To ban or not to ban toy guns - that is the question Youth for the Future posed to high school students last month. YFF asked second and third form students from high schools in the city to submit a one thousand word essay on the ongoing debate about a possible ban of toy guns because of their use in criminal activities. Only seven essays were submitted, but the competition did go on. E.P. Yorke's Reymi August wrote in favor of a ban while Gwen Liz's Raquel Arturo opposed a ban. They both received plaques.
Reymi August, E.P. Yorke
"I wrote that it would help alleviate crimes because that is my opinion because the home is the foundation where everyone develops their attitudes and their personality where they get to find out their strengths from their weaknesses and when in a home you give your child a toy gun, it is like you're telling them that it is acceptable to have a gun and you are unconsciously introducing them to gun violence. So that is what I wrote in my essay."
Raquel Arturo, Gwen Liz
"I feel great. I did my best. I did a lot of research, I talked to a lot of people and I got different viewpoints from them and that is how I came up with my essay. A lot of people think that children shouldn't play with toy guns because they will grow up to use them but I said that that was not so because, for example, I put that a lot of children play with toy cars and they crash them and that doesn't mean that they will grow up to crash cars. So it doesn't literally mean that children will use real guns in the future."
Travis Simpson, YFF
"The debate is going to be between the two schools who won. I guess it is going to be about five members on the team and they will be asked different questions concerning the banning of toy guns."
Along with the plaque, the winners each received a $150 gift certificate for cash from the Community Rehabilitation Bureau. YFF's Youth Empowerment Coordinator Travis Simpson says E.P. Yorke and Gwen Liz will battle it out at a debate scheduled for Wednesday at the House of Culture. The debate is open to the public and it begins at 2 pm.
