Laws & Policies / Question
Published: May 23, 2001
Dear TeenHealthFX,
I want to know about handgun control.
Signed: Handgun Control
Dear Handgun Control,
We are glad to see that you want to know more information on handgun control. It is a very important issue and one that directly affects teenagers. We see so much school violence that it is very normal that you would want more info. on this. Here are some facts from the Centers for Disease Control and prevention:
- For every child killed with a gun, four are wounded. The rate of firearm death of children 0-14 years old is nearly twelve times higher in the U.S. than in 25 other industrialized nations combined.
- Over 6,000 students were expelled in 1996-97 for bringing guns to school. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that between 36% and 50% of male eleventh graders believe they could easily get a gun if they wanted one.
- Guns do kill people especially when wielded by children. More than 800 Americans, young and old, die each year from guns shot by children under the age of 19.
- In 1996 more than 1300 children aged 10-19 committed suicides by firearms. Unlike suicide attempts using other methods, suicide attempts with gun are nearly always fatal, meaning a temporarily depressed teenager will never get a second chance at life. Two-thirds of all completed teenage suicides involve a firearm.
- The firearm injury epidemic, due largely to handgun injuries, is ten times larger than the polio epidemic of the first half of this century.
Handgun control raises a lot of emotion among different group of people. The main issue to TeenHealthFX is that it is important to keep handguns out of the hands of teens.
TeenHealthFX encourages you to research this topic and decide your own thoughts on the issue. One site you may want to check out is Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Signed: TeenHealthFX
While 93% of teenage women report that their first intercourse was voluntary, one-quarter of these young women report that it was unwanted. 
