Youth
Attitudes About Guns: Sixty Percent of High School and College
Students Consider Gun Ownership in Future
Despite growing up in a post-Columbine world, more young
people plan on owning a gun than had them in their childhood homes, according
to a national poll of more than 4,000 high school and college students
conducted by Jennifer L. Lawless (American University) and Richard L. Fox
(Loyola Marymount University). This finding suggests a possible reversal of a
trend that pointed to decreasing gun ownership.
More specifically, one-third of young people report
growing up with a gun in the household. And 36 percent report being "very
worried" about gun violence. Yet nearly 40 percent of respondents plan to
own a gun when they have their own household, and an additional 20 percent are
considering it.
These results are based on a national sample of 2,100
college students (ages 18 through 25) and 2,166 high school students (ages 13
through 17). The poll, conducted by American University / GfK Custom Research
LLC, was in the field from September 27 -- October 16, 2012, and has a margin
of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points.
Key Findings from the Poll of High School and College
Students:
•
Personality Traits: Roughly 50% of young people who
self-identify as "depressed," "stressed out," and/or have
"difficulty making friends" plan to have a gun in their household.
•
Video Games: High school students who regularly play
video games for more than 4 hours per day are 50 percent more likely than those
who do not typically play video games to report plans to own a gun. The results
are similar, but less pronounced, among college students.
•
Gender Gap: Girls and young women (40%) more likely than their male
counterparts (32%) to fear gun violence and less likely to report planning on
owning a gun in the future.
•
Race Gap: Half of the Black respondents fear gun violence, compared
to only 31 percent of White respondents. Blacks are less likely than Whites to
report planning on owning a gun in the future.
•
Party Gap: Democrats are nearly twice as likely as Republicans to
fear gun violence (45% compared to 25%) and less likely to report planning on
owning a gun in the future.
Jennifer L. Lawless is an associate professor of
Government at American University, where she is also the director of the Women
& Politics Institute. She is the author of Becoming a Candidate: Political
Ambition and the Decision to Run for Office (2012) and the co-author of It
Still Takes A Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office (2010). She is also a
nationally recognized speaker, and her scholarly analysis and political
commentary have been quoted in various newspapers, magazines, television news
programs, and radio shows. In 2006, she sought the Democratic nomination for
the U.S. House of Representatives in Rhode Island's second district.
Richard L. Fox is a professor of political science at
Loyola Marymount University. He is the author of Gender Dynamics in
Congressional Elections (1997) and co-author of It Still Takes A Candidate: Why
Women Don't Run for Office (2010), Tabloid Justice: The Criminal Justice System
in the Age of Media Frenzy (2001). He is also co-editor, with Susan J. Carroll,
of Gender and Elections (2010).
Source: Sciencedaily
Image source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1409524
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