Guns within Youth

So as i was sitting here, drumming my fingers on the keyboard and pondering what i should make my first official blog about, i decided to search current events, and came upon CNN's website, which of course is featuring first and foremost the Iranian government. I however bypassed this and came upon a shooting in an Iowa weight room at a local high school.

Just recently, i watched an episode of the very popular show that comes on The-N called Degrassi. Now, this show demonstrates a whole bunch of teen issues, from pregnancy to bullying, etc. There are two episodes dealing with violence. One, a kid comes to school with a gun and is threatening to shoot several people who had bullied him in the past. He ends up shooting a guy, paralyzing him for life, and shooting himself as a heroic student attempts to grab the gun from him. The other episode, two drunk kids from another school are urinating on a character's car, he intervenes, and then one of the guys stabs the character.

Now, as a teenager myself, who has been in a school with fights and bomb threats, i wonder why violence is so prominent in youth. What do we have to prove, so that we are killing or wounding or being sentenced to Juvie until the day we turn 18? What territory as a minor do we have to defend or protect? Guns, really? You are stealing weapons from your parents so that you can defend the territory that you don't possess to prove the power that you'll never gain from a gun and a killing. Or a knife, whichever weapon of minor destruction you may possess.

So, back to this whole "territorial aggression" subject. Let's say a 13-year-old in Middle School gets into a fight with a classmate over something simple, like stealing a soda or whatnot. He claims that he's going to fight said kid the next day. Nobody takes this puny newly-aged teenager seriously. Next thing you know, a kid ends up dead, one locked in Juvenile Detention, and a whole group of people wondering what could have been done to stop this or prevent it or whatnot. So they hire a whole bunch of 'crisis counselors' to come in and talk with kids who have seen it or were friends with the victim, so they can talk and ask a million questions, none of which probably had answers.

Anger is a dangerous thing, so lets take more precautions. Parents, lock away your weapons from where your kids can find them. And talk to them about gun safety and safe ways to prevent violence. Let's not add to the violence in the world around us, with protesting governments and killing innocent bystanders that are simply there to witness history. Let's make a difference, one household at a time, and stop our younger generations from destroying each other.