In Tampa, Florida, recent national research reveals that 6% of Florida teenagers possess firearms. Advocates for preventing gun violence in Hillsborough County have noted a local uptick in these figures.
“It seems the message about our collective duty to prevent this issue hasn’t fully resonated. Observing these statistics is disheartening and sometimes makes us question the impact of our efforts. Yet, we remain committed,” expressed Freddy Barton, the executive director of Safe and Sound Hillsborough.
This organization is active in a youth gun violence prevention program. Barton mentioned that the findings from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) study are indeed alarming.
AAP looked at trends of carrying handguns among Florida adolescents from 2002-2022. They found handgun carrying in school decreased, and middle school students contributed substantially to the increase in general handgun carrying.
“We’re having conversations with middle school students and even driving down to elementary school students encouraging them that if they see a gun, run and tell someone,” Barton said. “To have kids say, ‘Look, I feel like I needed to have this firearm because I’m scared. I know that this person doesn’t like me, and I feel like they have a gun, so I need to go get one.’ We’ve got to get the message out to these kids that look, there’s always another way.”
Johnny Johnson’s son Jayquon would be turning 26 on Tuesday, had it not been for a shooting that ended his life when he was just a sophomore in high school.
“I see him being a bright star. He had a big heart, I see him helping,” Johnson said.
It’s been eight years and Johnson said it still feels like yesterday. Johnson argues the issues to gun violence haven’t been solved.
“We showing bombs dropping on people in other countries, but we don’t want to talk about the tragedy here,” Johnson said.
Barton said more than 80% of firearms recovered from juvenile offenders are coming from unlocked cars.
“Just here in Hillsborough County, we’ve had, last year in 2024, we had 60 kids that were first time offenders in our program. We’re not even through the month of July and we’re already above that number,” Barton said. “Take the politics out of this, right. It’s not about the right to carry, it’s not about guns, it’s not about ammunition, it’s about the decisions that these kids are making to pick up a firearm in response to something that probably won’t even matter five years from now.”
Johnson is urging kids to brainstorm for solutions that don’t include violence.
“What would your loved one say if you didn’t show up home tonight? What would you think they would be going through? How would you think they’d be feeling? And give that moment a thought before you pick up a gun,” Johnson said.
On July 13, Safe and Sound Hillsborough will be celebrating youth who have successfully completed the Youth Gun Offender Program. Learn more, here.
