This year, New Hanover County reported four gun incidents on school grounds, and earlier this month WPD revealed the alarming rate at which the agency is finding young teens in possession of firearms.
At first glance, the numbers do not seem astonishing, but Lt. Gregory Willett, the public information officer for WPD says, this is a new high for the city.
“I've noticed in recent history, a lot more kids with guns, and it's mainly between the ages of 14 and 17. This is something on such a large scale that I think we've ever encountered before, so it's new," Willet said.
In North Carolina, someone under the age of 18 found in possession of a gun can face a low-level misdemeanor charge. More often than not, it is Black and brown teens that are likely to be found carrying a firearm, Willett said.
However, law enforcement would rather seek help from parents and members of the community to nip this problem in the bud.
Chief District Court Judge J. Corpening of District 5, said one blind spot parents have is locking up their firearms at home. Corpening suspects that some parents are aware their children are obtaining guns unlawfully, and willingly disregard simple gun safety measures.
“I have strong feelings about parents who would knowingly permit their teenagers to have access to pistols or other firearms, not talking about parents who take their kids hunting — I’m talking about parents who leave a pistol in a drawer and their kids are out at three o'clock in the morning in Creekwood or Houston Moore or on Front Street or wherever," Corpening said.
There are some state and local initiatives that tackle firearm storage. Corpening pointed out that the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office passed out nearly 1,000 gun locks as part of the NC SAFE program.
Willett agrees that the community will need to work proactively with law enforcement if they want to see trends go down.
“When juvenile crime overall is down, but our gun cases have doubled, that's alarming, and kids can't buy guns… WPD has no problem coming out and saying, there's absolutely no way we could totally curb this by ourselves… And I think if all that comes together, we've got a really good chance," Willet said.
One other crucial point Corpening and WPD agree on is that gun owners in Wilmington need to start locking their cars. Willett says the majority of guns found are stolen from unlocked vehicles and then sold illegally.
“And when I'm saying breaking into cars. Sometimes they don't have to break anything. They just open the car. But I think a lot of these guns that are being taken out of cars are being traded for anything of value, whether it's drugs or anything else," Willett said.
In many cases, the teens found with stolen guns are not the ones who initially stole them, Willett clarified. In those instances, a teen may be charged with a misdemeanor, which is a more minor offense in the eyes of the law.
But community members, local law enforcement, and the Department of Juvenile Justice believe that the root issue won’t be solved by dealing out sentences.
One way parents and members of the community can join forces to prevent teen violence is by supporting local organizations that tackle common risk factors leading to gun and gang violence among teens. Voyage, a Wilmington-based nonprofit, offers several youth services to help teens make a positive impact in their community.
Executive Director of Voyage, Genna Wirth, said the spike in teen gun violations may correlate with students being on summer break. Willett also said there is a correlation, but while school being back in session may stall the frequency of incidents, it won't stop the problem completely.
Wirth said because many after-school programs shut down after the Covid pandemic, teens had limited access to free or low-cost programs. Many kids, particularly young boys who were 10-to-12-years-old during the pandemic are now 14-to-17-year-olds, are influenced by the levels of crime and poverty in their environment.
And as they get older, they age out of the youth programs that are available.
“It's really difficult to get kids involved. It's really easy to keep them once you build that relationship, because it's all about relationships... So when they didn't have the opportunity to build those relationships at a young age, it's really hard to get somebody to start getting involved at 16," Wirth said.
Voyage started the Summer Employment Program (SEP), which is modeled after their partner organization StepUp Wilmington’s job-placement program. Teens participating in the SEP attend resume-building and financial literacy workshops. They also get to network with people from different career-fields.
“We've got 30 to 50 job sites from year to year that the kids are placed with, so they get real work experience…They get paid for their jobs between $10 and $13 an hour, and they get between 15 and 20 hours per week of paid work [and] training. So they end up leaving the summer with, you know, $1,300 to $1,500” Wirth said.
Due to a lack of funding this year, the nonprofit was only able to support 100 students, which is just a little over 50% of last year’s participation rate of 180 students.
Wirth said this is concerning because youth programs, such as the SEP, provide a positive outlet for children who are impacted by gang and gun violence and keeps them from perpetuating that cycle.
It's worrisome to think a child so young could get access to a gun and have the ability to make a life-or-death decision, Wirth said.
As Corpening stated, “Nobody's immune. Everybody's got to take this seriously. And I need everybody's help. If you're a gun owner, be responsible, please. We need your help. It can save a life. Literally.”
