Gun violence has become a huge deal these days and that’s largely due to mass shootings that keep on occurring on regular basis.

More often than not, the assailant in these attacks is a teenager, which has made schools all over the world an unsafe place to be. These institutions were once considered safe, but since the gun control measures haven’t worked as intended, things are clearly getting out of control.

Nobody wants their children to be a perpetrator or victim of such assaults, but only wishing for it is not going to solve anything. New and strict measures that could actually help protect teens from gun violence are required. Here’s what needs to be done in our opinion.

Implement Gun Safety Laws

Gun safety laws are present but they’re often not taken seriously or simply ignored. People keep licensed firearms in their house without taking due caution to prevent their access to youngsters.

Gun safety laws need to be reinforced so that the people who are so proud of their firearms at least keep them locked up in their homes.

Also, actions should be taken against sellers who don’t check the license before handing out guns. It’s obvious that things are not going to go back to normal in a matter of days, but if strict gun safety laws are implemented, then at least things might gradually take a turn for the better and we just might succeed in protecting our teens from another mass shooting.

Reduce Trauma

Teens these days find themselves exposed to too much violence due to their prevalence in movies, TV shows, and video games. All of these formats have become gore-fests and creators are trying to be as edgy as possible. They include themes and scenes that can cause serious trauma to an underage kid and influence them to use guns as well.

This problem is very real and is expanding with each passing day. Trauma reduction really needs to happen, but taking away movies, games, and TV shows isn’t that simple. They have become a part of youth culture and teens just can’t be expected to let them go. That’s understandable, but that doesn’t mean that we can just leave this issue alone.

Parents will need to step up and monitor what their kids do on their gaming devices, computers, and smartphones. If they keep tabs on what their teens play and watch, then that can really help protect kids.

Work on Making Communities Safer

Teens usually come under negative influence when they live in communities that favor bad things and people. In these neighborhoods, weapon wielding is a norm, shootings happen all the time, and firearms can be obtained rather easily.

This has led to a lot of problems and a lot of violent incidents which could easily have been avoided.

However, all is not lost yet. We just need to organize safe communities, which mean that we have to implement city-wide violence prevention plans. Steps like these have been taken in the past, but they didn’t work out because no one cared for them after a few months. We shouldn’t go down the same route. We have to be persistent and ensure that communities remain non-violent.

No matter how bad the neighborhood is, it can always be improved, and when that happens, gun violence amongst teens will be reduced and the upcoming generations will not have to live under such risk.

The choice is ours – we can either let everything go on as it at the moment or we can take steps to improve it. Aforementioned measures are a good way to get the ball rolling.