Officials will kick off a gun-awareness campaign tonight as part of an ongoing operation to get illegal firearms off city streets.
Police and city officials invite the public to event from 6 to 8 p.m. at El Rio Neighborhood Center, 1390 W. Speedway. Officials plan to unveil a new media campaign aimed at cutting deaths and injuries caused by gun violence.
The campaign is part of a $680,000 federal grant to Arizona to target neighborhoods that record high levels of gun violence, said Tucson Police Department Assistant Chief Kathy Robinson.
Three neighborhoods in Phoenix and one in Tucson received funding.
The area targeted in Tucson is bounded by Sunset and Silverbell roads, 22nd Street and Camino de Oeste. The area was selected because statistics show it is prone to gun violence, Robinson said.
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In addition to posters and billboards, the campaign stresses the importance of reporting illegal guns, stopping random gunfire and proper firearm safety, Robinson said.
Tucson police, working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, will also use some of the money to step up gun-crime investigations, she said.
The event features free food as well as speeches by families affected by gun violence, including the family of Nicholas Lee Arnold, a college football player from Western New Mexico University who was killed here in a drive-by shooting in February 2005.
The event is sponsored by Arizonans for Gun Safety and the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission.
