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Analysis: Mix of impulsivity, access to guns contribute to shootings by American teens

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SCCJ professor, James Alan Fox, spoke with PBS NewsHour about some of the factors that lead to mass shootings committed by American teenagers.

CHICAGO (AP) — A 1 a.m. shooting at a party in downtown St. Louis kills one and injures nearly a dozen. Gunmen open fire during a fight near Florida’s Hollywood Beach, injuring nine, including a 1-year-old. Bursts of gunfire at a Sweet 16 party in Dadeville, Alabama, kill four and wound more than 30.

What these and other recent mass shootings share in common is they all involve suspects in their teens, highlighting what can be a deadly mix of teenage bravado and impulsiveness with access to guns.

The days when many teens opted to fight out disagreements with fists seem quaint by comparison.

Read the full story in PBS.

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