Children in the United States are considered to be endangered as more than 18,000 students under the age of 19 years are shot and killed by use of firearms each year (Lawrence & Robert, 2006). These gunshot incidents are caused by family members, strangers, and even peers. It was also noted that thousands of youths and children use guns to commit suicide.
This has even proved to be the most successful way to commit suicide compared to other means. For most families, shooting in schools has left them living with fear that their children are no longer safe in the hands of school administration.
Late last year, a student by the name Adam Lanza forced his way into an elementary school by the name Sandy Hook. Within five minutes, he had shot 154 bullets leaving 26 people dead by use of a Bushmaster 223- calibre rifle.
This left the country so devastated with so many questions being asked by the parents. This led to various demonstrations being held across the United States protesting the burn of firearm use completely.
Use of guns for perpetuating violence is not the major problem, violence among the youth is. Guns raise special attention because they are lethal and widely available to the youth thereby worsening youth violence. The major cause of injury and death is gun violence. It has caused serious communal and mental issues on youth, youngsters and even families in the society (Lawrence & Robert, 2006).
There are various factors that have contributed to gun violence in the United States especially among the youth and children. One such issue is the engagement in drug related issues among the youth. It is not only drug and substance abuse that causes gun violence among the youth in schools and societies at large.
The youth are also seen to engage in drug dealings and street drug markets. Most of these drug dealings lead to the youths forming cartels that often end up in rivalry among the groups. The youth in these groups end up buying guns from illegal gun markets to be able to control the illegal drug market.
The second factor that contributes to gun violence in the United States is the fact that guns are made available to the youth. Through the illegal gun markets, the youth are able to buy guns and used them anytime they feel threatened by the society around them (Alexander, 2003).
Even where adults own guns, they fail to put adequate measures to ensure that the youth under their care are not able to access such lethal weapons. It therefore makes it hard for schools to control such youth as the youth themselves feel like they have overpowered the community around them.
Illegal gangs in the United States are not an unfamiliar case. Each year more and more gangs are formed by the youth (Lawrence & Robert, 2006). These gangs often cause insecurity in the society as most of them, if not all, possess guns illegally. These gangs often get involved in gun fights amongst themselves leading to serious injuries and even death among the youth.
There has always been a public debate about how guns should be used appropriately in the society. The argument has concentrated on situations under which adults ought to own guns overseeing the youth (Stephens & Nelson, 2007). The supporters of gun rights insist on the appropriate usage of guns for self-protection and athletic (Holly, 2008).
They fail to propose that children and the youth should not access guns whatever the circumstance without the supervision of adults. Youth and children should be treated as a special case when it comes to law and public opinion regarding gun policy (Alexander, 2003). That way there will be a control measure put in place to ensure that there is reduction in the number of youth able to access guns that cause danger to school children and staff.
In order to address the gun violence issues in the United States, there should be strong relationship between levels of government and its branches.
This is important for the delivery and administration of education services in the United States. Ministry of education must reduce its levels of bureaucracy by delegating operational aspects that are significant to lower governmental levels such as schools. In order for government’s policies to be effective, both by design and implementation, there should be a strong relationship between levels of government and their branches. Such relation is referred to as intergovernmental relation.
In terms of intergovernmental relation aspect, there are various aspects that should be considered in order to address gun violence in schools and communities. One such aspect is the government structure. Most countries hold a unitary form of government whereby the central government makes most decisions relating to its country’s issues (Holly, 2008).
This is not a good system of administration as the government at the top does not understand the day to day situations that affect departments under it directly.
There should be a decentralised system of government to allow for decision making at schools. This encourages efficiency among schools as it inspires liberal and democratic decisions among schools. Schools will hence be able to stream line their students whenever they are found to be going astray by administering punishment and counselling whenever necessary.
In addition, the aspect of capacity that should be considered is – building and accountability standards. These standards, especially in examinations, are left in the responsibility of state to determine the average expected standards of passing an examination. These high- stake exams do not consider underinvestment in various schools by the state as it could be a major cause of underperformance by some school.
The underperformed schools could be lacking the right amounts of finances to be able to take up disciplinary measures for correcting school children. This is indeed an aspect that should be considered to be able to control the number of school dropouts and even be able to ensure that the school children and the youth are nurtured to produce well behaved persons in the society.
Moreover, the aspect of intergovernmental relations and the financing of schools should also be considered. The state should ensure that equal amount of tax money is disbursed to finance the education of children regardless of where he or lives (Stephens & Nelson, 2007).
This step coupled with decentralization will ensure that schools not only use their funds to improve students’ performance but also come up with programmes that improve the moral state of children and youth going through the education process. Schools will be able to budget effectively and be able to set aside funds for counselling students with special needs.
The finally aspect to be considered is school- linked social- services coordination. Not only children in the United States but also children all over the world are faced by a multitude of contemporary problems. Such problems include; racism, family violence, substance abuse, unaffordable and inadequate housing, sexual promiscuity and child abuse. The services needed to react to these evils are normally fragmented across a number of uncoordinated government ministries and agencies (Stephens & Nelson, 2007).
It is therefore important for states to adopt policies that ensure external agencies and schools work together to address non-academic issues experienced by children and the youth in schools. Schools should also ensure a coordinated service linked to schools to develop new expectations by introducing new actors in the education system.
One thing that generates barriers is the fact that there are professional and organizational variances among numerous government agencies and schools. Such barriers include confidentiality issues, lack of a common outlook and even communication problem.
In conclusion, gun legislation and policies must be amended in order to reduce the incidents of gun violence among the youth and children in schools. Very few gun violence prevention programs and policies involving the youth have been taken into consideration up to date (Holly, 2008).
Policy makers should be encouraged to think widely as regards to gun policy to ensure that parents and children are no longer prone to dangers associated with gun violence and therefore live without fear. Coming up with the policies is not the only issue.
The aspect of intergovernmental relation should also be taken into consideration if such policies are to remain effective in terms of implementation in the future. Without intergovernmental relation, there would be poor coordination and hence poor response in addressing the issues that affect schools and the community at large regarding gun violence among the youth and children in the society.
References
Alexander, D. (2003). Gun violence in America. New Hampshire, NH: University Press of England.
Holly, C. (2008). Gun violence: Violence and society. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group.
Lawrence, O.J., & Robert, C. (2006). American intergovernmental relations: Foundations, perspectives, and issues. Washington, DC: CQ press.
Stephens, G.R., & Nelson, W. (2007). American intergovernmental relations: A fragmented federal polity. New York, NY: Oxford University press.