What Teens think about Gun Ownership
This photo is from Jacksonville.com presenting the violence guns bring to our younger generation of teens.
May 21, 2021
In 2019, 15, 218 people died from gun deaths. Of those, 3,068 were teens. That means that teens (12-17) accounted for 20% of all gun deaths that year.
In the past three months, there have been four mass shootings. Some of the victims were teens. SBHS freshman Lucas Rego had heard about them on the news and he felt terrible.
“It just shows how much on a day to day basis that gun violence and these shootings take place in our country, and it needs to change,” said Rego.
Gun ownership is on the rise in the US and in most states, you can buy any type of gun, from shot guns to AR-15 style assault rifles as young as 18 years old.
“My family does not believe in owning a gun in the house, we think it would be going against our beliefs of gun violence. Fighting violence with violence isn’t the answer, “ said Wyatt Cello, Junior at SBHS.
According to Everytown Research about 4.6 million teens and children live in homes where at least one gun is loaded and unlocked. They say the rise of purchasing guns is that people feel more protected owning one. Stat on why most people buy a gun
“ I understand the need for a gun in self defense situations but it isn’t the solution in the long run, it will only increase more gun violence” said Tiphanie Olowu, senior at SBHS.
According to Everytown Research firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens (ages 0 to 19) in the U.S. And every year there about 15,000 children and teens are shot or killed.
“Owning a gun shouldn’t be easy to get unless you are personally trained, have a license, have a background check, be legal of age and etc. there should be no need for others to have a gun if not needed or not a legally registered for one,” said Renate Hernandez, senior at SBHS
About 22 percent of Americans report acquiring their most recent gun without a background check according to Everytown Research, which only 29 states require background check to purchase a gun.
“There are many ways to prevent gun violence, one solution could be by helping and involving more people in communities, another solution can be that required gun owners must be licensed and completely have safety training,” said Tiphanie Olowu, senior at SBHS .
There’s a lot of solutions that can be made about gun restriction or prevention like gun secure storages, more deep background checks, gun safety features, but it’s a lot to question if guns should be banned completely or not.
“Honestly I’m going to have to say no, because even though I’m against gun violence I feel like banning guns wouldn’t solve the solution and would probably cause more crime towards the situation because people won’t have the ability to defend themselves against people who own illegal guns,” said Liani Moran, senior at SBHS
According to the Brady Institute, 22 children between the ages of 1-17 are shot everyday in the U.S.
“This is why gun violence brings nothing but negativity; it causes intentional homicide, domestic violence, robbery and assault, etc. and has caused a very big impact on our society,” said Rego.
According to Everytown Research in the ten years between 2009 and 2018, 1,121 people were shot and killed in the United States in a mass shooting.
“ When shootings like this happen it should help raise awareness to stop these kinds of acts from happening, there needs to be stricter laws in place,” said Cello.
And an estimate of 3 million teens and children in the US are exposed to shootings per year.
There’s been recent cases of mass shootings that happened in the last few months, which in one case on April 15, Indianapolis, police identified Brandon Scott Hole, 19, as the gunman who killed eight people and injured at least seven others at a FedEx facility late Thursday. Hole killed himself before the police arrived.
Family members said that workers were unable to use their cellphones on the job, leaving them unable to confirm their safety for hours.
“ This is so sad to think that cases like this happen on a day to day bases, this is why we need to require more gun safety laws” said Hernandez
Another case that happened was in Allen, Texas, April 3rd, authorities said two brothers killed four family members before killing themselves. The bodies were discovered after the police arrived at a home for a welfare check.
“ This is why there should be background checks on who owns these firearms, it’s so sad that cases like this just keep rising,” said Moran
March 31st, Orange California, a mass shooting happened, a gunman opened fire at a real estate office, killing four people, including a 9-year-old boy. The shooting was most likely related to a “business and personal relationship which existed between the suspect and all of the victims,” the authorities said.
“ We definitely need to require all gun sales to be background checked, because stuff like this keeps happening because even people with dangerous background still are able to purchase a gun” said Rego
