Most guns used in school shootings come from family members
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Key takeaways:
- More than 85% of school shooting perpetrators used handguns in their attacks.
- The weapons were often stolen from a family member or relative, according to the study.
Handguns — not assault rifles — are the most commonly used weapons in school shootings perpetrated by adolescents in the United States, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
The weapons used in these shootings are most frequently stolen from family members, researchers reported — a finding that supports tougher measures to secure firearms in the house and limit children’s access to them, they said.
Firearm violence is the leading cause of death among youths in the United States.
“Relative to other areas of study, there has been little quantitative research on school gun violence, and even fewer studies have examined where youth involved in these crimes get their firearms,” Brent R. Klein, PhD, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, told Healio.
In a cross-sectional study, Klein and colleagues reviewed 253 school shootings perpetrated by 262 adolescents (mean age, 16.2 years; 97.8% male) from 1990 to 2016. In this dataset, 47% of shootings resulted in at least one fatality, and 2.8% were defined as mass shootings in which four or more people were killed.
In adjusted analyses, perpetrators overwhelmingly discharged handguns (85.5%; 95% CI, 80.6%-89.4%), followed by rifles (8.6%; 95% CI, 5.7%-12.7%) and shotguns (5.9%; 95% CI, 3.6%-9.6%). Of these firearms, 58.6% (95% CI, 49.8%-66.8%) were also semi- or fully automatic.
Additionally, 37% (95% CI, 29.9%-44.7%) of perpetrators used a low-powered firearm, whereas 39.7% (95% CI, 32%-47.8%) used a firearm described as moderately powered. The researchers identified .22 caliber (26.9%) and 9 mm (5.6%) firearms as the most common of these weapons.
In all, 51.8% (95% CI, 31.7%-52.6%) of adolescents stole weapons from family members or relatives. Another 29.6% (95% CI, 19.3%-42.5%) were reported to have secured them on the illegal market, 22% (95% CI, 13.2%-34.5%) were procured from friends, 4.7% (95% CI, 1.8%-11.6%) were from strangers or the individuals who were shot and 1.9% (95% CI, 0.7%-5.2%) were purchased legally.
Using publicly-sourced data was a study limitation, according to Klein.
“The findings were consistent with previous research that has examined adolescent gun-carrying behaviors,” Klein said.
Klein added that future research should examine the reasons behind why adolescents are carrying firearms to school.
“[Providers should] stress the importance of secure firearm storage in households and limiting adolescents’ unsupervised access to firearms,” Klein said. “Studying the sources and methods where school shooters get their guns can inform policy and efforts to reduce gun violence.”
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