For some Black men and teens, relying on guns is commonplace

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PHILADELPHIA — Marvel Thornton-Cruz first carried a gun on the street at age 14 and by his mid-20s had been arrested and jailed several times, the last for drugs and for shooting someone, for which he served just over three years. He was paroled in December. Thornton-Cruz has lost count of the friends and acquaintances gunned down along the way. Three of his brothers have been fatally shot. Interviews with community organizers, academics, and young men paint a portrait of a city where guns are often a fact of life, carried for reasons such as showing off, protection or retaliation