Why do young adults shoot at each other?
The reason I disklike VPC press releases, is that they are calulated to sound bad. They are alarmist, and appeal to emotion. The statement does not show which age groups are doing the most dying. There is no way that the numbers are evenly spread between 2 year olds and 17 year olds. The vast majority of the homicides are committed by young adults on young adults. I saw a figure once that broke homicide victims out by age per year, and between 1 and 18 years the vast majority occured in the teenage years. Very few actual children are murdered, relative to the number of criminal young adults.
Furthermore, 17 year olds who commit murder are routinely tried as adults. If young adults who commit murder are tried as adults, are they still included in a figure of child on child violence? Nor does this statement figure any relavent information about the children or young adults. How many of them have previous criminal juvinile records before committing a murder?
I am pinging butter pecan fan, since this is a similar subject earlier. He was of the mindset that these experts have something that needs to be addressed. I think many people around here would disagree, saying these particular experts are biased, and are writing pursuasive pieces, rather than scientific studies.
"Children can't legally buy handguns, children can't legally possess handguns-yet they are killing each other with handguns. The reason: children still have easy access to handguns because of the lax practices of an unregulated gun industry and the mistaken idea that a handgun in the home offers protection, when in reality it is far more likely to result in horrific consequences."
Again, there are many misleading statements in this release. Children can possess firearms with parental permission. Possess has a very broad meaning, and could stand for anything. If children were not allowed to possess firearms, then it would be against the law to take a child hunting or shooting. There would be no young adult competition shooting sporting events.
The reason children and young adults have access to firearms is due to two factors not presented by VPC: 1. parents allow it, or 2. the young adult steals one, or aquires one through already illegal means. This suggests that there are no laws pertaining to the manufacture, sale, and purchase of firearms. To suggest the firearm industry is unregulated is absurd. Then they claim, with no supporting evidence, that owning a firearm is more dangerous than crime. This is also absurd, because the number of murders using a firearm is far above deaths from accidental discharges. If owning a firearm were actually dangerous in its own right, the number of injuries and deaths from accidental discharges would be higher, because of the very large actual number of homes that own firearms.
The so-called "experts" are biased.
Thanks for ping.
I would say that, more accurately, I was of the mindset that I should investigate all claims, on both sides, to see which of them hold water and which don't.
I'm still of that mindset, but am currently about to go buggy with swimming in the sea of statistics and questions generated from my investigations.
"Children can't legally buy handguns, children can't legally possess handguns-yet they are killing each other with handguns. The reason: children still have easy access to handguns because of the lax practices of an unregulated gun industry and the mistaken idea that a handgun in the home offers protection, when in reality it is far more likely to result in horrific consequences."
Again, there are many misleading statements in this release.
Agreed.
And the only study (a somewhat weak one, but it's all we've got) to directly address some of the relevant questions indicates that, on average, kids who obtain firearms legally (generally from their parents) commit crime at a slightly lower rate than kids who don't "possess" a gun.