![]() Just how many guns are around and available to teens is impossible to know. Fox, though, said the rise in homicides by teens hasn't correlated directly with the rising numbers of guns. “They’ll pull the trigger without fully thinking about the consequences."Īccording to FBI data, around 90% of homicides in 2019 by teens 15 to 17 involved firearms, up from around 60% in 1980. “With guns, teenagers tend to be trigger happy,” he said. Powerful firearms became more readily available starting in the 1980s, before which knives and low-caliber pistols were often the weapons of choice by teens who killed, said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law and public policy at Northeastern University in Boston. To lower the risk of being stopped by police while in possession of guns, gang members typically hide them nearby, tucking the weapons into walls and inside tire rims, he said. In areas with high gang activity, some guns are stolen from homes, gun stores or trains. In many cities, illegal guns are never too far out of reach. ![]() Police released photos of two young men clutching apparent AK-style rifles. Afterward, 89 bullet casings littered the scene and there was “blood everywhere.”īullets riddled walls and shattered glass at the shooting in a fifth-floor office in St. “Witnesses said it sounded like a machine gun,” the investigator said. More firearms, and even more powerful firearms, have enabled teens, or anyone wielding a gun, to maim and kill more people in single incidents.Ī handgun fired at the April Sweet 16 party - in a dance studio crammed with up to 60 people - had been altered to shoot more rapidly, Alabama Special Agent Jess Thornton told a court hearing. Among the solutions to reducing teen violence, Jones said, was to keep expanding programs offering young people activities in safe spaces, including movie and music nights.
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