Vinik: This summer, 350 students helped spread the word on social media to their peers that being armed doesn’t make you safe.
Hundreds of Chicago teens are starting the school year with new knowledge of what’s fueling gun violence in their communities and how their voices can make a difference in the fight to stop it.
Across the country, young people are disproportionately impacted by gun violence, which is now the leading killer of kids and teens in the U.S. Fear and anxiety are driving many to believe that they would be safer armed with a gun, and as a result, many more teens are carrying guns than did two decades ago. But these young people also know that this arms race is not making their communities safer — it’s contributing to more deaths and injuries.
Within that contradiction lies hope for a safer future, and teens can lead the way, because the decision to pick up a gun is not inevitable. The narrative that only a gun will make a young person safer is false and can be changed.