Richard Biennestin was only 20 years old when he was shot and killed on April 13 . Jessie Leon Jordan was 23 . Sione Fakatoufifita was 19 . Titania Mitchell was only 13 . Of the nearly two dozen people reported killed that day , about half were under age 30 . Sadly , this tally is not rare . According to the Children 's Defense Fund , guns kill twice as many kids as cancer while Congress remains stalemated . A bill to pass gun reforms failed in the Senate on Wednesday . As CNN has reported , 13 young people between ages 10 and 24 are the victims of homicide every single day . Firearms account for 80 % of those deaths . The toll gun violence is taking on young people was the inspiration for GunShowGallery.com , a collaboration between the Creative Action Network and my organization , Rebuild the Dream . More than 70 artists have submitted 111 poster designs against gun violence . Most of these artists are in their 20s . You do not have to agree with the message of each individual poster . Collectively , they represent the diverse voices of a generation desperate to stop the violence devastating its members . In poll after poll , large numbers of Americans age 18-30 support gun reform measures . It is worth listening to what the young people who submitted these posters are trying to say . Alyssa Winans , a 23-year-old from Providence , Rhode Island , submitted `` A Farewell to Arms . '' She says people are desensitized to the violence . `` It is simply how it is , how it has always been . This is what guns are like . '' She grew up outside Chicago and recalls one of her older sisters coming home from school in the city with terrifying news : `` My classmate got shot and they 're dead . '' It left a lasting impression on her . J.D . Reeves , 25 , was around guns while growing up in rural Oklahoma . Guns were for hunting . They were not something bad or dangerous , simply a part of life . But a personal experience last spring led to his piece , `` End Gun Culture in America . '' Reeves and his wife were considering going to watch the Oklahoma Thunder NBA playoffs game in Oklahoma City , but decided against it at the last minute . That night , gunfire broke out near the arena . Eight people were wounded . `` I always heard about shootings in cities but never felt a connection because I live in the country , '' Reeves says . `` That made it real . We could have been there . I have friends who were there . They have video of it on their phones . '' Ryan Keller , from Iowa , sent in a piece called `` Dissolve the Targets . '' Though he supports restrictions on guns , he has a big problem with violence in the media , especially the video game industry . Young people , he says , `` need to see that violence in general is absolutely horrific . They need to see humans as humans , not something you can kill and get 100 points . '' Juana Medina lives in Washington , but grew up in war-torn Colombia . She recalls seeing people threatened and killed . Her aunt and uncle met while taking cover under a table at a restaurant during a gunfight . Her poster , `` Less Fear , More Kindness , '' aims to confront the culture of fear she saw in Colombia and sees today in cities around America . Can their posters make a dent in a debate dominated by the NRA 's army of lobbyists ? They think so . `` We live in a culture of short attention spans and high consumption , '' Medina says . `` As artists we create striking images that even if you see for only two or three seconds can change minds . '' Max Slavkin co-founded the Creative Action Network with longtime friend Aaron Perry-Zucker . After Newtown , artists started asking what they could do to help . `` Older generations accept that this is how the game is played , the need to wait for Congress , that leaders ca n't go too far , '' Slavkin says . `` But younger people have seen failure after failure -- on the financial crisis , the environment and guns . We 're too fired up to wait or sign petitions that we just have n't seen working . '' Perry-Zucker , the creator of 2008 's Design for Obama , believes that art and culture can simulate the kind of personal experience that gets people involved . `` Seeing one of these posters forces you to take a stance , '' he notes . `` You ca n't help but decide if you agree , or if you see it differently . And now you are more involved . '' Or , as Allyssa Winans puts it , artists can pose a simple question : `` What if it was n't like this ? '' J.D . Reeves recalls a story in an Oklahoma paper about a known felon buying a firearm at a gun show while the local police stood by , helpless . `` If you 're smart with guns and people are around guns they are n't necessarily bad . But seeing this story you realize something has to change for our safety as Americans . '' Idealistic , yet practical . Always experimenting with new ideas . Determined to change the world . I can not wait for the best of this next generation to take over .
Van Jones : Guns kill twice as many people as cancer in America . Jones : Young people created posters to raise awareness and fight gun violence . He says GunShowGallery.com posters show generation that wants to change world . Jones : Can their effort make a dent in a world dominated by the government 's army of lobbyists ?