Stop 2

Guns in Our Nation's Schools

  • In a 1997 survey, 9% of high school students had carried a weapon to school during the 30 days preceding the survey; 6% had carried a gun.[1]

  • During the 1997-1998 school year, 3.8% of 6-12th graders (nearly 1 million kids), carried a gun to school; 45% of them went to school armed on six or more occasions.[2]

  • In a 1995 survey, 5% of students reported seeing a gun in a school. 13% reported knowing another student who brought a gun to school.[3]

  • A 1993 survey of public high school students in a suburban area found that 18% possessed a handgun.[4]

  • According to a 1993 survey, 22% of boys had carried weapons to school; only 4% of girls claim to have done so.[5]

  • In the 1993-94 school year, Virginia school officials discovered 373 guns.[6]

  • A 1991 survey of 11th graders in the Seattle public schools found 6% of males had carried a handgun to school; one-third of students reported easy access to handguns; and 6.4% reported owning handguns. One-third of handgun owners had fired at someone.[7]

  • In a 1997 survey, 7.4% of high school students were threatened or injured with a weapon at school during the 12 months preceding the survey.[8]

  • In 1993, 5% of secondary school students say they have threatened someone, in or around school, with a knife or gun.[9]

  • During the 3 school years, August 1995-June 1998, there were an average of 5 multiple victim shootings per year.[10]

  • Between July 1, 1994 and June 30, 1998, there were 173 violent deaths in schools.[11]

  • In 1994, 13.1% of all violent crimes occurred inside a school building or on school property.[12]

  • In a 1995 nationwide profile of juvenile gun possession and use, 70% of students who said they carried a gun said they did so for protection; 53% said they obtained the gun from family, and 37% obtained the gun "off the street."[13]

  • In a 1993 survey, the major reasons students believe weapons are carried is to impress friends/be accepted (66%), for self-esteem/to feel important (56%), and for self-defense to and from school (49%).[14]

  • In a 1995 survey of students in inner-city schools, 42% said that they could get a gun if they wanted one.[15]

  • In a 1993 national survey of students in grades 6 to 12, 59 percent indicated that they knew where to get a gun if they wanted one, and two-thirds of these said they could get a gun within 24 hours.[16]

Updated 4/00

Notes:

  1. "Youth Risk Behavior Study." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1997.
  2. "National Survey of Adolescent Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use." PRIDE - Drug Free Youth, 1997-98.
  3. "Students' Reports of School Crime: 1989 and 1995." Nation Center for Education Statistics, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1998.
  4. Sheley JF. "Possession and carrying of firearms among suburban youth." Public Health Reports, 1995;110(1):18-26.
  5. "Survey of the American Teacher." Metropolitan Life, 1993.
  6. A report from the Virginia Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform, 1995.
  7. Callahan CM. "Urban high school youth and handguns. A school-based survey." Journal of the American Medical Association, 1992;276(22):3038-42.
  8. "Youth Risk Behavior Study." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1997.
  9. "Survey of the American Teacher." Metropolitan Life, 1993.
  10. "School Associated Violence Deaths in the US." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998.
  11. Ibid.
  12. "Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1994." Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997.
  13. McCarthy N, California Bar Journal, 1995.
  14. "Survey of the American Teacher." Metropolitan Life, 1993.
  15. Hemenway D. "Gun Carrying Among Adolescents." Law and Contemporary Problems, 1996;59(1):39-53.
  16. LH Research, Inc. and the Joyce Foundation, April 1993.