A growing number of adolescents in the United States are carrying handguns, particularly among those who live in rural, white, and higher-income families, according to a new study.
From 2002 to 2019, the number of handgun-bearing teenagers spiked 41%, despite rates declining among black, Native American, and lower-income adolescents, a study of 297,055 people aged 12 to 17 conducted by researchers at Boston College found.
“Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. and it is absolutely critical that we address it,” said Naoka Carey, who co-authored the study. “To do that, policy needs to be informed by what teenagers are reporting they do today, not what they were doing 20 years ago or class- or race-based assumptions about which kids carry.”
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There were 200,000 more adolescents carrying firearms in 2019-20 than there were in 2002-03, that survey, which analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and focused on sociodemographic factors, indicates.
“Adolescent handgun carriage is increasing among particular adolescent subgroups, indicating a remarkable change over the past 17 years,” Carey added. “Understanding such variations is critical to an understanding of fluctuating violence patterns, including rising rates of adolescent and rural suicide, and identifying which adolescents are at an increased risk of injury.”
Laws on teenage gun ownership vary by state, but federal law prohibits gun stores from selling handguns to those under 18, according to the Giffords Law Center, which advocated increased gun control. The law contains some exceptions, and some states allow teenagers to own shotguns and rifles.
One study by researchers at Northeastern University found upward of half of adolescents aged 13 to 17 could get their hands on guns their parents owned within an hour. Nearly 30% of parents admitted their children had access to guns in that same study.
The Biden administration has recently sought to crack down on so-called ghost guns, issuing a rule restricting unsanctioned kits for manufacturing guns at home.
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Total gun deaths increased from 43,664 in 2020 to 44,991 in 2021, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which uses media reports as part of its data collection. Homicides with guns also rose from 19,508 in 2020 to 20,901 in 2021, according to the archive.
Some gun rights activists dispute the Gun Violence Archive’s data collection methods. John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, criticized the group’s reliance on media reports and highlighted a study by the Justice Department that found the rate of gun victimization declined from 2019 to 2020.
