Stricter State Gun Laws Tied To Fewer U.S. Teens With Firearms [View all]

[onehandle]

Source: Reuters

Researchers analyzed data on teen gun possession from a survey of U.S. high school students in 38 states and then examined how aggressively each of the states regulated firearm use with policies such as background checks before sales, minimum ages for purchase, bans on military-style assault weapons and limitations on use in public places.

In states with stricter gun laws, 5.7 percent of students surveyed said they had carried a gun in the past month, compared with 7.3 percent of their peers in states with more permissive gun laws. Adolescents were more likely to carry guns if adults in their home owned firearms, the study also found.

"The governments and adults in other developed countries have made it difficult for youth to access handguns, however, our study showed that about a quarter of U.S. adolescents reported easy access to a gun in their home," study co-author Ziming Xuan, a public health researcher at Boston University, said by email.

Approximately 15,000 teenagers aged 12 to 19 die in the U.S. each year and the top three causes are unintentional injuries, homicides and suicides, Xuan and co-author David Hemenway of Harvard University report in JAMA Pediatrics. Most of the homicides and almost half of the suicides involve guns.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/state-gun-laws-teens_56001f6ee4b08820d9195720

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More gun nuttery = More kids with guns = More dead kids