You have a fight with the one you love. It starts with words and accusations. A rifle is hanging on the wall. You bought it one day, and the vendor said it would make you feel safer. Now you feel nothing but safe. You couldn’t care less if someone called the police.

The morning news report about daily unrest and conflicts between groups of street vendors in an open marketplace not far from here. People are afraid of going there because of stray bullets.

Stray bullets. In Latin America, you call them balas perdidas or even balas locas, as they run totally without destiny, aimlessly. Even when no one have a clue about who shot, someone dies or becomes injured for the rest of the life.

Amilcar Durán reports from San Salvador. Yesterday the streets of the capital were filled with people demanding better living conditions and more security. Amilcar confirms that people suffer from gun violence. Living in the middle of a conflict between different gangs, whoever can be a victim of a stray bullet or an assault.

In these situations, there are no winners, only losers. Happiness is not a warm gun.

We need to act against gun violence and take the guns away from the homes and the streets. Humanium Metal offers a way to transform lethal weapons to peaceful commodities.

Written by Marcus, Humanium Metal correspondent in Santiago