HOT OFF THE SHOW! Troubled Teens & Guns

On today's show with author and former gun control advocate, Howard Nemerov, we talked about recent murder rampages by teenagers, such as the one in Minnesota where Jeff Weise, a Native American teen, took his grandfather's gun, who was a policeman, killed him, his girlfriend and then went to school and killed two adults and five classmates before killing himself. He did this on Hitler's birthday, which was no coincidence as records show he wrote of his admiration for Hitler on internet forums.

MSNBC reported on this, and that a couple of his friends said he was suicidal and that once when they were watching a movie he said, "That would be cool if I shot up the school." They also reported that his father had committed suicide four years ago, and his mother lives in a nursing home due to brain injuries suffered in a car accident.

What was the cause of this tragedy? Access to a gun? Unhealthy information on the internet? Violence on TV? The effects of his father's suicide? Is gun control the answer? Would it have prevented this incident? If you missed the show today you can listen to it online to get some answers.

© Sharon Hughes 2005

Related:
Howard Nemerov on Gun Control Issues
Violence Policy Center - Teens & Guns


Hear the show Now (See 4/13/05)


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