ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Local students used their day off from school to work on solutions for fighting gun violence in Albany.
“We shouldn’t have to be scared to walk around and live our life to go places,” said student, Zymiara Bradley.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are, or where you are, you go could just like that,” said student, Timothy Snipps.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Capital Area (BGCCA) stood in solidarity and wanted their voices to be heard. They were in partnership with the City of Albany Violence Prevention Task Force, SNUG 518, Pastors on Patrol, SL McLaughlin Funeral Services, Global Partners, Bryant and Stratton, and elected officials.
It was all in effort to put an end to the ongoing gun violence in Albany.
“You know, these are your neighbors, your brothers, your sisters your cousins, and people that your friends are friends with. One day, they are here and the next they’re not,” said Bradley.
“There could be a casket anytime or anywhere because of the rate of violence that is happening in Albany,” said Project Manager of the Boys & Girls Clubs David Gordon.
So far in Albany, there have been:
- 15 homicides;
- 86 shooting victims year-to-date; compared to 2020, that number has gone down by 29%;
- Albany Police have taken 106 guns off the street.
Gordon says it starts with teaching kids how to deal with conflict.
“If we continue to go toward the streets, and continue to feed into social media nonsense, this is going to happen. The reality of life is death,” he said.
Over 100 kids in Albany signed a pledge to end gun violence in the city.
