How does exposure to gun violence affect kids and teens?
A look at how gun violence affects kids directly and the emotional toll of being exposed to gun violence.
In the early hours of June 12, the worst mass shooting in American history happened. A gunman killed 49 people and wounded dozens more in a shooting rampage in a Florida nightclub. My first thought was "Please no, not again." Innocent people — just living their lives — gone forever in an instant. So many families and friends lost their most important person in the world. As a doctor for teenagers and a mother of three, I am anxious about how violence in the news, schools, communities, and entertainment industry will affect our children. One way or another, it has to affect them.
On average, 17,499 children and teens are shot per year in murders, assaults, suicides and suicide attempts, unintentional shootings, or by police intervention; 2,677 of these children die.
1,671 children and teens are murdered.
827 children and teens kill themselves.
124 children and teens are killed unintentionally.
24 are killed by police intervention.
30 die but the intent was unknown.
Pencil, notebook, lunch...weapon? From the time our kids start school, we think that they're embarking on a 13-year journey in which they will learn and make friends — not be exposed to gun violence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicates that safety is not always a given:
16.2 percent of students in grades 9-12 had carried a weapon (such as a gun, knife, or club) on at least one day during the 30 days before the survey.
5.3 percent of students had carried a gun on at least one day during the 30 days before the survey.
6.0 percent of students had been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property one or more times during the 12 months before the survey.
Psychological problems including intrusive thoughts, sleep disturbances, anger, withdrawal and aggression; in some cases, post-traumatic stress disorder
Difficulty concentrating in the classroom, decline in academic performance, and lower educational and career goals
Increased delinquency, substance abuse, and risky sexual behaviors
Desensitization to violence
"Protective behaviors," such as joining a gang or arming themselves with guns or knives
My advice:
Keep it unloaded and locked up or with a trigger lock. Store the bullets in a different place that is also locked.
Do not let teens have a key to the places where guns and bullets are stored.
If a teen becomes depressed or has severe mood swings, remove the gun from the home.
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