In a new report, more than 100 young people in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, open up about why they carry guns. Their answer? Fear—for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones.
Hear from the people who made the study happen—Javonte Alexander, Basaime Spate, and Elise White—our community researchers with personal ties to the social networks of the young people who shared their experiences. By providing a safe space and listening to people most affected by gun violence, our researchers found that young people are overwhelmingly worried about two main groups: cops and “opps,” opposition, and they turn to gun-carrying for survival.
“It’s two battlefields. It’s us versus the cops, and then it’s us versus each other," says one young gun-carrier.