The child looked up to Batiste on and off the field, and wore his jersey for every home game.
“He and his friends were playing Russian roulette with a firearm at 10. That’s bold. That’s unheard of,” Batiste said.
In a situation like this, there are so many questions that need answering: Where did they get it? How did they hide it from adults? How did they get access to it?
Batiste said, “That’s the thing, nobody knows, and that’s the question mark. How did they get that? Which household did it come from, did they find it off the street? I don’t know.”
This incident is what eventually inspired Batiste to create BrassDroppers.
Accessibility is something that does not necessarily have a correct answer. Even under strict supervision, there is always the possibility that a firearm makes it into the wrong hands.
With that said, for Batiste, a feasible option for now is educating kids on what to do in these situations. Along with his experiences, he has seen numerous tragedies involving firearms over the last few years.
But it’s led Tarris to where he is today. He feels as though it is his calling to address these issues and educate the public.
“I really want to tap into that as a young black man and say, ‘you should do it like this,’” Batiste said.
His uncanny optimism is further memorialized when he remarks on Georgia House Bill 280, the campus carry legislation that unnerved, if not infuriated many because it allowed college students to carry on campus.
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