Amid a spike in violence among youth, a team of researchers from the Center spoke to 100 young people living in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, about why they carry guns. Their answers singled out fear—for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones—as the main factor driving their gun-carrying. The New York Daily News quotes one 19-year-old boy who spoke with our researchers in the landmark study: “My biggest fear is somebody coming for me and they can’t get to me, they try to get to my family.”