Teenagers with guns, a report

La Presse’s Caroline Touzin talked to several teenagers in legal trouble about guns, and how gang warfare in the north end means kids as young as 14 are walking around armed – and, in some cases, with legitimate concerns that other teenagers will take a shot at them if they get a chance.

Since convicted minors are better treated and less harshly sentenced than adults, loyal minor gang members sometimes take the fall for acts they didn’t do, in order to spare adult confreres more time behind bars – and also stay safely inside a penal institution, protected from other teenagers who want to kill them.