Various interventions have been categorized into three broad categories: educational/behavioral change, legal, and technological/environmental. Currently, there are only a few education programs designed to prevent weapons misuse by youth, especially minority youth. These programs usually combine a number of educational strategies that can be classified as firearm safety courses, public information campaigns, counseling, classroom education, peer education and mentoring, and crisis intervention. Potential education/behavioral change interventions include educating students and their communities, legislators and policymakers, the media, and patients in clinical settings about the dangers inherent in carrying or possessing firearms. Legal countermeasures, which limit the number and types of people eligible to own firearms or the types of firearms that can be owned and carried are usually designed to affect all individuals, not just minority youth. Potential legal interventions include firearm legislation assessment, changing pre-emption laws, monitoring voting records and lobbying, product liability litigation, taxation, stricter licensing and registration policies, and bans on selected types of firearms. Existing technological and environmental measures are based on the premise that automatic protections are generally more effective than those that require repetitive actions. These interventions include modifications to weapons, ammunition, and the environments in which weapons are used. Potential technological/environmental interventions include designing safer weapons, eliminating ammunition types, and modifying the environment in which weapons are used or carried. 73 notes