By Emmy Betz and Benjamin Li, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, September 30, 2020
September usually marks the return to school, with teachers setting up classrooms and youth headed off on a new year of learning and growth. But 2020 has been anything but usual. In many parts of the country, learning has moved online as teachers set up virtual classrooms and youth engage from their bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms.
Parents are faced with balancing work and oversight of home learning; for some, this means new child care demands, while teleworking parents struggle with divided attention. Outside the home, other stressors include coronavirus, the upcoming election, economic uncertainty and protests for racial justice; Americans are grieving, frustrated and frightened.
Add the 2020 surge in gun sales — with an estimated 40% being first-time owners — and there’s the perfect recipe for a spike in youth firearm injuries and deaths. But there are things we can do to prevent this spike.
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