Youth and Gun Violence

Youth and Guns

Imagine being able to get your hands on a gun in your community with ease when you were younger. Sounds cool right? Well, to some it might and that’s how young children are living in our communities now-a-days. Kids are able to get guns as long as they have parents with guns or the money to buy one. There aren’t enough restrictions on guns & who can get a hold of them on the streets and parents aren’t doing a well enough job of hiding their guns from their children. Something needs to be done. Too many children and young adults are being injured and murdered by something that is supposed to protect them. The ease in which youths are able to possess guns needs to be stopped. The harder it is for kids to get guns, the safer they’ll be.

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.

One way the youth are getting their hands on guns so easily are guns in the residence. Not saying guns shouldn’t be in homes, they’re still a way of protecting one’s self and others. Parents just need to do a way better job of concealing their firearms. A significant number of adults with...

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... have to lose in order for people to actually start trying to remove guns from their grasp? Adults play a role in the violence within children. Some play the good role; trying to stop it, and some, the bad; condoning it. Others don’t play a role at all. Everyone needs to play a good role and work to stop the violence in our children. Imagine a world where our youth don’t try to kill each other. Where they don’t necessarily get along but they don’t turn it into violence either. A peaceful place, with hardly any guns, and safer than before. Sounds good right? Well, how about we make it happen?

Works Cited

"Children, Youth, and Gun Violence: Analysis." Princeton. The Future of Children, n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. .

"Youth Access to Firearms." Means Matter. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.