Young Killers Found Likelier to Use Guns

People under 18 years old are nearly three times as likely as those 21 or over to use a gun in committing murder in Los Angeles County, according to a study by UCLA researchers.

The research, which also found youths far more likely than their elders to use guns in suicides, offers what is believed to be the first comprehensive look at who uses guns in fatal acts in a large urban area.

It comes at a time when the federal government is threatening to join legal assaults against gun manufacturers to limit the flow of handguns to youngsters and criminals, and could fuel that campaign. In fact, each side in the gun control debate said the study bolsters its position.

Dr. David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, called the high numbers of gun-related deaths among youths in Los Angeles County incredible but predictable, given the ready accessibility of firearms.

“Young people are much more impulsive,” he said. Guns, he added, “make impulsive acts lethal.”

The study, published in this month’s issue of the British medical journal Injury Prevention, is the latest attempt to define gun violence not just as a criminal justice concern, but also as a matter of public health.

The authors say firearms account for an increasing proportion of homicides in the United States, especially among young people. Among those under 35, the share of homicides attributable to guns rose from about two-thirds in 1975 to more than three-fourths in 1996.

The study’s chief author, Susan B. Sorenson, said she and her colleague, Richard A. Berk, focused on the perpetrators of gun violence rather than exclusively on victims.

They looked at a range of biographical and demographic characteristics among gun users, including whether they were members of gangs. Even when all of these factors were taken into account, age alone had a substantial effect on the rate of homicides and suicides, Sorenson said.

The study, based in part on a homicide database compiled by the Los Angeles Times, looked at all suicides and homicides in Los Angeles County from 1990 through 1994. It found that firearms were used by 85% of those homicide suspects who were younger than 18, nearly 80% of those 18 to 20 and 64% of those 21 or older.

But the researchers said they then adjusted their numbers to account for factors known to affect the likelihood of gun use, including gang membership and ethnicity. The result showed that youth alone nearly tripled the odds of a person using a gun in a homicide.

In suicides, firearms were used by 67% of those under 18, 67% of 18- to 20-year-olds and 51% of those 21 or older.

According to state firearms purchase policies, a person must be 18 or older to buy a long gun and 21 or older to buy a handgun.

“Given that people in these younger age groups cannot legally purchase firearms [on their own], we should be having next to zero [gun users] in these categories--if these laws were being followed and enforced,” Sorenson said.

She said tracing youths’ guns to their sources is crucial and that blocking sales of guns to minors might involve tactics such as undercover purchases.

She also lauded the city of Albuquerque for for confiscating youths’ vehicles if they are caught with illegal guns.

Others urged toughening laws to allow tracing of gun transfers and holding rogue dealers and other suppliers--even family members--more accountable for sales or transfers to minors.

“The case has to be made . . . that it’s up to the distributors or retailers to be careful about whom they sell to,” said Philip Cook, a professor of public policy at Duke University.

Luis Tolley, western director of Handgun Control, said the research underscores the necessity of personalizing weapons--having built-in locks or some owner identification system such as magnetic rings--and stepping up surprise inspections of gun dealers.

Assemblyman Jack Scott (D-Altadena) said keeping guns out of the hands of youths is a major reason he will introduce legislation in the next session to mandate registration of firearms. “We’ve made it too easy for our youth to get ahold of guns,” he said.

But Bill Powers, director of public affairs for the National Rifle Assn., said existing laws are sufficient; they simply need to be enforced.

“We’ve been arguing that for years. . . . It has to be recognized that in this country virtually everything a kid does with a firearm [with exceptions such as target shooting and hunting with a parent] is as illegal as it can be.”