Mass shootings in schools, gun homicides, non-fatal and fatal street shootings, and other types of gun violence have recently become a highly disturbing and urgent social problem. Its significance is determined by the fact that gun violence strongly affects young people physically and mentally. In the United States, more than 3,000 children and adolescents aged from 0 to 19 years old are shot and killed every year (“The impact of gun violence on children and teens,” 2021). Moreover, approximately 15,000 young people are shot and injured – in other words, 51 young Americans are affected by gun violence every year (“The impact of gun violence on children and teens,” 2021). At the same time, the victims of gun violence are people who witnessed how their family members, friends, or unknown people have been killed by the gun or heard gunshots, as well.
In general, firearms may be regarded as the leading cause of death among young people, and it is a purely American problem not typical for other high-income countries (“The impact of gun violence on children and teens,” 2021). The cases of gun violence that affect children and adolescents include homicides, suicides, street shootings in urban areas, and mass shootings in schools and other education facilities. As a matter of fact, the intersection of gun violence and domestic violence has the biggest impact on youth – almost 60% of young people affected by gun violence every year are affected by homicides (“The impact of gun violence on children and teens,” 2021). Children are killed in the home or witness the death of family members. Another major reason for gun deaths among young people is suicides, the number of which has dramatically increased over the past several decades. In addition, high rates of suicides are also determined by increased access to a weapon for young people, and the combination of a loaded and unlocked gun at home with suicidal ideation may be lethal.
At the same time, gun violence is represented in multiple ways in American schools as well. Students are frequently impacted by intentional and unintentional shootings that cause injury or death, gun homicides, and gun suicides. In addition, Black and Hispanic young people are more affected by gun violence in comparison with White children and adolescents due to racial segregation and deliberate underinvestments in their neighborhoods and communities (“The impact of gun violence on children and teens,” 2021). Nevertheless, gun violence causes highly severe physical and psychological harm for youth regardless of age, race, and family socioeconomic status. Injuries may cause irreparable negative consequences to health, and being a witness to shootings substantially affects mental health. Young people exposed to any type of gun violence experience various negative psychological effects that include posttraumatic stress, desensitization to violence, anger, withdrawal, constant fear, anxiety, and even suicidal ideation. In addition, for students, these short-term and long-term psychological effects may cause a lack of concentration, distraction, and, as a result, poor school performance (Bergen-Cico et al., 2018).
Modern findings suggest classifying young people’s exposure to gun violence as an adverse childhood experience in order to initiate more research for efficient preventative and responsive measures (Rajan et al., 2019). In the present day, almost all suggested and already implemented measures are concentrated around gun sales control. In other words, a weapon should be inaccessible to children, adolescents, domestic abusers, and mentally unstable people to prevent shootings and suicides. Moreover, schools should implement particular thread assessment programs to identify students vulnerable to the risk of violence committing to prevent tragic incidents.
References
Bergen-Cico, D., Lane, S. D., Keefe, R. H., Larsen, D.A., Panasci, A., Salaam, N., Jennings-Bey, T., & Rubinstein, R. A. (2018). Community gun violence as a social determinant of elementary school achievement. Social Work in Public Health, 33(7-8), 439-448.
Rajan, S., Branas, C. C., Myers, D., & Agrawal, N. (2019). Youth exposure to violence involving a gun: Evidence for adverse childhood experience classification. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 42, 646-657.
The impact of gun violence on children and teens.(2021). Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.