While action movies try harder and harder to provide more realistic explosions and more blood and guts, they create a false sense of reality. Even though movies and television are not the sole cause for violence by young people, they do fuel the emotions of power and invulnerability. Sources say that by the age of 18, an American teenager will have witnessed on television about 32,000 murders and 40,000 attempted murders. I dare say, not too many. While violent movies may provide some fuel to the problem, the spark that ignites it is guns.
Guns are rampant in America, and the number of deaths caused by guns is enormous.
These figures are not solely among adults either. It is estimated that 135,000 kids carry handguns to school with them every day. Once a kid owns a gun, the power and invulnerability is no longer limited to the movie screen, but now deadly violence becomes real. Violence among the youth, no matter how many preventative measures are sought, will not entirely go away. Perhaps what is the most disturbing issue is how juveniles are dealt with after they have committed a crime.