An increasing number of teenagers in the United States own their handguns in recent years, ABC News said recently, citing a research report.
The overall handgun carriage increased by 41 percent among Americans aged 12 to 18 from 2002 to 2019, researchers from the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College said in the report.
The most significant rise is among white, wealthy and rural adolescents, the report said.
The relax of gun possession laws, the political split and the spread of so-called "gun culture" are the main reasons.