Study links deviance, black teen gun use

Black teenagers who carry guns also tend to participate in other risky behaviors, according to a study co-authored by an Ohio State professor.

Kenneth Steinman, an associate professor of health behavior and health promotion, analyzed data from a study conducted by Marc Zimmerman, a public health professor at the University of Michigan.

"This was (originally) a study on all kids, any kid at risk of dropping out," Steinman said. "I initially wanted to look at both black and white kids, but there were too few white kids who persistently carried guns."

"There's been a number of studies on why kids carry guns," he said. "What we wanted to know is whether the same constellation of risk factors predict whether a kid carries a gun persistently or episodically."

Steinman divided gun-carrying habits into three categories - those who never carry guns, those who carry them occasionally and those who carry them regularly or persistently. He found 80 percent of those studied never carried guns, while 15 percent carried them episodically and five percent carry them persistently.

Steinman said there were several theories as to why teenagers carry guns. The most popular reason among students is protection, he said.

Other theories include the social influence model, which says violent attitudes, parents, friends and other adults who carry weapons influence teenagers to carry guns. Another possible reason is drug involvement, which makes gun possession more likely because of using or selling drugs.

The study found little proof for the protection model, but evidence for both the social protection and drug involvement models.

"There's some evidence that suggests that kids who are involved with drugs - especially the selling of drugs - are more likely to carry guns," Steinman said.

Those who carry guns were also more likely to have threatened someone with a knife or gun. Among persistent carriers, 83 percent had used a weapon to threaten somebody, while 52 percent of episodic carriers had threatened somebody. Only 16 percent of non-carriers had threatened somebody with a weapon.

Legally, teenagers are allowed to have guns for hunting, but can not conceal them, said Sgt. Brent Mull, a spokesman for the Columbus Division of Police.

"If you get caught with a concealed weapon, you're going to get charged, whether you're an adult or a juvenile, and then we'll seize the weapon and that weapon will become our property," he said.

Teenagers who attempt to buy guns in stores also have a difficult time. The legal age for purchasing long guns, rifles and shotguns is 18. The legal age for purchasing handguns is 21. All buyers must undergo federal background checks before their purchase.

"In order to be able to purchase a handgun, you need to have positive identification - a valid ID," said Ron Cooper, manager of Vance's Shooter Supply. "If you were 18 and tried to buy a handgun, even if the sales clerk missed it - which would be unheard of - it wouldn't go through the background check."

Cooper said handguns were more likely to be purchased off the street than in stores.

Efforts to prevent teenagers and others from carrying concealed weapons are compounded by the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure.

"It's kind of hard to take a proactive stance when, as a U.S. citizen, you're able to walk around freely," Mull said. "When you stop someone's movements, you're taking away their Fourth Amendment rights."

Mull said police can only search for weapons if there is reasonable belief that safety is at risk, or if a citizen can point out a gun on another person, which would give the police reasonable suspicion to search them.

Past efforts by Columbus police to get people to turn in guns were met with a lukewarm reaction, Mull said.

Steinman said decreasing handgun availability and checking drug dealers for weapons were two ways to help get guns out of teenagers hands.

"One possibility is to restrict the availability of handguns," he said. "The other thing I would emphasize is that young people who are found to be involved in selling drugs be asked about whether they carry weapons or a gun in particular."