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Morning News

New Study Finds High School Students Affected by Handgun Violence, Passionate About Gun Control

Aired August 21, 2000 - 11:43 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. high school students are more likely than adults to back increased gun regulation. They're also more likely to support the right to own firearms, according to two findings in a report released this morning.

Dennis Gilbert, a sociology professor at New York's Hamilton College, helped design the study. And he joins us live from Washington to talk about these results.

Good morning to you, sir.

DENNIS GILBERT, SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR, HAMILTON COLLEGE: Good morning.

HEMMER: Tell us about the people you talked to. What the age range here?

GILBERT: We talked to high school students, 1,000 high school students nationally.

HEMMER: From different parts of the country, then?

GILBERT: Sophomores, juniors and seniors, from ages 15-17.

HEMMER: And the questions in the survey, how did you ask them?

GILBERT: We asked them by telephone.

HEMMER: OK, but the questions themselves? give us an example?

GILBERT: We asked them questions about their opinions on gun control issues. We asked them questions about their experience with guns and gun violence.

HEMMER: All right, let's get to meat of it. What did you find then?

GILBERT: Two things really stand out. One is that American high school students have an excessive level of exposure to guns and gun violence. We found, for instance, that half of the students we talked to said they knew how to get a gun in their neighborhood, that somebody their age could get a gun in their neighborhood. One in four students said that somebody they knew, somebody close to them, a relative or a friend, had been shot, other than in military combat. And when we asked kids in urban areas, large cities, that came up to 50 percent.

HEMMER: So those are the numbers. Were you able to gauge reaction from the students, based on these different question, et cetera; and, if so, how were they reacting?

GILBERT: Well, the strongest reaction to this that you can see is their overwhelming, I would say near universal, support for handgun control. We asked about a whole serious of handgun control measures and, on the basic kinds of things, like a 5-day waiting period, registration of handguns, nine of 10 high school students support these measures. So very strong support, higher than in similar adult surveys.

HEMMER: Sociology is your profession.

GILBERT: That is right.

HEMMER: It is where you excel. Did these results surprise you?

GILBERT: I was surprised. In polling, we very seldom find something that is like 90-plus percent. That was very shocking. And the fact that it was so much greater than adults in these surveys.

In addition, I design this poll, carried it out with the help of my students, and they made some of the calls. And a lot of these students, that is my college students, didn't have any firm opinions on this. But they were shocked at some of the things they heard in these calls. People broke down and cried and talked about handgun violence experiences in their own families and among their friends. That some of our students, frankly, found very disturbing.

HEMMER: In the 10 seconds we have left, what do you do with the results now?

GILBERT: They are out there for the world. I guess what the world needs to know is: high school students are affected by handgun violence and they care about it very deeply.

HEMMER: Dennis Gilbert, thank you, sir.

GILBERT: My pleasure.

HEMMER: Live from Washington, much appreciated.

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