Reviews the prevalence of weapon-carrying among adolescents, focusing on the reasons why they carry weapons, ways that firearms are obtained, firearms and violence, and the controlling of weapons in schools. Details weapon-security measures and argues for cooperative action among schools, communities, and government. (RJM)

Includes an interview with Todd Strasser, the young adult book author of "Give a Boy a Gun", as well as an excerpt from one of his speeches. Addresses issues related to school shootings, the easy availability of guns, ridicule and bullying, peer pressure, and violence in media. (LRW)

Describes an integrated use of simulation/gaming in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) class, analyzes benefits and drawbacks, and suggest how the technique could apply to other specific contexts. Explains how international students ran a simulation on gun control; discusses the debriefing process; and considers motivation, metacognitive…

Identifies and discusses divergent synecdochal representations of the handgun as vital to both the construction and maintenance of competing social realities (handgun as threatened liberty and handgun as threatened life) in the debate over the Brady Bill. Demonstrates how such representations serve as divergent rhetorical constructs for competing…

Federal law prohibits the purchase or possession of a firearm by persons convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence and those under certain domestic violence restraining orders. The purpose of this investigation is to examine public sentiment about the removal of firearms in the absence of a restraining order or misdemeanor conviction following…

Describes community reaction to an elementary school principal's decision to suspend a boy for brandishing an unloaded pellet gun at a classmate. The aftermath stretched out for six months, and both the unabashed perpetrator and his traumatized victim transferred to other schools. Alternative crisis-management strategies are offered. (MLH)

To investigate risk factors for suicide in veterans of peacekeeping, 43 suicides and 41 fatal accidents in Norwegian peacekeepers (1978 to 1995) were compared in a psychological autopsy study. Mental health problems were the most important risk factor for suicide. Both living alone and the break-up of a love relationship contributed uniquely to…

Batterers with access to firearms present a serious lethal threat to their partners. The purpose of this exploratory study is to estimate the prevalence of and risk markers for gun possession among Massachusetts men enrolled in batterer intervention programs. The authors found that 1.8% of the men reported having a gun in or around their home.…

The United States leads the developed world in youth violence, with the highest homicide and suicide rates among young people. Exposure starts early. To reduce violence in U.S. schools, we must control handguns, abolish television violence, isolate violent students, and change the ways that juvenile offenders are punished. (MLH)

Attempts to place the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in a historical perspective. Describes the shootings in Littleton and the high school shootings since 1996. Interprets the possible reasons for the Columbine shootings, such as the role of the high school, access to guns, and violence in the mass media. (CMK)

The extended parallel process model (EPPM) is receiving increasing attention in many undergraduate and graduate persuasion and health communication textbooks and classes. The EPPM is concerned with the effect of four variables on behavior: (1) perceived susceptibility; (2) perceived severity; (3) response-efficacy; and (4) self-efficacy. The first…

The Maryland Gun Violence Act, enacted into law in 1996, explicitly authorized courts to order batterers to surrender their firearms through civil protective orders. It also vested law enforcement with the explicit authority to remove guns when responding to a domestic violence complaint. In order to assess how these laws were implemented, we…

Describes a statewide childhood gun safety program in New Mexico aimed at reducing the availability of loaded guns at home. Focusing on increasing safety awareness of communities, health care professionals, parents, and gun owners, the program will be continued with a new three-year funding grant. (SLD)

The role of content validity in policy-relevant research is illustrated in a study contrasting results of surveys concerning public opinion toward gun control. Inadequate content validity threatened inferences about the overall level of support for gun control, but not about opinion difference between sexes or respondents of varying political…

Responses to youth violence include intervention programs to teach children alternative skills for solving problems and to challenge superficial beliefs about the glories of violence. Children on a destructive path need someone they can trust who will guide them. Lists 29 measures in response to school violence and the percentage of school…