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Bravado, Self-Defense, Fear: Why These Young Men Carry Guns

He was 7 years old, standing in a bare room opening onto a patio in Brooklyn, when an uncle handed him a pistol that was twice as big as his hands. His uncle guided his finger to the trigger and pointed the barrel straight ahead.

He was 7 years old, standing in a bare room opening onto a patio in Brooklyn, when an uncle handed him a pistol that was twice as big as his hands. His uncle guided his finger to the trigger and pointed the barrel straight ahead.

A loud crack split the air, followed by the scent of gunpowder, he recalled. His uncle, his breath smelling of alcohol, said in the boy's ear, "This is how you survive."

A young man in Brooklyn said he obtained his first weapon when he was 13 by stealing it.Credit...Amr Alfiky/The New York Times He was 7 years old, standing in a bare room opening onto a patio in Brooklyn, when an uncle handed him a pistol that was twice as [...]




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