Trae Watkins grew up in a tough South Richmond neighborhood off of Hull Street. He left Virginia Military Institute a strong believer in the Second Amendment — and with a notion that he might be able to help kids find ways out of the trouble and violence that kids in many tough neighborhoods face.

He joined a research project led by University of Virginia professors Andrew Block and Lucy Guarnera to explore gun violence and young people. He says he was shocked at what he heard when he interviewed teenagers in cities across the state.

“They’re all terrified,” he said.

Another big shock was how many teenagers had guns — and how easy it is for them to get guns.

“They were saying they could get guns as easily as a bag of weed,” he said.

Yet another shock was the impact of social media.

The report is meant to help government decision-makers and community members tackle the problem of youth and community safety. As a starting point, it posed a question of how adults can make young people feel safe enough that they stop thinking they need to carry a gun for protection.

A different world

Watkins said it’s a different, and more dangerous, world than the one he faced while growing up in the 1990s. He said it’s worse than his 15 years of youth development work in Lynchburg suggested.

“Let me tell you one story — a young man, 15 years old, posts a picture on social media holding a gun,” he said. “Someone recognizes the high school in the background, he’s arrested, a felony charge, and does 140 days in juvenile detention.

“But the context is, he’s bullied, threatened by students a lot older. … He thinks maybe a post with a gun will deter them,” Watkins said. “You and I might go, ‘How dumb to do that, it’s against the law for a kid that young to have a gun, and he’s posting it on Instagram.’

“He’s a good kid; he tried getting help for the bullying but wasn’t getting any. He’s scared, doesn’t know how to make it stop,” Watkins continued.

“So, he’s in detention, comes out, and now this good kid has a reputation; he’s a thug, he had a gun, went to detention … and you know people are going to test him, and it just could keep building.”

The speed at which an incident — an argument, a slight — erupts into gunfire is frightening, Watkins said.

“Post something that disrespects or that you’ve been disrespected … in hours, in minutes there can be hundreds of posts and comments,” Watkins said.

“The algorithms love conflict, love anger … It grows and grows, building rage, building fear,” he said.

And then sometimes the result is a shooting, or worse.

Hotspots

It’s not a problem in most of Virginia, even in most parts of Virginia cities, the study found.

But in hotspot neighborhoods, there are common themes.

One is the youths’ fear, for themselves or family and friends.

Another is the many posted images of youth, like that 15-year-old, with guns on social media already saturated by images of violence.

Another is chronic truancy from school that keeps alive the feelings of isolation that the COVID-19 pandemic initially fueled.

On top of all that, the traumas of life in a tough neighborhood can bring behavioral health challenges.

A Newport News 17-year-old told the study interviewers: “The mental health is definitely a big part. For instance, there’s a phrase called a ‘crash out.’ To me, a crash out is someone who, they don’t care about life.”

The teenager added: “Someone could be getting bullied. They already have terrible mental health and they might be thinking about taking their own life and they’re like: ‘You know what? I’m going to go hurt the person who caused me all this pain before I go.’ They go to school and they shoot the school up.”

Watkins said: “The kids know what’s going on. This one middle school student told me: ‘I see a boy come to class, put his head down on the desk, says nothing, does nothing. And nobody does anything to help.’”

Guns

A Roanoke 16-year-old told study interviewers that a lot of young boys “tend to carry guns and feel like they need to be protected, because they have been in a beef … with other young boys.”

They feel like the gun offers protection, the 16-year-old added. “They feel like that’s the only way to solve a problem.”

A Hampton 17-year-old talked about a time when a student brought a gun to school.

“I think it’s more so because some kids like to pick on others, because this kid might not have as much as that person, or this person might not like this person because of a girl or whatever.” So, it gets to a point “where they feel like, ‘Yeah, I got to do this. I got to take this with me in order to feel safe where I’m at.’”

One big thing Watkins picked up talking to youth is that when young people can safely go to an adult, the odds that an incident will lead to somebody pulling a gun go way down. These are instances in which the young person can speak to an adult without worrying about being labeled a snitch or worrying if anyone else will think they’re weak or scared.

Ways to help

Besides adults who listen, there’s a lot more that can help, the study found.

Police and sheriff’s offices should try to address the lack of trust that’s common in hotspot neighborhoods and use data to target enforcement and prosecution, the study suggested.

The study found that it would help if police dedicated as much investigative effort to nonfatal shootings as they do to homicides.

So would an investigative focus on online activity.

The study says legislation to limit access to social media platforms and limit access to firearms is needed.

“I have a concealed carry permit, I’ve been real strong on the Second Amendment, but we need to think about this,” Watkins said.

The study called on the state to revitalize its Serious or Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program. The case management and information sharing system brings together juvenile justice staff, schools and social services to enhance supervision and treatment of youth who repeatedly commit serious crimes and delinquent acts.

The study found that funding for gun violence prevention programs needs to be maintained and expanded and made more flexible. A state government Children’s Cabinet could focus attention at the highest level of state government on Virginia’s most vulnerable children.

Community groups could try to help young people slow down their thinking. Mentoring services, support for families and outreach to teach young people about dangers of social media would made a difference, the study said.

The key, said Watkins, is to focus on the kids.

“They don’t feel heard, they don’t feel seen,” he said. “But they have so much they want to say.”

https://www.dailypress.com/2025/11/17/youth-shootings-virginia-study/