The second amendment of the constitution guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. As the specter of gun violence continues in our workplaces, roads and schools, the question keeps arising: do guns keep you safe, or just increase the level of violence?
Most school shooters are suicidal before they attack. American children are ten times more likely to commit suicide with a gun than by any other means. More than two thirds of school shooters take their weapons from their own home, making it extremely easy to carry out their plan to kill others before killing themselves. So, owning a gun not only can make the families of suicidal children unsafe, but it also may place their children's peers and teachers at risk of death or injury by firearms.
The combination of a gun in the home and a depressed and/or suicidal child increases the risk of death exponentially. It is not uncommon for teens to experience depression and sometimes suicidal thoughts. Also, teens commonly experiment with alcohol and drugs, and resulting intoxication increases the chances that a dispute will escalate into a violent confrontation. The presence of a gun in the home increases the likelihood of serious injury or death in these situations.
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