What should be done to tackle the issue of gun violence, in Lexington
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — As gun violence continues making headlines, one organization is aiming to help curb the problem in Lexington.
Devine Carama is the director of ONE Lexington, and organization that aims to help curb the gun violence problem here locally.
“In real life, it’s not a video game, you can’t just push restart, and play again, when you use a firearm, and you shoot somebody, you could potentially take their life,” says Carama.
Carama says gun safety is essential for everyone, especially legal gun owners.
“There’s certain classes and registrations that you can take that equip you with the safe way to own and keep a firearm, but then if you’re going to have one in the house, right? You have to keep it in a lockbox,” he adds.
Carama also says getting kids involved in other programs early may help curb the problem.
“When we talk about parental controls on the devices that these young people have not letting them play video games that glamorize this violence that they don’t quite understand. I think of things like that, I think of mentoring programs and other things that they can be involved in, so that they don’t focus on the gang life or the group life in order to fit in.” also says Carama.
He added that the issue doesn’t discriminate no matter what your background may be.
“You could have a kid that comes from a perfect household. If he can get easy access to a firearm if every time he turns on social media or a video game, or turns music on, and gun culture is being celebrated. It doesn’t matter what neighborhood or what family you come from.”
Carama also believes there needs to be a deeper understanding that firearms can be used for protection and self defense.
“It’s gonna take all of us and so I think we just got to continue to focus on our most vulnerable, but we got to focus on prevention for our young people and young adults,” he also says.
Carama adds that in 2022 we saw a 50% reduction in youth and young adult gun related homicides.
24 in 2021 down to 12 in 2022.
For more information on ONE Lexington, click here.
