Gun Control is NOT the Answer to Juvenile Crime

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"In October 1997, a 16-year old in Pearl, Mississippi, first killed his mother and then went to school and shot nine students, two fatally; in December 1997 a 14-year old went to his school in West Paducah, Kentucky, killed three students and wounded five others; in March last year, two boys, aged eleven and thirteen, killed four girls and a teacher outside their school in Jonesboro, Arkansas; the next month a science teacher was shot dead, allegedly by a 14-year old, at a school dance in Edinsboro, Pennsylvania; last May in Fayetteville, Tennessee, an 18-year old student allegedly shot dead a classmate in the school car park; two days later, in Springfield, Oregon, a 15-year old opened fire at his high school, killing two teenagers and wounding more than twenty (police later found that his parents had been killed at home) ("Lesson"). On April 20th of this year, two teenagers enter their school and open fire, killing 12 students and one teacher before taking their own lives. All this sounds like an abstract from some of today's action movies, but sadly enough, all these events are true and have plagued our nation for the past eighteen months. Not only have juvenile crime rates gone up in the past few years, but a heightened awareness of these crimes exists because of how violent natured these crimes have become. "Homicides committed by juveniles with firearms have tripled in number since 1983" (Jenson and Howard 324). As recent events and studies show, there is an obvious problem in this country with juvenile crime and the increasing number of these crimes that involve the use of firearms, but t say that guns are the problem is a failure to look at the big picture. Actors within the political community... ... middle of paper ... ...together is the only way we will ever overcome it. Sources Cited: "Blame the Makers." The Economist 21 Nov. 1998: 29 "Charlton Heston's Tablets of Stone." The Economist 1 May 1999: 30 Jenson, Jeffrey and Howard, Matthew. "Youth Crime, Public Policy, and Practice in the Juvenile Justice System: Recent Trends and Needed Reforms." Social Work 43 (1998): 324-32 Lee, Robert W. "Gun Report: The Buford Furrow Tragedy." The New American 15 (1999): 33 Lee, Robert W. "Gun Control and Schools." The New American 15 (1999): 41 Lee, Robert W. "A Liberal Look at Gun Control" The New American 15 (1999): 39-41 "The Moving Target of Gun Control." Mother Jones Sep/Oct 1999: 29-31 "The Lesson Nobody Learns." The Economist 24 Apr 1999: 25-26 Richman, Sheldon. "The Seen and Unseen in Gun Control." The Freeman 1 Oct 1998: 610-611

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