In a 1995 survey, School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (U.S. Department of Justice, 1995), 12.7% of students reported knowing a student who brought a gun to school. The percentage of students who reported this generally rose as their age increased. Researchers noted that the presence of members of street gangs at a school was related to knowing another student who brought a gun to school. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2001, 20% of students reported that street gangs were present at their schools.
Boys are more likely to be involved with guns than are girls. A 1996 survey of 730 boys in grades ten and eleven from fifty-three high schools nationwide provided insight into the types of guns that young people prefer (Joseph F. Sheley and James D. Wright, High School Youths, Weapons, and Violence: A National Survey, Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice, October 1998). The students represented a cross-section of the population: 79% were white, 10% African-American, 6% Hispanic, 3% Asian, 1% Native American, and 2% other. The researchers noted there may be a "good-boy bias" in the survey results because no dropouts were included.
The study also reported the type of weapons possessed by the 29% of boys who owned guns. Most owned rifles and shotguns, the type of weapons that are generally suited to hunting and sporting purposes. However, one in twenty-five owned an automatic or semiautomatic handgun and one in fifty owned a sawed-off shotgun, the two types of weapons least likely to be used as recreational weapons. Eight percent of gun owners possessed three or more types of guns.
The 1996 survey confirmed what other surveys have shown: Many juveniles have easy access to firearms. Half of the boys reported that obtaining a gun would be "little" or "no" trouble if they wanted one. Six percent claimed they had carried a gun outside the home during the past twelve months. The guns were acquired in a variety of ways: given or loaned by a family member or friend; sneaked from home; or stolen, bought, or traded for.
Some of the students had been involved in criminal activity: 14% admitted to thievery, 8% to robbery, and 2% to armed robbery. The students were asked about their social environment to determine whether there was a link between a dangerous environment and firearm possession. Such a link was supported by the most common reasons given for carrying a gun: the need for protection or holding a gun for someone. Ten percent of gun carriers reported using the gun in a crime. A few juveniles reported that they carried a gun to gain respect from their peers. The forty students in the survey who carried guns were more likely to use illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and hallucinogens.
According to the authors, this study confirmed that most students have little experience with guns and violence.
FIGURE 7.9
Those with such experience tend to come from troubled environments, and it is up to communities, not schools, to confront the issue and to teach other means of conflict resolution.
In a 2003 survey by the Gallup Organization, 42% of teens reported that there was a gun at home, which is comparable with the number of adults who claim to keep a gun in the home. (See Table 2.8 in Chapter 2 and Figure 7.9.) Teens with guns at home are more likely to live in the South and Midwest. White teens (51%) are more likely than African-American (20%) or Hispanic teens (27%) to have guns at home.
In Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General (2001), evidence shows that "high school students began to report that they were increasingly less likely to carry guns anywhere and specifically less likely to carry them to school."
Demographics of Student Gun Carriers
Since 1991 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been collecting information about risky behaviors among young people to determine how
FIGURE 7.10
widespread the behaviors are and at what age the behaviors begin. The CDC surveys high school students nationwide to find out about drug and cigarette use, exercise and sexual habits, and weapons carrying, among other things. Figure 7.10 shows results from five Youth Risk Behavior Surveys inquiring about students who carry guns.
Figure 7.10 shows that students in lower grades were generally more likely to have carried a weapon "anywhere" than were students in higher grades in all survey years except 1999. Only small differences were found among grade levels for students carrying a weapon at school in all years except 1995.
A 2001 survey on youth risk behavior reported that 17.4% of high school students carried a weapon (such as a gun, knife, or club) to school on one or more of the thirty days preceding the survey (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Report, vol. 15, June 28, 2002). Nearly one-third of those who carried a weapon carried a gun. Far more boys than girls carried a gun. Gun carrying was most prevalent among African-American males and younger students.
The CDC researchers noted that in the United States, approximately three-fourths of all deaths among persons aged ten to twenty-four years result from only four causes: motor-vehicle crashes, other unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide. Results from the 2001 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey demonstrated that numerous high school students engage in behaviors that increase their likelihood of death from these four causes.
A CDC survey from 2003 confirmed earlier trends. Table 7.4 reports that 17.1% of high school students carried a weapon, with 6.1% of them carrying a gun. Six percent of African-American students, 5.9% of white students, and 5.4% of Hispanic students claimed to have carried a gun to school on one or more of the thirty days preceding the survey.
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, 1997 was the largest survey of teens ever taken in the United States. The survey questioned 90,000 students in grades seven to twelve at 145 schools around the country. This federally funded study was conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the University of Minnesota.
In the survey, 26% of students said they had either carried a weapon or been present at an incident where someone was hurt by a weapon. The researchers were struck by the finding that race, income, and family structure were not the most important factors influencing risky behaviors. Far more important predictors of risky behavior were failure in school, too much unstructured time, and poor family relationships.
