portunity “including traffic and curfew violations…. During these routine stops, police look for infractions that give them legal authority to search a car or pedestrian for illegal weapons” (Bilchik 28). By making their presence known on the street they reduce the amount of juveniles carrying a firearm, therefore providing a safer community. This program proved effective by reducing crime by at least 50 percent during a six-month period. Law enforcement plays a large role in the fight against juvenile gun violence. There are many ways for our police to deal with this problem. There are numerous laws on the books that if strictly enforced would deter many juveniles from possessing a firearm. The Youth Handgun Safety Act prohibits a juvenile to possess a handgun or ammunition. If every juvenile arrested with a handgun in possession were prosecuted then many juveniles would be discouraged from even risking it. Project Exile in Richmond, Virginia encourages strict enforcement of gun laws by prosecutors. For example, it is illegal for a person to carry a gun while in possession of drugs. Once the prosecutors actually began enforcing these statutes the crime rates went down and many guns were seized. The Gun Free Schools Act enacted in October 1994 requires that any student who brings a firearm to school be referred to the criminal justice or juvenile delinquency system. The juvenile should immediately have this go on his record and be punished. The threat of having a juvenile record might cause some students to think twice about bringing a gun to school. There are other proposals on how to reduce the amount of juvenile gun violence we have in our country. For example, all gun owners could be licensed and have mandatory registration on all guns. That way only legal gun owners could buy guns and the gun could be traced back to the owner. This would cause the owners to safeguard their guns and therefore keep ...
