Gun Violence is Corrupting the Youth

On May 16, 2022, a fourteen year old boy was shot while waiting for the bus stop after school, another boy, sixteen years of age, was shot seven times near his school, both shootings occured in low-income neighborhoods in West Philadelphia.

Philadelphia has always been defined as a city of brotherly love, but now the city is well known for their deadly streets. Prior to the pandemic, fatal shootings were pretty common, but not as common as today,  as the number of fatal shootings jumped over 95% in the past two years. Throughout the pandemic, the confinement and restrictions have only led to a dramatic increase in gun violence especially among young people who are being exposed to crime, violence, drug use and other types of criminal activity. 

“A lot of teeneagers stayed inside, we had no choice but to stay inside. A lot of our attention got turned to other things besides school and sports and into things happening around us, which were mostly violent things.” Collins said.

Although violence has always been a prominent issue in our community, more and more of our children, specifically our boys, are being taken away from us because of gun violence. 

Alicia Cobb, a therapist and school counselor who works to provide therapeutic support to students who have experienced trauma, suggests that most of the teenagers who purchase guns are more terrified of the casualties that come with living in a war zone, and they end up purchasing weapons for protection. 

“Many people have weapons, not just to harm others, but to protect themselves,”Cobb said. She also firmly believes that young people only feel comfortable or safe in their neighborhoods if they have a firearm. 

There isn’t one definite reason behind the surge in youth violence, however generational trauma may have an impact on gun violence and those left behind in the destruction.

 “The reality is, is that we can argue that it's actually their family members who are generally women who are actually being impacted the most.” Alicia Cobb said. “It does create this cycle of we already know when people lose people, how that impacts us economically, how that impacts us emotionally, how that impacts us, educationally. And I think that that does create room for many of these cycles to continue all it can take is really like one really traumatic loss to create the cycle of violence.”

"This whole battle to handle gun violence is huge. There's not one answer. There's not two answers. But in the meantime, while we're really trying to fight this big fight this long fight, how do we keep kids safe on a daily basis?"