“We Carry Guns to Stay Safe”: Perspectives on Guns and Gun Violence from Young Adults Living in Chicago’s West and South Sides

This report from the Urban Institute features results from a survey of young people in four Chicago neighborhoods to “learn from young adults firsthand whether and why they decide to carry guns, how they acquire firearms, how they experience gun violence, and what they view as the best strategies to reduce gun carrying and promote safety in their communities.” 

From the report: 

“Violence affects everyone in these communities, but Chicago’s youth are often both the victims and the perpetrators of gun violence, exhibiting the same psychological trauma as children growing up in urban war zones (Garbarino, Kostelny, and Dubrow 1991). From 2008 to 2012, almost half of Chicago’s 2,389 homicide victims were younger than 25. Researchers have long studied where people get firearms and what motivates people to carry them (Cook, Parker, and Pollack 2015; Cook et al. 2007; Harris 1993). To devise policies that reduce gun access and gun violence, policymakers require research on the factors that motivate young adults to acquire, to carry, and to use guns, along with what factors might deter them from doing so. Research that can shed light on these issues can inform how a wide group of stakeholders might partner for safer Chicago neighborhoods.”