04/27/2022
It starts at HOME! Parents must educate themselves FIRST in order to educate their children. DO BETTER! Take a firearm safety class... WITH your children!
Next month's class is scheduled for Saturday, May 28, 2022
https://www.triggertrainersatl.com/booking-calendar/trigger-training-camp?referral=service_list_widget
Five Teens Shot This Weekend-Where’s the Public Outcry, the Concerned Parents, and Juvenile Advocates?
A 15-year-old with a gun presents the same threat as a 44-year-old with a gun. When someone’s teen carjacks a person at gunpoint, when a 16-year-old with a handgun robs a citizen, or when a group of juveniles decides to arm themselves with guns and show up in front of a restaurant, a park, or the mall, and begin shooting each other and endangering others, it seems fitting that there would be worried parents calling 911, juvenile advocates showing up to ask how they can help, and droves of people in streets demanding change-with their signs that say “stop the violence!”. But that is not what we see. The only entities that can be counted on to show up at such scenes are the police and emergency medical personnel.
Recent data from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that “fi****ms surpassed car accidents as the No. 1 killer among children and teens”. Kids and guns are a dangerous mix. This weekend, in one incident alone, five teens between the ages of 15 and 19 were involved in a melee which resulted in five people shot. Two of the shot teens then carjacked a citizen at gunpoint and drove themselves to the hospital in the stolen car. APD officers recovered three guns on that scene. We are witnessing too many juveniles committing crimes, and far too many of them with guns. Their age says they are teens, but their crimes are very much adult.
APD wants to know, where is the save the juveniles’ cavalry? Where are all the voices who care so much about broken kids and community safety? Where are the concerned parents and family members while these kids are running the streets late into the night?
What we know for sure is, the moment an officer responds to one of these incidents and the outcome is deemed unfavorable, from a public perspective, the media, a large segment of the community, and every member of that suspect’s family will saturate the airwaves with their take on it, and how it could have been avoided. The family will show an outpouring of love for the suspect, there will be heavy criticism of the police, and a demand for justice for misunderstood “Johnny”. Our question is, where are they now? Where were they this weekend?
The police department is a law enforcement agency- the job entails crime fighting, crime reduction, investigations, and holding lawbreakers accountable. By the time 911 is called, the damage is usually done. When APD officers get signal 50 calls (person shot), they show up and get to work. Responding officers and investigators arrive on the scene, render aid, gather information, and collect evidence. And as much as APD officers, the Police Athletic League, and the At Promise Center officers and staff do to help young people and uplift families, they cannot raise Atlanta’s children.
Parents and family members are responsible for the rearing and accountability of their kids. We need parents, juvenile advocates, social services agencies, school officials, courts, churches, and other criminal justice partners to step up and do their part. Juveniles who lack supervision, love, guidance, and accountability, run the risk of ending up in gangs, prison, or the grave.
The Atlanta Police Department will continue to use all available resources to detour youth from a life of crime, and with equal tenacity, we will continue to use all available resources to find and arrest those who make our city unsafe-adults and juveniles.
Police alone cannot fix the juvenile crime or juvenile gun violence issue. If it is to be “fixed” it starts at home and expands to the village. Juvenile violence is bigger than APD. If we are going to put troubled juveniles on the right path to a better life and a bright future, all persons who claim to care, must act with intention, and carry some of the load.
