The first conversation DeCaree Lewis had about a gun was with his mother, Latavia.
He remembers it as more of a lecture. And even at 10 years old, he said he wasn’t scared — it felt like a normal part of his environment.
“This is my gun,” his mother told him. “Don’t go trying to find it or anything.”
Lewis said his upbringing was “fun” but it was hard to ignore his mother’s drug use and other violence within his family.