Sadly, firearms are second only to motor
vehicle accidents in their claim on young lives.
Research indicates that educational
efforts aimed at persuading young people to behave responsibly around guns are
limited in their effectiveness.
Parents must monitor children’s exposure
to guns and protect them from unsupervised use. Any stored guns in a home
should be locked, unloaded, and separated from ammunition.
Community leaders can also help. They can
promote young people’s safety by sending unequivocal messages that gun violence
is not an acceptable way to resolve conflict.
It’s also been shown that requiring
safety features on guns can reduce unintentional shootings among young children
and adults.
In addition, emerging technologies will
enable manufacturers to personalize guns and prevent unauthorized users from
operating them.
Most important, as a society we must
limit the flow of illegal guns to youth. Federal and state laws regarding gun
sales should be tightened so that fewer weapons are accessible to young people.
The physical, economic, and emotional
toll of gun violence against young people is unacceptable, regardless of one’s
position on adult ownership and use of guns.
