In 2010, almost 83 percent of homicide victims between the ages of 10 – 24 were killed by a firearm.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that 5.4 percent of those interviewed in the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance had admitted to carrying a weapon, either a gun, club or knife, to school within the past month of the survey.

Students need to be safe in school. Firearms and other weapons need to be kept out of school properties.

We need strict laws and effective enforcement of penalties on gun ownership to prevent young adults from using guns to commit homicides on school campuses.

Over 350 high school shootings have occurred since 1992.

As centers of learning, schools must be safe so that students do not fear going to school. Hostile situations must be prevented with firm firearm restrictions to keep students from carrying weapons to school.

As of now, the Gun-Free School Zones Act outlaws the possession of guns near or on school property. However, schools need to have these laws enforced.

Individuals who are not stable mentally should not be permitted to obtain firearms. Background checks will also help to ensure that gun owners do not have criminal records. Proper evaluations need to be put into place so that dangerous weapons do not fall into the hands of duplicitous people.

Along with proper evaluations, there needs to be more federal laws restricting gun use. Because of individual state laws, a person who does not qualify for gun ownership in one state can easily travel to another to purchase firearms. Gun purchasers can also buy arms over the Internet. This has to be addressed as well.

There should be a national registry for firearms, superceding state statutes.

Better gun control will also help to reduce suicides. According to the National Institute of Mental Health 34,598 suicides were reported in 2007, with over half utilizing a firearm in the process.

One may argue that each American citizen is entitled to “keep and bear Arms”; however, each citizen is also entitled to a safe and healthy environment. By enforcing stricter gun control and applying a more thorough permit evaluation process, safe communities can be promoted. The security and safety of the nation is of the utmost importance, and lenient firearm stipulations prevent this priority.

Gun control is imperative in an increasingly-dangerous nation. Youth deserve safer environments; hence, families, as well as schools, should work to keep firearms off their properties. It is also necessary that extensive assessments be implemented for those applying for gun permits. America needs to be safer, and gun control will help to reach that goal.