Commentary: Why good kids carry weapons
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| Published on Thursday, September 6, 2007 |
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By Linda Petrusi
My mentor called me and said he needed to take a week off. He asked if I could fill in for him. He is the director of the Victim Impact Program for the juvenile court in a county not far from where I live. The work involves engaging both victims and juveniles in determining what the extent of harm was, as well as, making recommendations to the prosecuting attorney with respect to restitution and helping victims through the court process and trauma recovery. There are gangs and because of the demographics; gang members are mostly Russian, Chechnya, Hispanic and Asian.
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Linda Petrusi holds a BA in
International Studies, a Minor in
Black Studies, a certificate in
mediation and will shortly
complete her Masters in Conflict
Resolution. Feedback to:
linda@caribbeannetnews.com |
There are literally hundreds of articles on kids who carry weapons and intervention programs. All are designed to figure out why children carry weapons and use them. Where these weapons come from and how children gain access to them is well established. One only needs to do a google search on children and weapons. In spite of all the information and intervention programs available, children continue to carry weapons. This might suggest that the information is not as reliable as it purports to be.
Many studies consistently focus on gang related activity, the breakdown of the family unit and dealing in drugs as the main cause. The problem I have with these studies is that is assumes that children who carry and use weapons are criminals. The studies also conclude that the lack of morals, respect and ethics is the reason why children carry weapons. Therefore, intervention programs are designed to address those issues. One only needs to observe one’s environment to know that these programs may not always work.
Based upon literally hundreds of police reports I have read as well as engaging just as many, (if not more) children who engage in “criminal” activity, I believe the reason many children carry weapons is the same reason why adults carry weapons. Children carry weapons for protection against assault on the streets, and violence in their schools. The difference is that it is legal for adults to carry guns (if properly licensed) and illegal for children. Even if an adult carries a weapon illegally, the rationale is that it is better to break the law and carry weapons then face the risk of assault and murder. Adults can carry weapons or have them in their homes for protection and under certain circumstances can use their weapons and not be criminally charged for doing so. The same is not true for children.
Both children and adults carry weapons out of fear and find that the institutions designed to protect them are not doing that. Therefore, the only logical response available to children is to carry weapons. I make this claim because it is what children have consistently said to me. Moreover, many types of assaults on children go unreported because kids don’t like to be perceived as “snitching” on other kids and the fear of retribution is great.
This is not to suggest that gangs, drugs and the breakdown of families play no role, nor does it suggest that children should be allowed to carry guns. If an older youth commits homicide than that youth is a criminal and should be prosecuted for the crime. A common misperception is that teens carry guns because they are involved in gangs, drug activity and pre-meditated assault. However, the most common reason why youths shoot one another is usually over an argument that escalates. These shootings are impulsive, unplanned and sometimes immediately regretted. In addition, youths target those who have offended them, and, most of the times do not target complete strangers. This suggests that the shooting or murder of a youth by another is interpersonal. In addition, these particular groups of youths usually blame the circumstance or the victim for the shooting as illustrated by one youth’s comments. An eighteen year old shot and killed a fifteen year old because of the shoes the fifteen year old was wearing. “I killed him, but not in cold blood…I only shot him once.” “I’m not violent.” “I’m the easiest person to get along with.” “… [I] look at my right hand cause it’s the hand that pulled the trigger. “I blame my right hand.” While there are many innocent victims, there are not many innocent murderers. It is also important to understand that the older a youth is (from seventeen into young adulthood) the only remorse they feel is that they were caught. I only work with juvenile offenders aged eighteen and younger. Offenders aged eighteen and older are remanded to adult court.
However, the same is not true for young children (aged ten to around thirteen). There is a sense of remorse for what they did and most of the time the offender assaulted another youth who at one time was a good friend. Therefore diversionary programs tend to produce better results with younger offenders than with repeat older offenders. There were countless times when the same youth was constantly in conflict with the law and the youth was most of the time seventeen or eighteen years old. When a certain offender’s name crossed my desk, it was not necessary for me to pull the police report to discover what happened. Instead, I focused on the victims and engaged them in various methods of trauma recovery and if necessary prepare them for court, often accompany them to the proceedings where they would hold my hand tightly.
A simple solution would be to remove all guns from society. However, in societies where the incidence of teens shooting or assaulting one another is increasing is a reflection or pathology of that society. Therefore, the focus should be dealing with societal problems that turn youths into murderers. A far more daunting task.
Good kids have weapons. And if we are not able to understand why good kids carry weapons, we can not create safer environments for those kids. We have to understand that good kids who carry weapons do so out of fear of being a victim-not a perpetrator- of assaults, rape and murder. In other words, good kids carry protection from one another. This is hardly a sign of a healthy society when children are forced to carry handguns. If the cities and schools were made safe, then the need for children to carry weapons for protection might decrease. Until that happens, it is irresponsible for governments and schools to take away the only source of protection good kids have.
Disarming the good kids and not act against violent aggressors who threaten children and their schools provides a good breeding ground for youths to turn to gang life for protection. Does a fifteen year old female have the right to protect herself against a rapist as does a forty year old woman? Does a sixteen year old male have the right to protect himself against a bunch of thugs as does a sixty year old man? Good kids are trying to cope with a terrible situation in the only way they can.
It is unjust for a state to compel a child into school without creating a safe environment in school, going to and from school, assumes no legal liability for injury to a student and then does not allow the student to protect herself. It’s like saying to the student, “I know it is not safe for you here, but, there is nothing I can do, so, you are on your own to figure out how to keep yourself safe.” But, don’t take my word for it. Instead, read the words of a student who wrote:
“To put it bluntly, I think students bring weapons to school to save their own lives. They have a constant fear of being attacked, whether for money, for drugs, or for some other reason. They feel the need to bring a weapon to school. To the outsider, this may seem blown all out of proportion, or just a plain lie. There are kids robbing other kids for their money and their personal belongings. And these kids who are committing these crimes also carry weapons like knives and handguns and are not afraid to use them. There is no doubt we have a serious problem on our hands. I just hope we can find some way to solve it.” | | | | Reads : 237 | | | |
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