ORLANDO, Fla. — As students prepare to return to their classrooms, a long-term study presents mixed findings regarding adolescent access to firearms.
A new survey by the American Academy of Pediatrics reveals that handgun carrying in schools has decreased by 60% over a 20-year span from 2002 to 2022. However, during the same period, the survey shows a 65% rise in teens carrying handguns overall.
The study, which analyzed Florida middle and high school students, found that the percentage of adolescents reporting they carried a handgun increased from 3.7% to 6% over 20 years.
Firearms instructor Carl Jones, who operates the Premier Security Education Center, links the increase partly to a cultural shift. “Everything’s not John Wick out here,” Jones said. “It’s deadly once you get those weapons in your hand and don’t know how to use them properly.”
Instructor Chris Louissaint, who’s been teaching gun safety for nearly a decade, says he’s seen the trend firsthand. “With youth, it’s getting progressively worse,” he explained. “Youth don’t understand that they need to come out and train, nor are they mandated by the law to come out and train.”
These experts say firearms are too often left unsecured and accessible to teens. Louissaint continues, “That’s how a lot of these people are getting this unlawful access to firearms, because people are leaving firearms in plain view in their vehicles, and they’re not locking their doors.”
He says it’s a parent’s or adults’ job to teach teens and pre-teens gun safety. “We are proud to exercise our Second Amendment rights, but we have negligent adults who are not doing their part.”
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