Gun Violence and Operation Ceasefire

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Gun violence in youth has become much more prevalent. Today’s youth are more likely to turn to guns to solve their problems with bullies or to help them to fight a mental illness. Kids are taking guns from their parents or are just going to the streets and buying the guns from random people. Although there are jurisdictions that have started to use gun violence programs to help combat these issues the programs are not found everywhere and are not going to work forever. One such program that we will learn about later on is Operation Ceasefire. What is gun violence? Gun Violence is any crime that has been committed with the use of a gun. What are some of the causes of gun violence? Gun violence in youth can be attributed to many different influences. According to an NBC News study “7,000 children are injured severely enough by gun violence to be sent to the hospital and 3,000 children are injured so badly that they do not even make it to the hospital. This means that every year about 10,000 children are involved in gun related violence each year.” (Carroll, 2014) What this means is that youth gun violence is way too high. Although in the U.S. we are not able to purchase a gun until we are 18 somehow we are seeing kids under the age of 18 getting their hands on guns and shooting and killing their siblings or parents or fellow students at their school. 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 ... ... middle of paper ... ...P., Vorrasi, J. A. (2002). Effects of Gun Violence on Children and Youth. Journal Issue: Children, Youth, and Gun Violence, 12(2). Retrieved from http://futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=42&articleid=166§ionid=1068 Lane, TR. (2012, April 7). Bullying and School shootings. Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/article/bullying-and-school-shootings Leahy, Maureen. (2013) American Academy of Orthapaedic Surgeons. Taking Aim at Youth Gun Violence. Retrieved from http://www.aaos.org/news/aaosnow/feb13/cover2.asp National Institute of Justice. (n.d.). Operation Ceasefire (Boston, Mass.) Retrieved from http://www.crimesolutions.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?ID=207 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary online. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/post-traumatic%20stress%20disorder

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