This analysis on juvenile delinquency and firearms from New Mexico brings about an important issue that is otherwise neglected: parental involvement. Of course, correct storage of firearms by parents and guardians is critical to ensuring that juveniles do not obtain these firearms, however this does not take into consideration key issues such as culture and the relationship between the child and the parent. Birkbeck points out in his analysis of New Mexico’s juvenile gun control climate that there is a lack of education: not just on the part of the children, but on the parents teaching their children. These juvenile offenders were never taught how to correctly care for, maintain, and store a firearm. This could be for any number of reasons, whether the relationship between the child and the parent is fractured or otherwise, but the end result remains the same: if a child does not know how to properly store or load a firearm, disaster will always be waiting to happen. Child access prevention laws could – to a degree – help mitigate this issue. However, once again, the onus would fall on the parents to consistently follow these practices, which is a struggle when the parents might never be home in the first place, much less have time to teach their children the best practices for gun safety.
Under a similar mission, the city of Atlanta underwent juvenile gun violence research as well, however they harnessed a different solution known as PACT. PACT, Pulling America’s Communities Together, is an approach from 1993 created by the U.S. Department of Justice in order to help communities come together and collaborate on public health and other pressing local concerns. This was during a time of heighted gun violence perpetuated by juveniles in the Atlanta area – between 1987 and 1992, the rate of juvenile firearm violence there was over three times higher than the already high national average. Many juveniles anonymously reported to Kellerman that they had become involved with police while carrying a firearm, and several are quoted as saying that the police officers involved did not do anything to ensure that they were being safe with a firearm on them, much less taking it away or removing it to get parents involved. 
This lack of help is noted by Kellerman as well, however he points out that it is oftentimes difficult – especially in a more urban area like Atlanta – to see visually who might be carrying a firearm, and officers cannot just pull aside a child on suspicion alone for an issue like this. It is important then to pursue something deeper than the aftermath of a lack of gun control, which is what the PACT program did for Atlanta. While participating in the PACT program, Atlanta elected to go straight to the root of the problem and tackle juvenile firearm violence from a preemptive standpoint, targeting the supply and demand of firearms for youth, as well as rehabilitating those who were already arrested or incarcerated for gun violence.
