“I think that then you become, at the worst desperate, or just as bad, indifferent about your life and certainly more cavalier about the lives of others,” Koval said.

Loose firearm laws also make it easy to respond to any threat with lethal force, said Ald. Samba Baldeh, 17th District.

“In the past, guns were not always accessible, and people could talk to each other over fistfights,” Baldeh said. “But now, guns are all over. So conflict resolutions have become, ‘If you disagree with me or I feel you disrespected me, I just go get a gun.’ With guns, you can’t just fight. You kill each other.”

Anthony Cooper Sr., executive director of the Focused Interruption Coalition, said that some people who lead criminal lives don’t see other options and those who do might not believe a different life is possible for them. He said FIC’s peer-support specialists can mentor those people and help them find another path.

“It’s more than just telling them where the resources are,” Cooper said. “It’s taking them where they need to go and pointing them in the right direction.”

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