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Boys And Guns
There is something most if not all boys have in common, being an adult or a child. That is the unexplained fascination with guns, of course some being more fascinated than others. Growing up I remember making fake guns out of paper and I loved water guns, all toy guns drew my interest. Despite, I always being concerned of ever grimly wielding a gun that could actually fire a harmful projectile. A power like that never seemed to draw my interest. Every boy I knew growing up shared my fascination more or less, this lead to too many imaginary gun based games when playing outside. It was all fun and games in my eyes, until I received a firsthand experience of the harm a gun could bring.
Guns can be viewed in one of the two common perspectives; Tools meant for self-preservation in the presence of a dangerous entity. The other view could easily be lethal weapons, which cause fear pain and suffering. No matter what stand a person has, it is a fact that guns have the ability to damage, ruin, and end lives. Firearms can be seen everywhere from television, to video games and even in real life most commonly strapped to the waist of a licensed officer. Though, having little to no direct danger as real guns, can toy guns be as big of a problem being a gateway to the real thing. Toy guns come in many forms and are easily attainable by people of every age and most popular among young children. Can the developing mind of a small child exposed to guns be tainted towards accepting them as a regular everyday item, down playing on the devastation that comes attached to it?
My own experience with this comes from my early childhood. At the age of six, I was playing on the jungle gym playground like a normal child care free and e...
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.... Whatever stance is taken there can be an equal amount of proof and methods to disprove the opposite. That is ultimately the sensible way to solve the dispute, by seeing them as having a symbiotic relationship. One flourishes off of the other, in a cyclic fashion.
Works Cited
Chiaramonte, Perry. "BB Gun Control: In New Jersey, Kids' Rite of Passage Could Mean Felony." Fox News. FOX News Network, 10 Dec. 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 201
Overstreet, Tammy. "BB Pistol Found at Cedartown Middle School Is under Investigation."Examiner.com. N.p., 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Pearle, Lauren. "Kids and Guns: By The Numbers." ABC News. ABC News Network, 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
Toppo, Greg. "10 Years Later, the Real Story behind Columbine - USATODAY.com." 10 Years Later, the Real Story behind Columbine - USATODAY.com. N.p., 14 Apr. 2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Watkins, Christine. "Gun Crimes Cause Serious Harm to Children." Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Gale Cenage, 20 Aug. 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
It may not always be in the home but street children are used to traffic guns from communities to other neighborhoods. Subliminal messages are being portrayed in the media which conditions their views of having guns as a necessity for protecting oneself which is the rational often given behind why one is needed. Common movies like Walker Texas Ranger or even Criminal Minds among other detective shows, or even the American Dad cartoon that I often hear children talking about send messages that using a gun is a quick and easy mean to take control of a situation. From a tender age colorful water guns are given as toys to boys in Jamaica How funny that when many children grow up to become killers or robbers we wonder where they could possible get the idea of shooting or robbing someone at gun point. In Jamaica there are many reprisal killing where people are being killed in daylight with children being witnesses or they themselves involved. Turning a family rifle on classmates or self to stanch internal or external conflict is a new found
If you have ever picked up a handgun whether it ranges from a real gun to even a water gun, you know of how simple it is to use and or operate it within a matter of minutes. You simply enough pick it up, aim it, and squeeze the trigger. The gun does all the rest. The trigger pushes against the sear and the disconnector, this releases the hammer which hits the firing pin that expels the bullet from the cartridge. From a technical viewpoint, this process is almost child 's play. Therein lies the problem. Children have been shown to frequently handle guns, with dire results. According to the Center for Disease Control, 409 kids aged 14 or younger died in 2013 alone as a result of playing with guns (Center for Disease Control “2013, United States
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.
Some of the deaths that were caused by gun violence was dealt to small children.Having a firearm in your home can cause a great risk if you have a child in your home because a firearm can be accessed by a child.In many situation the child is playing with firearm without adult supervision and end up either wounding themselves or end up dead. According to CNN “Guns kill Nearly 1,300 US children each year.”Also when a firearm is easily accessible a child will often grab a hold of it and it could be a possibility that they can take it to school there were some cases where a kid took a firearm to school and opened
Over the past few years there have been many incidents when children bring guns to school and shoot their fellow classmate(s) and/or teacher(s). The most recent and probably most tragic happened in 1998 at Colombine High School in Colorado when a group of students entered the school and murdered several students and a teacher. The first thing that everyone wondered once they finally heard the news is how the children got the guns? Supporters of gun control believe that if there were harsher gun laws, a lot of the school shootings would have never taken plac...
