In this day and age the media is always covering breaking stories about juveniles and violence. It seems that every other day there is a headline about shootings or stabbings. There are many things that need to be taken into consideration when analyzing juvenile violence and more specifically juveniles and gun violence. Gun violence is the intentional use of a weapon against a person, group or community that can possibly result in injury, death or psychological harm. There are many factors that need to be analyzed in order to come to a decision about the proper course of action to reduce gun violence amongst juveniles. The things that need to be taken into consideration are gun laws, different uses of a firearm, how youths attain firearms, causes of gun violence and most importantly, the options to combat juvenile gun violence.
In the United States there are two levels of regulations pertaining to guns and the laws that dictate who is eligible to own firearms and the use of firearms. The first level that we will discuss is the federal level. The second level will be the state level. There is a considerable variance between the laws in the federal and local governments. The reason for this is that the local governments need to make sure that they have laws that reflect their communities needs.
The federal government has very few laws about long guns also known as rifles and shotguns. Under federal law age is not a factor when deciding who is allowed to possess a long gun. Possession of a firearm can be legal or illegal. Legal possession of a firearm is when someone has direct or indirect control of a firearm. Illegal possession of a firearm is when a person either has control of weapon thru illegal means or has control of an ille...
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...orted having weapons that are improperly stored. When you put the two together it is easy to see that most juveniles take their parents firearms. They are readily accessible and there is no need to pay for them. This makes it easy for youths to commit violent crimes with firearms but it also makes it very easy for youths to commit suicide. A teen is most likely to commit suicide at home and this could be partially the reason for this.
Youths are also able to get weapons from secondary markets, which account for 30-40% of all the guns in circulation. These markets tend to be safe for transaction but they can also be very dangerous. It is generally safer to buy a weapon from a friend, family member, legal gun owner or gun shows. It becomes very dangerous for youths to buy guns from drug dealer/ addicts, street gun dealers or from a person who illegally owns a gun.
First of all, it is important to understand what gun control is as a whole. "The term 'gun control ' refers to any government policy limiting the ownership and use of firearms. Gun control policies can restrict the types of weapons and accessories that private individuals may legally possess or own" ("Guns", Culture ¶2). These policies have restrictions such as age, past
At present there are numerous regulations and restrictions on firearms imposed by the government. However there are no national mandated requirements or all encompassing legislation. The laws in place vary from state to state and are in some cases are poorly enforced. Hard evidence as to the effectiveness of these present regulations is ambiguous. The question as to how the government and society deals with gun control is unique to the USA. In a complex issue such as gun control both sides of the equation have valid arguments to be h...
The influences that are most common in youth that result in using a gun to commit a crime are mental instability, and bullying. Bullying has become a very hot topic recently because we have seen so many people result to going to school with a gun to try to scare the person that is bullying them or we have heard of suicides by these same kids. Bullying can also cause some other issues ...
More than 20,000 children and youth under the age of 20 years old are injured or killed by guns in the U.S. The easy accesses kids have to getting their hands on guns are a major reason why firearms are the second leading cause of death among the youth. The majority of deaths by guns in the youth are homicides. About one-third of them are suicides. Seven percent are unintentional. People living in urban areas such as, older teens, males, African American youth, and Hispanic youth are more likely to be involved in gun homicides. People in rural areas like males and Caucasian youth are more likely to commit suicide. There were 2,711 infant, child, and teen firearm deaths. That’s seven deaths a day.
In New York, there is a juvenile possession law, a permit to purchase a gun, registration, licensing of owners and a permit to carry a gun are all required. This is quite strict compared to Texas.
On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza, a 20 year old with asperger’s syndrome, shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut . According to the final report by the states attorney’s office he got in the school at 9:30 AM in the morning and shot the principal and the school’s psychologist that went out to the hallway to check loud bangs they heard. He then moved on to class rooms where innocent children were learning and started shooting and by 9:40 AM, just ten minutes later, he took the lives of twenty six people, including twenty children age twelve and below and six adults, before taking his own life (State Report on Sandy Hook Elementary shooting).
