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Years ago, Calvetta Harris lost a loved one, as well as a family friend, to gun violence.
To help get herself through those dark periods, she says she turned to prayer. Harris believes those prayers are what let her to begin the nonprofit, Mothers Against Violence.
"I don't want to be a mother that has to bury their child," Harris said. "So I says, 'I need to stand up in my community and do something.'"
Harris says other parents and concerned community members stepped forward to help. Their shared goal is to curb violence throughout the region, especially among youth. She says at times, their goal feels like an uphill battle.
"You have to keep, you know, just burying the young," Harris said. "They get younger and younger by the day. So it frustrates me. It just saddens me, it frustrates me, it scares me."
So far in 2022, Des Moines police have recovered just over 730 guns off the streets.
"The guns that we've been able to process through so far, we found that there were 32 of them that we took from people who were 17 years of age and younger," said Sgt. Paul Parizek of the Des Moines Police Department.
Parizek says deadly weapons in these young and immature hands is a recipe for tragedy.
"There's more out there, all you have to do is hop on social media and you get on Snapchat you'll see photo after photo after photo of kids posing with firearms," Parizek said. "We'll find them abandoned when a kid runs for us."
Harris has a message for kids and teens who own guns.
"No one wins," Harris said. "No one wins. Once you pull that trigger, it's done, it's over. And then you leave a lot of burden on your family and your mother. So no one wins."
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