Firearm Safety

Firearms and adolescence:
Adolescents and firearms can be a volatile mix. Driven by curiosity and impulse, access to firearms can have tragic results among the adolescent population. Firearm injuries were the second leading cause of death among people ages 10 to 24 years in 1994. In a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey, one in 12 (7.6 percent) students in grades 9 to 12 reportedly carried a firearm during the 30 days before the survey - double the number of teens who reported carrying a firearm before a survey in 1990.

• Almost one-third (29 percent) of people who died from firearm injuries in 1994 were 15 to 24 years old.
• The risk of firearm injury-related death doubled for adolescents ages 15 to 19 years between 1985 and 1994.
• The majority of violent deaths in schools (77 percent) are caused by firearms.
• Nearly 10 times as many children die from unintentional firearm-related injuries in the US than in the next 25 industrialized countries combined.
• In 1998, non-powder gun-related injuries (for example, BB guns or pellet guns) sent more than 10,000 children to hospital emergency rooms for treatment.
• Most unintentional firearm-related deaths among children occur in or around the home; 50 percent at the home of the victim, and 40 percent at the home of a friend or relative.
• The presence of a firearm in the home increases the risk of unintentional firearm-related death among children (especially if the firearm is loaded and kept unlocked).
• Up to one-half of firearm owners keep their firearms loaded and ready for use some of the time.
• Approximately 3.3 million children in the US live in households with firearms that are, at times, kept loaded and unlocked.
• More than 1,300 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 committed suicide with firearms in 1996.

• Easy access to loaded firearms is the most obvious factor that can increase your adolescent's risk for injury or death.
• Adolescents who committed suicide with a firearm were five times more likely to have been drinking alcohol, and the majority of family member killings by firearms involved the use of alcohol.
• Television, movie, and computer game violence may be linked to an increased risk of firearm violence. However, this link remains controversial and needs further research.
• Behavioral and emotional problems may contribute to an increased risk of using firearms among adolescents.