• In 2007, a total of 989 residents of Los Angeles County lost their lives to guns - an amount equivalent to 8 Boeing 737’s crashing with no survivors. California Department of Public Health, EPIC Branch, 2009
• On average in 2007, more than two people died each day and over 80 people per month due to guns, including homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings. Deaths due to firearms in Los Angeles County make up 30.6% (989 of 3231) of California’s total deaths due to firearms. California Department of Public Health, EPIC Branch, 2009
• Thirty-nine percent (39%) of LA County residents who lost their lives to gun violence were 24 years old or younger. California Department of Public Health, EPIC Branch, 2009
• 41.3% of suicides in LA County were committed with a firearm (274 out of 664 California Department of Public Health, EPIC Branch, 2009
• 79.3% of homicides in LA County were committed with a firearm (677 out of 854 California Department of Public Health, EPIC Branch, 2009
• Approximately 5% of students in Los Angeles reported carrying a gun on at least 1 day in the last 30 days. Over 8% of male students reported that they carried a gun on at least 1 day in the last 30 days. CDC, 2007
CALIFORNIA
• In 2005, California had largest number of firearm deaths among children and teens (474) in the U.S. Children’s Defense Fund, 2008
• 72.9% of homicides in 2007 (1,684 out of 2,310) were committed with a firearm in California. California Department of Public Health, EPIC Branch, 2009
• In 2007, 39.8% of suicides (1,404 out of 3,525) were committed with a firearm in California. California Department of Public Health, EPIC Branch, 2009 UNITED STATES
• In 2006, there were 30,896 deaths due to firearms in the United States. This equates to an average of 85 deaths due to firearms each day. CDC, WISQARS, 2009
• In 2006, 7,564 persons 24 years old or younger died as a result of injury from a firearm. This amount is equivalent to one Boeing 737 crash every week for a year with no survivors. CDC, WISQARS, 2009
• More than half the deaths involving firearms in the US in 2006 were attributable to suicide (54.6%; 16,883 out of 30,896). CDC, WISQARS, 2009
• Homicides accounted for 41.4% percent of the deaths due to firearms in the US in 2006 (12,791 out of 30,896). CDC, WISQARS, 2009
• Firearms were used in 68.9% of homicides (12,791 of 18,573) and in 50.7% of suicides (16,883 of 33,300) committed in the U.S. in 2006. CDC, WISQARS, 2009
• Approximately 68% of all murders, 42% of all robberies, and 22% of all aggravated assaults reported to the police in 2006 were committed with a firearm. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2008
• In 2007, 5.2 % of high school students in the U.S. said they carried a gun in the past 30 days. CDC, 2009 For full citations or more information, please contact Billie Weiss, MPH at
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Front View
Side View
Optional Plan for Extended Site Development
Back View
Side View
Optional Plan for Extended Site Development
Location:
AOPCT will work closely with community leaders and organizations from the city of Los Angeles to find a suitable location for the thirty-foot California Peace Monument. The chosen site will represent the diverse cultures inherent in California. It will also be located so as to position itself as a magnet, an intangible force, stirring the emotions and imagination of visitors, on-lookers and the like, towards its countenance of peace and the promise of a better world.
Size:
The central component of the California Peace Monument will stand approximately thirty feet tall by thirty feet wide and ten feet deep. At the base of the Monument will be four groups of life-sized castings of contemporary people who have devoted their lives to taking action to do extreme good. Encircling the periphery, will stand twelve, thirteen-foot sculptures, each one designed to reflect the distinct cultures of the geographic locations they represent from different areas of the world..
Weapons Mix:
A combination of street weapons surrendered through law enforcement and government agencies, weapons gathered worldwide and processed decommissioned nuclear missile casings will be embodied in each sculpture.
Perspective view of central sculpture surrounded by four groups of individuals and encircled by twelve Peace Angel sculptures
Weapons Request: The weapons will be collected and melted at foundries that work with LASD and LAPD. Also, other cities and counties of the State of California will be invited to contribute weapons collected from their regions. Public Service Announcements will run during the weapons collection process so that the public will be made aware of these efforts, and can find out how they can surrender their weapons to become part of the Monument.
Finish:
The outer surface of the Emissaries, the Ambassadors and the Monument will display the highly-reflective sheen of stainless steel. It will keep its luster for many years and not be tarnished significantly by the elements of weather. As visitors to the sculptures view them, they will see an image of themselves in the reflection from the surface of the sculptures, reminding them that the call for peace is everyone’s responsibility to heed.
Design Inspiration:
When the lead artist, Lin Evola-Smidt, lived in Los Angeles with her young son, gun violence and street gangs were causing significant problems. At the same time, ever-present was the need and desire to keep her child safe. Thus sprang the idea to create a monument dedicated to children from all cultures, reminding adults to make their primary responsibility to keep their children safe and healthy.
Large Central Figure:
The central California Peace Angel Monument will be twenty-feet in height and will stand atop a ten-foot base. It is reminiscent of the Art Deco style of the 1920’s. The large female figure holds a young boy’s hand on one side and a cornucopia of life on the other. Her wings are as wide as she is tall, and within their folds there are twelve other children, all of whom she protects for eternity. The child holding the Peace Angel’s hand represents the artist’s son at age eight. The other children represent a child’s growth from seven to eighteen years old. As we view the children, we can visualize their self-actualization and dream fulfillment. The Peace Angel Monument will be created so that there is a circular perception – no beginning, no end – a cycle, a continuum of life.
Base: TBD
Surrounding Sculptures:
There will be four groups of individuals surrounding the California Peace Monument. These individuals will signify the humanitarian efforts they made towards peace throughout California, and their display will be for future generations to note – who were the people at this time that made the greatest efforts to manifest peace in our time? Twelve stainless steel discs, each averaging five-feet across, will be placed approximately ten-feet from the base of the California Peace Monument. Each disc will hold a thirteen-foot sculpture of one of the twelve Peace Angels worldwide. These sculptures will be created from the melted weapons donated from that particular location. The California Peace Monument site will represent the convergence of all of the worldwide Peace Monuments.
Time to Complete:
Emissaries (three feet): approximately one year Ambassadors (thirteen feet): approximately two years Monument (thirty feet): approximately four years
History:
Unveiling of Peace Angel at Crossroads School in 1997
Additional Photos:
Melting weapons at Tamco Foundry in Rancho Cucamonga, California
Leroy Baca, Los Angeles County Sheriff-
Matt Bogoshian, Deputy Secretary of California Environmental Protection Agency; Lin Evola-Smidt; Chief Thomas Laing, Commander, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department; Mayor Donald Kurth, Mayor of Rancho Cucamonga - July 27th 2009
Trucks unloading 166,000 guns collected from Southern California - July 27th 2009
City of Los Angeles – Government Officials
Lin Evola-Smidt; Larry Frank, Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles - July 26th 2009
Robert Sainz, Economic Development Director of Los Angeles; Lin Evola-Smidt - July 26th 2009
California Advisors
Robert Sainz, Economic Development Director for City of Los Angeles
Bill Martinez, Executive Director of the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
Connie Rice, Executive Director of the Advancement Project
Billie Weiss, Former Founding Director of the Art of Peace Charitable Trust
Sheriff Leroy Baca, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept., Honorary Board Member
