One in five young people in Rotterdam says they sometimes possess or carry a weapon

About 1 in 5 young people in Rotterdam has ever owned, carried or used a weapon. That appears from research published on Wednesday from Erasmus University Rotterdam commissioned by the municipality of Rotterdam. Over a period of eight months, the researchers completed questionnaires with 542 young people at nineteen secondary schools and MBOs. Most young people who own a gun use a pocket knife. They say they want to be able to defend themselves, feel unsafe or feel threatened.

The research also shows that carrying or possessing weapons has not become more common among young people in recent years – a suggestion that the researchers say is sometimes raised in the media. The majority of the young people surveyed do not consider knives and other weapons as normal, cool or acceptable. However, they often think of others as possessing or carrying weapons. According to them, it is not difficult to get a weapon. Availability is hardly a reason to own a weapon or not.

Not all young people who claim to possess a weapon carry or use it. Of the percentage of young people who said in the questionnaire that they had a weapon, the largest group said that they sometimes carry this weapon with them, but did not use it. The group that also uses a weapon to actually injure someone is small. According to the researchers, social media plays an important role in the use of weapons by young people. This is partly because they are regularly confronted online with images of gun ownership and use.

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