How Do Guns Affect Our Society

Teenage murders may be unprecedented, but violence is not. The past has followed us right up to today. Several national magazines recently ran alarming stories about the epidemic of criminal and group violence. Rolling Stone in "A Pistol-Whipped Nation" and both Time and Newsweek ran alarming cover stories about the "virtual epidemic of youth violence." Newsweek's "Teen Violence: Wild in the Streets," decried the number of young people carrying guns, using them, being shot, and being killed. Accompanying all this was a casual if not blase attitude indicating that, as one expert quoted in Time put it, "Violence is hip right now."

We don’t need to be that vigilant in order to know that gun-related violence and massacres have infiltrated our society. There have been many cases of public mass shootings that have occurred, with some of them happening in schools. 2015 will now be known as the year of mass shootings in the United States, and this is also the reason why the discussion for new gun control laws has heighten in the media.

In today’s society, there is plenty to talk about. Whether it be about the President, the weather change, there is always something to talk about. One of the major issues that has been talked about for an extended period of time is gun control and the issues that follow it. There are two specific articles that were chosen today; one of which from the Chicago Sun Times website, and the other from the New York Times.

The article “On Punishment and Teen Killers,” by Jennifer Jenkins, explains why teens should be punished as adults and how the media is influencing the youth to commit serious crimes. The author, Jennifer Jenkins, shares her case where her sister with her unborn child, were murdered by a teen with a gun. She explains that there are advocates who wish to minimize the offender's culpability simply because of their age. Jenkins add that in America, weapons are easily available to our youth, and that they grow in a violence-loving culture. She says that the Inuit people of northern Canada had no juvenile crime at all until 1980 with the introduction of television into their culture, which influenced the teens to commit crimes. Jenkins affirms that if brain development would be the cause of the teens to commit crimes, so then the whole world should have the same rate of juvenile crimes.

Stricter gun control for civilians in the United States would reduce the violence in our country. According to a poll taken by Sandra M. Alters in 2007, an overwhelming 60% of Americans support gun control. Only 32% of Americans said that they do not support gun control and another 8% said that they have no preference. The American public sees gun control as a way to stop the madness and the violence escalating in our country.

Guns have been is society for centuries. They have been used for hunting, war, and even safety. However, in the past several years they have begun to take the lives of many innocent victims, often young children. In response to the killings in Newtown, Conn., it has been noted, “If this were a country, the number of children killed by gun violence would violate international law.” (Browne-Marshall) F.B.I. data shows in 2011, 1,668 African American children were killed due to guns. Day by day gun violence is rising and it is not only in ghetto neighborhoods.

A trend analysis of juvenile homicide offenses shows that since the mid 1970's, the number of homicides in which no firearm was involved has remained fairly constant. However, homicides by juveniles involving a firearm have increased nearly threefold. In addition, during this same period, the number of juvenile arrests for weapons violations increased 117 percent. When guns are the weapon of choice, juvenile violence becomes deadly.

What does Columbine, Sandy Hook, and the Edlington murders all have in common? These were all violent crimes, committed within the last decade, by people under the age of 21. Every time you turn on the television, there is news of children engaging in disruptive, dangerous behaviors. Juvenile detention camps are filled with children under the age 18 who have maimed and murdered others. Looking at data from the National Criminal Data base, it is a clear fact that children’s behavior is significantly deteriorated from 20 years ago. Some critics would argue that the rate of children’s misbehavior has been the same through the decades, but this paper will present evidence that children’s behavior is indeed on the incline. Factors to support this view include: data of school violence, the severity of crimes committed, and the increase of diagnosing children with mental and behavior disorders.

Researchers have found that adolescent murders tend to be not only violent, but extremely violent. One teen murderer stabbed his victim forty-six times (Kreiner 41). Josh McDowell, in his book Right from Wrong says, “Today’s youth are not playing loud music and wearing radical hairstyles; they have graduated, it seems, to a level of adolescent aggression, promiscuity, cynicism, and violence that bristles the hair on parents’ necks” (McDowell 6). The most significant change in the youth has been in their attitudes. The new generation is more inclined to resort to violence over trivial issues or for no apparent reason. Violent juvenile crime is now a national epidemic and is predicted to get worse. The group most associated with juvenile violence in America is males aged fifteen to nineteen. Statistics show that this segment of the male population will increase by 30 percent by the year 2020 (Grapes

