NEW ORLEANS — A New Orleans trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader is offering kids trumpets in exchange for guns.
Shamarr Allen started the project last week, after a 9-year-old boy was shot and killed and two teens wounded, news agencies reported.
“I have a 9-year-old son and I grew up in that environment so I understand what those kids are going through. They aren’t bad kids, they just don’t have anything to do,” Allen told WVUE-TV.
So — after checking with police to make sure that he wouldn't get any kids in trouble and would be able to give police the guns for safe disposal — he posted a note on his Instagram account: “To all the youth in New Orleans, Bring me a gun and I’ll give you a trumpet no questions asked.”
Allen told WWL-TV that his life changed when he was 12 or 13 and first played for tips in the French Quarter.
“I realized, ‘OK, I can do this,’” he recounted. "Now, I’m
He quickly ran through trumpets he owned but wasn't using. Other people offered to help. Then he started an online fundraiser with a $6,500 goal. By Tuesday afternoon — four days in — he'd raised $8,800 for trumpets costing about $250 plus instruction books. He's also raising money by selling T-shirts with the slogan “Trumpet is my weapon,” WWL-TV reported.
Several musicians have agreed to offer free virtual lessons to kids who get the trumpets, he said.
"You pick out the trumpet you want because it’s always a bunch of different ones,” Allen, who also is getting donated instruments, told WDSU-TV.
The Associated Press