The Center for Justice Innovation’s latest research dives into the thorny issue of increased youth gun violence during the 2020 pandemic. Titled “Two Battlefields: Opps, Cops, and NYC Youth Gun Culture,” the report spotlights four US cities: Brooklyn, Wilmington, Philadelphia, and Detroit, providing a detailed study on Brooklyn’s young gun carriers.
Most participants—primarily Black men—described facing constant threats of harm and violence. An overwhelming 89% had friends or family shot. Fear was a driving factor for them to carry guns, with 75% fearing their own deaths and 72% fearing harm to their families.
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The lack of economic opportunity and absent police protection also compelled youth towards gun carrying. As the mainstream economy didn’t provide stable work opportunities, most relied on high-risk informal jobs like drug dealing, prompting them to carry guns for protection. The police, seen as a threat, were often perceived as non-responsive to safety threats.
Surprisingly (or maybe not), family members and “network leaders” provided guns for protection. However, these networks (gangs) sometimes contributed to their fear, as unstable or disorganized leadership elevated safety concerns. Furthermore, social media exposure to violence intensified the sense of vulnerability and the need for self-defense.
The report classifies Brooklyn’s young gun carriers into four groups: those carrying guns for protection, image, street hustles, and the rare category of “shooters.” Each of these types has distinct motivations and attitudes towards firearms, complicating efforts to address the issue.
From the report:
- Carrying for Protection: Those who carry for protection expressed ambivalence about carrying and, even more, firing guns. “I’m not trying to kill nobody. I’m not a killer.” But this ambivalence was trumped by the safety imperative: “It’s not about being cool or being tough or nothing. It’s just more about being safe.”
- Carrying for Image: Those who carry for image might brandish the gun in a group, flash it to intimidate opps, or shoot and intentionally miss. They were also perceived as likely to get into beefs related to false claims or representation.
- Carrying for Street Hustles: Those engaged in street hustles (e.g., drug dealers, scammers) were known to hold large amounts of cash or goods. They carried for protection against being robbed. Others engaged in robbing or breaking-and-entering used guns to acquire the cash or goods sought through intimidation and threat, seldom intending to kill.
- Shooters: Rarer than the other three categories, “shooters” were carriers who regularly went on the offensive, if need be killing those perceived as threats.
To combat the gun violence crisis, the report emphasizes creating trust with key community members, including respected gang leaders. It suggests integrating youth into existing street networks rather than isolating them and building on community aid systems.
It also underlines the importance of “self-knowledge” and “healing,” considering the trauma these young gun carriers experience. The report emphasizes providing them with tools to understand trauma, navigate their emotions, and realize the connections between their thoughts, feelings, and behavior and the structural violence they encounter.
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To advance the fight against gun violence, future research should focus on evaluating pilot programs for young gun carriers, understanding their social service needs, analyzing the impact of drill music and social media on youth gun carrying, and quantifying the percentages of young gun carriers in each typology.
It appears that the main takeaway is that for many young urban Americans, carrying a gun is a survival tactic, fueled by fears of violence from rivals and a perceived lack of police protection.
Experiences of economic hardship, involvement in illicit economies, and ongoing trauma further cement this need for self-defense. Therefore, aggressive policing or strict gun control measures won’t deter them. Instead, these measures can intensify fear and mistrust, reinforcing their belief in the necessity of personal protection irrespective of whether they’re violating the law.
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I’m an 80 year old man who can still shoot although not as well as when I started carrying 40 years ago in NY. I am not disadvantaged, poor, uneducated, or a member of a minority. I should be good to go, right? But I carry a gun everyday, everywhere I go unless prohibited by law (not signs). My home is alarmed and the alarm is set during the night when home and when we are away. At night the gun I carry is by my bedside and my wife’s gun in a holster on her bed. During the day my gun is on me and my wife’s is in a safe. (She started actively shooting when I asked her during the pandemic, “Who’s going to protect you if I croak?” She asked to go to the range after thinking about an answer for about 7 seconds. And we each fire about 50 rounds every other Tuesday.) All this is by way of answering the question why I own guns and carry all the time. I carry it for protection against outlaws and lunatics who might think I’m a member of an unprotected group. Cause I’m not!
1) Keepin’ it real.
2) Beefin’
3) Absentee father’s/ out of wedlock births
4) Rap culture that romanticizes organized crime motif’s and conspicuous consumption of brands.
But with the academics, pols, and media, its always a need for more programs paid for by someone else.
Interesting and informative article. The only way to combat gun violence and reckless gun use as recognizing the reasons for such behavior. Yes, thugs probably aren’t amenable to intervention but some folks need help recognizing their attitudes and behaviors fuel street crime and violence. Yes we should lock criminals up but that’s after the fact. What about before, what’s to deter them?, because of you think incarceration is a deterrent to more criminally minded people your wrong. the idea is to get to them before they become so steeped in their urban violence beefing bullshit that puts them in prison in the first place. And yes that does take things like urban job opportunities, skills training, basic education unemployment and poverty reduction so a two pronged approach is needed, utilizing law enforcement and social programs to ultimately reduce urban crime and violence.
No domestic violence victim catagory?
This is all part of the Progressive’s plan. Create violence and misbehavior to increase gun related crime, so that people are willing to accept gun laws that promise to protect, but in fact, only act to disarm law abiding citizens. Crime will continue to increase, additional gun laws will be imposed until all guns are banned from legal ownership.
Well, that’s nice. Gotta get thugs in touch with their feelings? Sounds so New Age-y, doesn’t it?
How about if we build really big prisons with high walls, and lock up every thug for life? Feed them, but don’t give them anything that can be turned into a weapon or used to escape. We could have the same reduction in murders as Nicaragua!
Oh, and make these jails big enough to handle communist-democrats, too. Might as well take care of all enemies of The People and our Constitution.
The local news here is blaming it on racism. I figure it is because they can, its a rush, and they can turn a profit with no effort.