Survey findings reveal extent of gun culture

Almost four in 10 young people across the UK and the Republic of Ireland know someone who has a gun, according to a survey commissioned by the music television channel MTV.

Of the 657 people surveyed by the channel, most of them aged under 24, 38% said they knew someone who had a gun. More than six out of 10 said they had seen a gun themselves, of whom 9% said they had seen one at school.

Asked whether there was ever any justification for carrying a gun, other than as part of a job, 22 per cent said they believed there was. A quarter said self defence was the main reason people carried guns, while 40% attributed it to wanting to intimidate others.

The survey results were released ahead of a series of programmes due to be aired on the relationship between gun culture and hip hop on 13 September.