Mar 31, 2018 09:58 AM
"As gun-control advocates their age gain popularity and others cast their generation as anti-firearm, pro-gun students feel at times overlooked. But polling suggests young people aren’t overwhelmingly for gun control.
A USA TODAY/Ipsos poll taken after the Parkland shooting found fewer than half of students 13 to 17 think tightening gun laws and background checks would prevent mass shootings.
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Pro-gun high school students told USA TODAY the school shooting problem is complex, but they maintain guns aren’t the problem. They say more can be done as it relates to school security, mental health and background checks. Some argue those calling for gun control are uninformed about and unfamiliar with firearms.
Marjory Stoneman junior Kyle Kashuv, a firm Second Amendment supporter, opposes banning assault weapons. School shootings, he said, are driven by “faulty communication and reporting of prior convictions,” along with mental health issues.
School administrators, mental health counselors and others received numerous warnings of the mental state and violent tendencies of gunman Nikolas Cruz in the months leading up to the attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas, where 17 people were killed.
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In Pennsylvania, 15-year-old sophomore Kaitlyn Helms said the Parkland shooting "definitely" affected her and her classmates. She speaks of an "unspoken fear" among students, especially after someone made recent threats to her school.
"There's no real way to avoid having a school shooting," Helms said. "People are going to find some type of way to do what they want, whether it's with guns or without them."
Helms, who participates in theater and is on her school's track and field team, lists the AR-15, the gun used in the Parkland shooting, as one of her favorites.
"It's not the gun's fault," she said. "The gun's not going to go off without someone's finger on the trigger."
Many of the students who spoke with USA TODAY oppose banning the AR-15, and most said teachers should be able to be armed if they choose, as long as they pass a background check."
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati...444834002/
A USA TODAY/Ipsos poll taken after the Parkland shooting found fewer than half of students 13 to 17 think tightening gun laws and background checks would prevent mass shootings.
...
Pro-gun high school students told USA TODAY the school shooting problem is complex, but they maintain guns aren’t the problem. They say more can be done as it relates to school security, mental health and background checks. Some argue those calling for gun control are uninformed about and unfamiliar with firearms.
Marjory Stoneman junior Kyle Kashuv, a firm Second Amendment supporter, opposes banning assault weapons. School shootings, he said, are driven by “faulty communication and reporting of prior convictions,” along with mental health issues.
School administrators, mental health counselors and others received numerous warnings of the mental state and violent tendencies of gunman Nikolas Cruz in the months leading up to the attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas, where 17 people were killed.
...
In Pennsylvania, 15-year-old sophomore Kaitlyn Helms said the Parkland shooting "definitely" affected her and her classmates. She speaks of an "unspoken fear" among students, especially after someone made recent threats to her school.
"There's no real way to avoid having a school shooting," Helms said. "People are going to find some type of way to do what they want, whether it's with guns or without them."
Helms, who participates in theater and is on her school's track and field team, lists the AR-15, the gun used in the Parkland shooting, as one of her favorites.
"It's not the gun's fault," she said. "The gun's not going to go off without someone's finger on the trigger."
Many of the students who spoke with USA TODAY oppose banning the AR-15, and most said teachers should be able to be armed if they choose, as long as they pass a background check."
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati...444834002/