Youth and Guns: Violence in America

Youth and Guns: Violence in America Gun violence in the United States has become an epidemic. From the Civil War to the present, 567,000 Americans have died in combat; but since 1920, over 1 million American civilians have been killed by firearms (Children’s Defense Fund, p.15). For thousands of teens, death from gun violence is the end of the pipeline. In 2007, 3,042 children and teens died from gunfire in the United States—eight every day—as a result of homicide, suicide or accidental shootings. Almost six times as many children and teens – 17,523 – suffered non-fatal gun injuries, which have serious physical and emotional consequences. (Children’s Defense Fund, p.3) Youth violence is a complex problem, influenced by psychological, economic, and social factors (Eron and Slaby, 1–22). The problem is substantially worsened because of the lethality and accessibility of firearms. Guns cause deaths and severe injuries more frequently than knives, clubs, or fists, and with guns, even violent impulses can have lethal outcomes. Guns also are easily available to young people, even though federal law, with a few exceptions, prohibits those under 21 from purchasing handguns and those under 18 from purchasing rifles and shotguns or possessing handguns. Exceptional lethality, combined with easy access, accounts at least in part for the fact that firearm-related injuries remain the second leading cause of death among children and youth ages 10 to 19. Only motor vehicle accidents claim more young lives. ("National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System")
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth aged 10 to 19 years in the United States, accounting for 1883 deaths in 2001 ("Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence"). Firearms were used in approximately half of suicides within this age group in 2001; however, as recently as 1994, 7 of every 10 suicides among teenagers involved firearms. (Kellermann, p.

Cited: Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Brady Campaign, 2011. Web. 9 Dec 2011. . Journal of the American Medical Association (March 1, 2000) 1202–03. (1998) Kennedy, D Miller, Matthew, Deborah Azrael, and David Hemenway. “Household Firearm Ownership and Suicide Rates in the United States.” Epidemiology 13 (2006) 517-724 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System. n. page. Web. 9 Dec. 2011. . United States. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Commerce in firearms in the United States. Washington, DC: , 2000