OOPS! Brady Campaign touts study proving OUR point (again)

May 10, 2004
Jointogether.org

Calif. Survey: One in Five Teens Live with Guns

A survey by the University of California at Los Angeles finds that nearly 20 percent of 5,801 California adolescents polled live in homes were firearms are present, the Health Behavior News Service reported April 29.

According to the survey, white, male Americans ages 14 to 17 living in higher-income or rural households were the most likely to live in homes where guns were present. The most common guns found in households were rifles, followed by handguns.

However, the poll also found that only 3 percent of adolescents have their own gun. These teens were generally from lower-income homes or teens that had jobs.

The survey found that black and Latino teens were less likely to live in a home with guns. However, they wrongly perceive that their peers have guns. "If these findings are confirmed by subsequent research, interventions designed to change perceptions and expectations among black and Latino adolescents about handguns among their peers could be a focus of prevention," said Susan Sorenson, Ph.D., and Katherine Vittes, M.P.H., who led the research.

The study's findings are published in the May 2004 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Commentary:
20% of California teens live in homes with guns, yet a tiny fraction ever commit crimes with them.

White, male Americans ages 14 to 17 living in higher-income or rural households were the most likely to live in homes
where guns were present - yet this demographic is statistically among the least likely to commit crimes with guns. Instead, gun crime among young black male Americans living in lower-income or urban homes (where gun ownership is least likely, according to the study) is epidemic.

Thanks to the Brady Bunch for highlighting yet again that the mere presence of guns do not cause problems. People do.

The Brady Campaign is funded by European-born billionaire George Soros, who has said he would spend his entire fortune if he was certain it would result in the ouster of President Bush this November.