destructive event.

Check out the full playlist on Spotify THE SUNDIAL

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WITH GUN VIOLENCE ON THE RISE,

LATINO COMMUNITIES FEAR FOR THEIR SAFETY

Since the El Paso mass shooting in August, Latinos have been worried for their safety as they become more and more of a target of gun violence. by Kimberly Silverio-Bautista / Photo courtesy of Lola Gomez Part of the Latino population in America is made up of undocumented immigrants. They fled from violence, death threats and poverty from countries such as Mexico, El Salvador and other Latin American countries. They migrated to the U.S. seeking opportunities and the opportunity to start a new life. Once they step foot onto American soil, they struggle to assimilate into the American culture. Having to learn a new language and different customs aren’t the only survival tools they need to learn; they now have to make sure a bullet doesn’t hit them or their loved ones every time they go shopping or watch a movie. “It’s been going on a lot lately where everywhere we go it’s not safe anymore. This world is not safe,” said criminal justice and Chicano/a studies major Alejandra Tzoc. According to POLITICO Magazine, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius drove 10 hours from Dallas to El Paso and randomly shot people inside a Walmart store with the intent “to kill Mexicans, Latinos and immigrants.” He ended up killing 22 people. The victims included a 15-year-old named Javier Rodriguez and a young couple leaving behind three children. Before Crusius carried out the mass shooting, he posted his manifesto on 8chan, an imageboard website where anyone can post anything anonymously. According to a CNET article, it has become a platform for white nationalists and supremacists to post racist comments and mass shooting plans. Since the El Paso shooting, Jim Watkins, owner of 8chan, has shut it down temporarily. Jose Amaro, a Chicano/a studies lecturer, said the motive for these shootings are because white nationalists don’t want to lose their power. “Their motives for these shootings was

Karina Cardoso and Linda Nevarez hold their cellphone flashlights up during an Aug. 4 vigil in El Paso for the victims of the previous day’s shooting at a Walmart. Gov. Greg Abbott will convene on Thursday morning the first meeting of the Texas Safety Commission, which Abbott created in the wake of the El Paso shooting. inspired by white supremacy or the idea of white supremacy maintaining some domination and power,” Amaro said. “Unfortunately the way they see that power shifting towards their advantage is by killing people, Latinos, LGBT and killing people who they feel are a detriment to the white supremacy.” Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos had a one-on-one conversation with white

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supremacist Jared Taylor in the documentary, “Hate Rising.” Ramos showed Taylor a census chart explaining that by 2044, “white non-Hispanics will become a minority. Is that what you’re afraid of?” Taylor viewed this statement as a threat towards the declining white population. Amaro explained that since the beginning of the Trump administration, negative

get stuff?

issues have been occurring. He believes that the media has helped to raise awareness of these issues. “I think the media shows that it has increased. There are polls and data showing that racism and violent actions have been increasing since the beginning of the administration,” Amaro said. “It’s being highlighted a lot more.”

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PROFESSORS DISCUSS: GUNS ON CAMPUS AGAINST: We Don’t Need Evan Gerstmann Professor of Political Science at Loyola Marymount University

More Guns on Campus

Guns are in the news again, as they have been so frequently. The country is sharply divided between those who believe that more guns reduce crime and those who believe that guns are making violence worse. One important aspect of this controversy is the question of allowing concealed weapons on college campuses. Despite the high-profile mass shootings that have gripped the nation, those who believe that guns are the solution, not the problem, seem to have the upper hand in terms of legislation. Twenty-three states have banned concealed weapons while only 10 states require campuses to allow them. However, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the trend is toward requiring campuses to allow them. This pro-concealed carry trend is aided by the high level of concern about sexual assault on campus. For example, Nevada Assemblywoman Michelle Fiore notoriously pushed her campus carry bill by arguing: “If these young, hot little girls on campus have a firearm, I wonder how many men will want to assault them. The sexual assaults that are occurring would go down once these sexual predators get a bullet in their head.” There are a lot of disputed facts when it comes to guns and gun control, but even with all the uncertainty, it seems likely that allowing guns on campus is a terrible idea, especially as a way to prevent sexual assault. It is well known that many, if not most, sexual assaults on campus involve heavy consumption of alcohol. Putting guns in the hands of drunken students in emotionally volatile situations is likely to backfire. And there is the question of suicide, which is a rising problem at colleges. Both alcohol consumption and gun ownership are positively correlated with suicide. We already know that students drink a lot so adding guns to the mix is likely to make the suicide problem even worse. The mass shootings we’ve all been seeing are terrible things. But we should not panic and we should not implement “solutions” that will make things worse rather than better.

Illustration by Joelena Despard

FOR: Lessons from Erik Gilbert Professor of History at Arkansas State University

Campus Carry in Texas and Arkansas

In 2016, it became legal for people with concealed carry permits to bring guns onto public college campuses in Texas. The rhetoric surrounding the new law was heated. Opponents argued that guns on campus would lead to impulsive acts of violence by armed students (for some reason there was less concern about the prospect of armed faculty flying off the handle). Faculty worried that it would be impossible to have meaningful debate in a setting where guns were present. Some expressed concerns that the presence of legally-armed students might complicate law enforcement’s response to a shooting. Proponents argued that the presence, or even just the possibility of the presence, of armed students and faculty would act as a deterrent to mass shootings and other more commonplace types of violence. In 2017, Arkansas, where I live and teach, passed similar legislation following a very similar debate. So how has this experiment turned out? Have what would have once been routine classroom debates resulted in gunplay? Have classroom discussions become muted because no one wanted to provoke the ire of armed students? Has there been a surge of violence on college campuses in Texas and Arkansas? Nope. In fact the whole thing has been a more or less a nonevent. What about the proponents’ side of the debate? There too, it’s almost impossible to say what the effect of the new laws has been. I know of no instance when a concealed carrier intervened to stop a shooting on a college campus in Texas or Arkansas. Nor have armed citizens complicated the response to mass shootings. The presence of armed citizens on campus may have deterred potential mass shooters, but that is the sort of negative claim that is virtually impossible to prove. Violent crime is at historically low levels in the U.S. Mass shootings are horrifying, but incredibly rare events. They are so rare that it is exceedingly difficult to make evidence-based policy about them. When people tell you that some new gun law is sure to make you safer or is certain to result in mass carnage, think back to the Texas and Arkansas examples and remember that both sides made confident claims that have not been borne out.

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