‘Guns easy to find for US school students’ survey
Nearly half of school students in the United States have easy access to guns and more than one in five boys have taken a weapon to school in the last year, according to a survey today.
Forty-seven percent of high school students said they could obtain a gun if they wanted to, while 22% of middle school students said they could get a firearm, according to the nationwide survey.
It was conducted by the non-profit, non-partisan Josephson Institute of Ethics, based in Marina del Rey, California.
‘‘The seeds of violence can be found in schools all over America,’’ said Michael Josephson, the institute’s president.
‘‘Today’s teens, especially boys, have a high propensity to use violence when they are angry. They have easy access to guns, drugs and alcohol, and a disturbing number take weapons to school.’’
Students who use drugs and alcohol at school are even more likely to obtain and carry weapons, the survey of about 15,800 high school and middle school students revealed.
It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The study revealed that 19% of high school boys and 9% of middle school boys admitted to being drunk at school within the last year, compared to 12% of high school girls and 5% of middle school girls.
While 14% of high school students and 11% of middle school students reported bringing a weapon to school within the last 12 months, 48% of high school students and 57% of middle school students who admitted coming to school drunk said they brought a weapon to school during that period.
The prevalence of weapons in schools and a cavalier attitude toward violence has taken its toll on students’ peace of mind, the survey showed.
More than one in three high school students said they did not feel safe at school.
‘‘To us, the key is to make kids better decision makers, and that is something we as parents have failed to do,’’ said Institute spokesman Tom DeCair. ‘‘Parents are the first line of defence in building a kid’s character.’’