In recent years the school shooting activity shows alarming rates. As reported by Duplechain and Morris (2014), more than 350 documented school shootings happened from 1760 until 2014, from those 190 happened from 1990-2014 alone. The numbers are staggering and even more staggering is to find out some of the details of those shootings. School shootings perpetrated by underage people even a student from the school that completed their killing rampage committing suicide. Although, it might seem that the problem comes from the accessibility to guns people could have, the reality is different. In most cases mental instability can play as a key element, while bullying and media coverage can also act as important factors. This paper will explore some of reasons behind school shooters from the past, and it will demonstrate how accessibility to guns had nothing to do with the outcome of their behavior, by responding to the following questions.
Through the year’s shootings have increased by a significant amount. Individuals are becoming affected on a regular basis and are concerned about there safety. Parents are worried for there youth getting assaulted, sexually violence, tormented, kidnaped, murdered on the other hand, now there ending up to be more stressed for there child getting shot. Guns have been around for hundredths of years, both world wars were succeeded with guns, hence, guns were served to defend its nation through history. In Western society citizens purchase guns for self preservation. Unfortunately, they are utilized in opposing ways, the majority of crimes are involved in gun shootings; this is an essential issue in America. Most agree that gun violence will have
Violence related to guns is a prominent issue in America. Guns are a means to an end; meaning guns have played a strong role in suicides, murders, and injuries. In the past decade there has been an average of 400-500 thousand incidents of firearms per year (Gun Violence). The number of injured people from firearm incidents in the United States per year for the past decade is 400-600 thousand people (Gun Violence). These statistics are absolutely shocking to anyone. The amount of violence and crime that comes from guns is enormous. It is imperative that proper gun control is put into place by means of background checks and proper training. It can almost be certain that the number of incidents of accidental discharges from children and the number of victims affected by gun crimes in general can be highly reduced.
America is the most well armed nation in the world, with American citizens owning about 270 million of the world’s 875 million firearms (Marshall). Indeed, this is more than a quarter of the world’s registered firearms. The reason why Americans own so many guns is because of the Second Amendment, which states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (Rauch) This amendment guarantees U.S. citizens the right to have firearms. Since this amendment is relatively vague, it is up for interpretation, and is often used by gun advocates to argue for lenient gun laws. Hence, gun control is a frequently discussed controversial topic in American politics.
But men, women, and children can still go down to their local dealer and take advantage of any sales or discounts this person might be having on their drug of choice. These guns are just as easy to get as the drugs that also are illegal. Now a days criminals often carry highly illegal weapons like sawed of shotguns, machine guns, and homemade zip guns. But the gun control guys have blamed once again the gun not the criminal. Washington D.C. and New York have lots of gun control laws.
Guns and violence have some long lasting effects on not only the crime rate, but the rights that people have to own guns themselves. Even though the violence is a factor in why many believe that guns should be banned, guns should be allowed and not banned because they should be allowed because of the laws and the rights of citizens allow them there rights. The ethics and laws that occur with the current and enduring debates are another meaningful point. As Supreme Court Cases rage on about how a cities ban on handguns could break amendments, this is how the topic has gained from it (Hoxie 474). As crime statistics begin to rise there are many reasons that they need to work on the juvenile justice system (Collier 478). The other topic of the age could become a factor is another point that many think needs to be changed, as a 13 year old child could commit murder, they would not be sentenced as severely as an adult (Cohen 481). The ethic and laws play a huge effect on guns and violence because of the effects it has on crime, and the citizens themselves play a huge role on the society that they live in.
The government has passed many laws regarding the ownership and use of firearms. Currently the federal law states the following: The use of any firearm in a violent or drug trafficking crime is punishable by law. A person who wishes to purchase a firearm must be 18 years of age to purchase a rifle or shot gun and a person must be 21 years of age to purchase a hand gun. Regarding travel, notwithstanding any state or local law, a person shall be entitled to transport a firearm from any place where they may lawfully possess and transport such firearm if the firearm is unloaded and in the trunk.
Very few youth of today have respect for teachers, elders, or each other. Everyday more and more instances of violent crime are committed by our nation’s youth and children. Shocking accounts of children bringing guns to school as a means of solving problems with a teacher or a fellow student are becoming increasingly frequent. Children are committing crime, which were one thought only committed by adults such as rape, robbery, and murder.
The first thing that parents should be worried about would be the exposure of guns that their children have. Several families have guns at home because they feel they are secure having them for protection. People buy guns because they believe that where they live,