NCJ Number
159314
Date Published
1989
Length
147 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes discussions by participants in a forum on firearms and children, the deliberation process used, and the recommendations for a plan to put an end to firearm violence to children.
Abstract
Forum participants considered relevant issues in three general categories: (1) The Source of Injurious Mechanical Energy: The Firearms and Bullets; (2) The Environment: Social, Psychological, and Physical; and (3) The Humans: Victims, Perpetrators, and Witnesses. Discussions of strategies for reducing firearm injuries to children featured short-term goals such as the development of safer guns, and long-term goals to remove guns from children's environments, which would require bans on handguns, assault rifles, and airguns. Steps toward achieving these goals include: building coalitions of health professionals, gun control groups, police, and others; increasing public awareness of the problem; and legislation, such as bans on certain weapons and increased excise taxes on sales of firearms and ammunition. In addition, research is needed on how to facilitate action, how to evaluate intervention, and how to keep track of the problem on a continuing basis. Appendixes