Kids in an awful position

In a Twitter thread Leah McElrath lists a few incidents where middle-school students reported incidents of guns near their school. The kids discussed each incident on social media before getting adults involved. McElrath wrote:

The students are 11-15 years old. ALL of these incidents were discussed on social media BY KIDS before adults became aware of them. The CHILDREN had to make triage decisions about reporting.

We are forcing CHILDREN into the position of making life and death triage decisions involving potential gun violence by their peers and by adults. We are doing this because we are allowing an international arms dealing organization to dictate gun policy.

We are ALL being held hostage by the NRA. The NRA is an international arms dealing and domestic terrorist organization. Its influence has grotesquely distorted childhood in America. It is insane. It is unacceptable. It must end.

An obvious question is why do the kids need to discuss it? Why not simply immediately turn the situation over to the police? A couple commenters answer:

Because reporting your peers to law enforcement is a perfectly normal thing to expect kids to have to do. Especially kids of color who face the extra risk of being beaten up and/or killed by the police.

Ahh. Yeah. Well that's why Leah correctly characterizes it as kids having to make life or death triage decisions. These kids know that risk. That's why, sometimes, they don't report it. They're being put in an awful position.