The Presenters introduced below present What's Up With Guns in the East Bay of San Francisco, California – including Alameda County and surrounding communities. If your school is outside of this area, the Joseph Matteucci Foundation is equipped to provide an 8-hour training session for volunteers from your community's Police Department, Trauma Center and District Attorney's Office.

Alexandra Matteucci-Perkins, Founder, Joseph Matteucci Foundation
Alexandra founded the Joseph Matteucci Foundation for Youth Nonviolence in 1994, one year after the death of her 17-year-old son. Joseph was struck in head with a baseball bat at a Big League division game of Little League baseball. An innocent bystander, Joseph was not the intended victim of the blow and was unaware of the conflict that erupted behind him.

What's Up With Guns is the culmination of Alexandra’s 11-year history of talking to kids and teens about alternatives to violence. The program also benefits from her ongoing collaboration with caring individuals in the community who lend their expertise and time to this important cause.

Alexandra begins the assembly by sharing her very personal, painful story of the day she lost her son to violence. Her story, as well as the accounts of the Presenters who face youth violence all too often, brings a sense of realism to the assembly that compels the students to listen and respond.

Christy Haynes, M.A., Presentation Facilitator
Christy draws from her M.A. in Psychology and her working experience with at-risk youth in Southern California to set-up the What's Up With Guns story. She presents the first segment of the program, which tells the story of Jason and Miguel – two longtime friends who are drifting apart because of Jason's involvement with a local gang. Miguel has the choice to intervene but he does not in fear of losing his friend.

At the end of the program, Christy returns and engages the students in a discussion. What were Jason and Miguel's choices? What key signs foreshadowed a potentially violent situation? When is it time to tell an adult? How do you tell an adult? The students respond to Christy's energy, honesty and her apparent interest in what they have to say.

Fred Bowe, Retired Highway Patrol
Fred presents the second segment of the program, which explains how Jason shoots another student on campus, attempts to flee the scene and is captured and taken into custody. He tells the students why Miguel, who agreed to hide the gun, is arrested as an accessory. Fred also dispells some myths about juvenile offenders – if arrested for a violent crime, it is very likely that they will be held in custody and charged as adults.

Manuel Keaton, Registered Nurse, Eden Medical Center Trauma Unit
Manuel brings his experience of working at Eden Medical Center's Trauma Unit to the program, as he explains what happens to the victim, Marcus, when he is rushed to the emergency room for treatment of a gun shot wound to the abdomen. He shows the students tools that are used to treat abdomen wounds, illustrates the path of the bullet through the body and makes it clear that many people who survive gun shot wounds do not go on to enjoy a normal life.

Chris Lamiero, Deputy District Attorney, Juvenile Division, Alameda County
Chris explains the legal consequences of Jason and Miguel's actions and how these consequences will change their lives. Miguel is convicted of Accessory to a Felony and Carrying a Loaded Firearm. Because of his clean record, he avoids up to three years in prison and is placed on juvenile probation. His hopes of receiving an athletic scholarship for college are shattered.

Chris then dispels the myth that juveniles cannot be punished as adults for violent crimes. Because Marcus died and Jason committed Murder with a Firearm, the "Ten – Twenty – Life" clause brings his sentence to 50 years to life in state prison. He is detained in a California Youth Authority until he is 18. Then he is transferred to state prison to serve his sentence.