In recent years a great deal of attention has been centered on youth violence. Numerous studies have been conducted on children of all races who are subjected to gun violence. However, violent behaviors start from within the environment where children have been exposed too. Household, poor communities and school as well have put children at risk. Yet the problems of violence relatively are increasing according to Children’s Defense fund that gets their information from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, and other government statistics. It should be examined further since multiple acts of violent behaviors with guns continued to plague our society. In what ways can we stop gun violence from killing our children? Psychologists are interested in this question, and one answer is stop protecting firearms.
Today in the United States many people argue over the fact of guns being legal or illegal. There are people using guns for personal safety and there are others who use them for crimes, as well as for other situations. Firearm deaths in the United States have slowly been decreasing from year to year with all these bills getting passed to promote a safer country than ever before. Guns are the main weapon for youth suicide, school shootings, and for committing murder. In 2010 there were 2,711 infants, child, and teenage firearm deaths. As in school shootings and in committing murder, studies show shooters often had multiple, non-automatic guns, shootings were planned, most youth tell before shooting, shooters have a history of being bullied or threatened, shooters have mental issues, and shooters have done suicidal gestures before (Gun Control with School Shootings). Although there are people who use guns for murdering, there are also those who oppose guns being used without the proper requirements. 85% of all respondents to the survey supporting requiring states to report people to national background-checks systems who are prohibited from owning gu...
Severson, Kim, and Alan Blinder. "Guns at School? If There's A Will, There Are Ways." LexisNexis Academic. LexisNexis, 28 Sept. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Juvenile gun violence is an ever-increasing problem in our country. With a wave of school shooting behind us it is time to get this under control. Many studies have been done on how to effectively diminish juvenile gun violence. It is clear that this must be handled on a state and local level with the federal government backing the states. Prevention and law enforcement is the key to successfully eradicate our nation of the ugly stain caused by youth gun violence.
Unsecured guns have turned thousands of toddlers into killers and much more into victims. “Children younger than three have gotten a hold of guns and shot someone at least 59 times in 2015”; a trend first reported by Christopher Ingraham add the Washington Post in October. A solution to this would be proper gun storage; adults owning a gun must be more aware of the fact of toddlers or children being at the risk of obtaining weapons and causing mischief. They should place their firearm in a safe place where a child cannot reach it or find the way to create themselves or anyone else an injury or further tragedy including unwanted accidents. For example “Caroline Starks was two years old. Her 5-year-old brother was playing nearby with his birthday present: a .22-caliber Crickett rifle. His mother stepped outside for a moment; confident the gun had no bullets, therefore, wasn’t loaded. She was wrong. Caroline was pronounced dead a few hours later at the Cumberland County Hospital in Kentucky”.The action of misusing guns can affect children mentally and physically; “youth can also be influenced to take or make the wrong decision. Some kids may develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can affect brain development. The psychological trauma of gun violence may lead some children to arm themselves "for protection," or desensitize them so that they feel less hesitation
Alpers, Philip and Marcus Wilson. 2013. Guns in the United States: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law. Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney. GunPolicy.org, 14 March.10 April 2013.http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states
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.
The most startling examples of these risks usually involve children. Children are very curious and will stop at nothing to discover new ideas. When they play, it is normal for them to move about and find bits and pieces around the house. This innocent, normal behavior becomes dangerous when children start finding guns hidden or lying around. A typical story was told by the Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization working together for nuclear disarmament, (PSR) when “three-year-old Billy Higgins sat in the corner of his parent’s bedroom, trembling and confused, a gun having just gone off in his hand. His 2 year old sister, Anne Marie, lay motionless on her back, a small hole in her chest. While playing with his sister, Billy had found his father’s loaded handgun in a bedroom drawer. The father, John Higgins, never dreamed his small children were capable of finding or using his gun. He was wrong. And his daughter died”. (“Billy Higgins”) Obviously, John Higgins thought that he had his gun only accessible to himself, and even if his kids found it, they would not be able to shoot it. However, the National Safe Kids Campaign website shows that “Children as young as age 3 are strong enough to pull the trigger of many of the handguns available in the United States”.
The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence even has a special program set up called Straight Talk about Risks. This helps kids from kindergarten to 12th grade about how to control their anger, conflict resolutions, and what damage can be caused with using a firearm to resolve a conflict. These programs are a great forefront when trying to help children learn about gun safety and understand that a gun is not a