“how chewing gum is a red flag”
Look at the kids hangin’ out at the mall / pizza place / shopping center parking lot and tell me what you see. Then, check the cholent places past midnight and tell me what you see.
Which is not to say that all gum chewers are at risk, and that all non-chewers are iron clad yeshiva boys.
But on the whole, gum in public is not a nosh, and not to clean plaque off their teeth.
Its a statement.