TAMPA, Fla. — Firearms are the number one cause of death for children and teens in the country, according to Kaiser Family Foundation.
In the Tampa Bay area, Safe and Sound Hillsborough is working hard to combat the problem by inspiring change one child at a time.
Freddy Barton is the Executive Director of Safe and Sound Hillsborough.
“We’re looking for people who give a damn about our kids. We work with those who commit low-level offenses, all the way up to these kids who are getting in trouble with these guns and these weapons,” Barton said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got to get to these kids as early as possible. Every day around 3:30 p.m., we get a detention docket.”
For various reasons, Barton said some youths comply with the demands of the streets. Sometimes, he said the shooters are kids and teens.
“We’ve had 12-year-olds come into our program. When a shooting happens and someone loses their life, it affects us all,” Barton said.
Barton has participated in the program for a decade. He also leans on help from retired U.S. Marine Thaddeus Wright.
“They just want a simple opportunity,” Wright said. “We’re taking these kids to trauma centers. We’re taking them to morgues. We’re taking them to funeral homes.”
Sometimes, they bring people’s experiences to the kids they serve.
“At the age of 15, I decided to pick up a gun,” Philip Crane said. Crane was paroled two years ago.
“I was angry, [and] confused. Maladapted to abuses as a child and carried that into adulthood where I committed the murder,” Crane continued. “I can’t do anything to save that life, but I am hoping that I may help save others. The pain that I have caused from my actions is terrible.”
Despite the challenges kids face, Barton and Wright help them work through anger issues while giving life to their dreams.
“These kids are buying and selling parts to guns and trying to put them together and selling them through each other. If you can do that, you can sell real estate, you can sell cars,” Barton said.
“In order to walk from home to the bus stop, they have to put on that coat of armor that says ‘I’m bad. I’m just as bad as you are. They may not know how to say the word, but they just want a simple opportunity.”
To help Safe and Sound Hillsborough, Barton is encouraging volunteering and offering donations to https://safeandsoundhillsborough.org/