Contrary to
widespread media stories that highlight gun violence among the nation's
youth, firearm-related injuries and deaths among teens and young adults
actually saw a significant downward trend during the 1990s. An analysis of
data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that in 1990,
there were 25.8 firearm-related deaths per 100,000 people in the U.S. aged
15 to 24. By 1998, the rate had dropped to 19.9 per 100,000. The
father-daughter research team of Dr. Lawrence J. D'Angelo and Marisa K.
D'Angelo reported the data at the recent annual meeting of the Society for
Adolescent Medicine in Boston. The numbers contradict the "common
perception that gun violence is going up," said Dr. D'Angelo. Highly
publicized shootings such as what occurred at Columbine High School focus
national attention on teen violence, but such incidents are "improperly
being reported," D'Angelo said. "Adolescents are once again unfairly being
stigmatized in terms of their behavior, while in reality they are making
remarkable progress. Reporters don't want this information, because it
doesn't sell newspapers, and it doesn't make it on to the TV stations," he
said.