Adolescent violence has turned into an expanding issue in the U.S. youth violence and young people raised in the 1990s and has stayed high. Youth are the in all probability gathering to be casualties or culprits of high school violence, however the after effects of teenager violence influence everybody. Youth brutality insights demonstrate this is a significant issue: A normal of 15 youngsters are killed every day in the U.S., and more than 80 percent of those are killed with firearms (Khey, 2008). In 2004, brutality insights report 750,000 youngsters were dealt with in doctor 's facilities for roughness related wounds (Khey, 2008). One third of secondary school understudies reported being included in a battle at school in 2004, and 17 percent reported conveying a weapon to class in the month going before the 2004 overview (Khey, 2008). 1 in 12 young people in secondary school are harmed or undermined with a weapon every year (School Violence in America, 2015). 30 percent of junior and senior secondary school understudies are included in tormenting every year as the casualty, spook, or both (School Violence in America, 2015). According to a savagery measurements report by the U.S. Mystery Service, in the earlier decade, the chances of a secondary school understudy being harmed or debilitated with a weapon were around 1 in 14, and the chances of an adolescent being in a physical battle were 1 in 7 (Hiscock, 1926). Youth roughness can influence anybody, however a few

Today, homicide is the second leading cause of death for people between the ages of 10 and 24; when discussing youth violence the range is extended beyond 18 and in to the mid twenties (CDC). In addition to murder, non-fatal injuries are another large part of the picture of youth violence. In 2007, 668,000 young people between the ages of 10 and 14 were treated for violence related injuries at hospital emergency rooms (CDC). In 2007, a large representative sample of the country’s high school students were surveyed; 35.5% of students surveyed answered ‘yes’ when asked if “they had been in a physical fight in the previous twelve months”, and 4.2% of students surveyed answered ‘yes’ when asked if they had been “in a physical fight one or more times in the previous twelve months that resulted in injuries that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse (CDC). As this survey was conducted with a representative sample, it helps to give one a good picture of the aggregate youth violence problem in the United States of America.

Violent crimes can be defined as murder, rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault or even petty theft and others depending on state law. According to the number of violent crimes committed by people under the age of 18 has declined since its peak in 1994. That is not saying violent crime among youths are unlikely to happen. Out of the 2.5 million juveniles arrested in 1999. 104,000 of the arrests were for violent crimes. “Juveniles accounted for 16 percent of all violent crime arrests and 32 percent of all property crime arrests in 1999”. The more recent numbers in certain cities paint a gloomier picture. In Minneapolis, 63 percent of all violent crime and property theft suspects were juveniles in 2005. Washington, D.C and Boston are facing similar increases in violent juvenile crime despite the nation’s overall rejection. The rejection that occurred in most of the U.S. during the past decade coincides with the fact that most states now permit minors to be tried as adults for violent crimes and all states have a procedure for transferring juveniles to the adult criminal system. Some of the transfers to adult court even occur automatically based on the juvenile’s age and crime. However, since this is governed by individual states, there is no consistency to which juveniles get transferred and for what crime which may explain why certain cities

Teen Violence is a big dilemma in today’s society. Violent behaviors usually start from family and peers, as well as teens observing it at there neighborhoods or communities. These behaviors are reinforced by what youth see on television, on the Internet, in video games, movies, music videos, and what they hear in their music. When children are disciplined with severe corporal punishment or verbal abuse, or when they are physically or sexually abused, or when they witness such behavior in their home, it is not surprising that they behave violently toward others. Teen Violence has had such an impact in our youth today that it leads many destructive things and that’s why we have so much violence today.

The children of today are being born into a harsh society, one that Americans have never seen before. Media bombards citizens with scenes of death and violence. From the toys children play with to the movies they watch to even seeing what their parents watch on the news, children grow up learning that violence is the social norm. With over 30,000 deaths by guns each year, Americans are now realizing change is needed causing huge debates within our political system (Siegel But could the solution be closer to home? In order to minimize gun violence in America, society must first recognize its flaws in approach to finding a solution, with fixing Americans societal problems first not only will violence be minimized but the health of American

Gun violence continues to dominate national headlines. On average, the gun violence epidemic leaves a child or teen wounded or dead every hour in the United States, resulting in 47 American children and teens shot every day, and culminating to ___ shot every year. Deaths related to gun violence are now the third leading cause of death for American children. And these statistics are based solely on the actual deaths, but does not account for those exposed to this brutality—friends, family members, and other children who are psychologically damaged and struck with fear in their hearts.