TABLE 7.4
| Percentage of students who carried a gun1, by sex, race/ethnicity, and grade, 2003 | ||||||
| Carried a weapon | Carried a gun | |||||
| Female | Male | Total | Female | Male | Total | |
| Category | % | % | % | % | % | % |
| 1On ≥ 1 of the 30 days preceding the survey. | ||||||
| 2Non-Hispanic. | ||||||
| SOURCE: "Table 6. Percentage of Students Who Carried a Gun by Sex, Race/Ethnicity, and Grade," in Morbidity and Mortality Report, vol. 53, May 21, 2004, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5302.pdf (accessed October 9, 2004) | ||||||
| Race/ethnicity | ||||||
| White2 | 5.5 | 27.1 | 16.7 | 1.5 | 10.0 | 5.9 |
| Black2 | 9.8 | 24.9 | 17.3 | 1.4 | 10.6 | 6.0 |
| Hispanic | 8.5 | 24.3 | 16.5 | 2.6 | 8.2 | 5.4 |
| Grade | ||||||
| 9 | 8.8 | 26.6 | 18.0 | 2.1 | 9.3 | 5.8 |
| 10 | 5.2 | 26.5 | 15.9 | 1.4 | 10.4 | 5.9 |
| 11 | 6.8 | 29.2 | 18.2 | 1.6 | 10.8 | 6.3 |
| 12 | 5.2 | 25.2 | 15.5 | 1.0 | 10.0 | 5.7 |
| Total | 6.7 | 26.9 | 17.1 | 1.6 | 10.2 | 6.1 |
Student Reports of Threats or Injuries
Table 7.5 shows trend data on weapons threats and injuries on school property. The data are from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and appear in the report Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2003. As shown in Table 7.5, the percentage of ninth through twelfth graders who were threatened or injured with a weapon, such as a gun, knife, or club, on school property remained between 7% and 8% on average. Males are more likely to be threatened or injured with a weapon; in 2001, for example, 12% of male students were threatened with a weapon, while 7% of females were threatened. Also, students in lower grades were more likely to be threatened.
Another survey from the CDC investigated how students obtain firearms used in serious school-associated crimes like homicide and suicide (Morbidity and Mortality Report, vol. 152, March 7, 2003). Table 7.6 shows that the majority of students obtained guns from home (37.5%), with the next likely source being a friend or relative (23.4%). Only 7% of guns used in school-related crimes were purchased, while 5.5% were stolen.
Violence at school makes students feel vulnerable. Sometimes it makes them want to carry weapons to school for self-protection. The Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 required states to pass laws forcing school districts to expel any student who brings a firearm to school. A 2003 report from the U.S. Department of Education revealed that 3,657 students were expelled from school in school year 2000–01 for carrying a gun to school. (See Table 7.7.) Almost 48% of the expulsions were students in high school, 28% were in junior high, and 24% were in elementary school. The number of expulsions
TABLE 7.5
| Percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property during the last 12 months, by selected characteristics, selected years, 1993–2001 | |||||
| Student characteristics | 1993 | 19951 | 19971 | 19991 | 20011 |
| §The response categories for race/ethnicity changed in 1999 making comparisons of some categories with earlier years problematic. | |||||
| 1The response rate for this survey was less than 70 percent and a full nonresponse bias analysis has not been done to date. | |||||
| 2Hispanics and Latinos are not included in these race/ethnicity categories unless specified. While there appear to be large differences among racial/ethnic groups, these differences are associated with large standard errors and should be interpreted with caution. | |||||
| Note: "On school property" was not defined for survey respondents. | |||||
| SOURCE: "Table 4.1. Percentage of Students in Grades 9–12 Who Reported Being Threatened or Injured with a Weapon on School Property during the Last 12 Months," in Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2002, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2001, http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/crime03/figs.asp (accessed October 9, 2004) | |||||
| Total | 7.3 | 8.4 | 7.4 | 7.7 | 8.9 |
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 9.2 | 10.9 | 10.2 | 9.5 | 11.5 |
| Female | 5.4 | 5.8 | 4.0 | 5.8 | 6.5 |
| Race/ethnicity2 | |||||
| White | § | § | § | 6.6 | 8.5 |
| Black or African American | § | § | § | 7.6 | 9.3 |
| Hispanic or Latino | § | § | § | 9.8 | 8.6 |
| Asian | § | § | § | 7.7 | 11.3 |
| American Indian or Alaska Native | § | § | § | 13.2 | 15.2 |
| Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander | § | § | § | 15.6 | 24.8 |
| Multiple | § | § | § | 9.3 | 10.3 |
| Grade | |||||
| 9th | 9.4 | 9.6 | 10.1 | 10.5 | 12.7 |
| 10th | 7.3 | 9.6 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 9.1 |
| 11th | 7.3 | 7.7 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 6.9 |
| 12th | 5.5 | 6.7 | 5.8 | 5.1 | 5.3 |
TABLE 7.6
| Number and percentage of firearms used by student perpetrators in school homicides and suicides, by source of firearm, 1992–99* | ||||||
| Firearms used in suicide events | Firearms used in homicide events | Total | ||||
| Source | No. | (%) | No. | (%) | No. | (%) |
| *Firearms used by perpetrators who committed a homicide and then killed themselves as part of a homicide-suicide event were included in analyses of firearms used by homicide perpetrators. | ||||||
| SOURCE: "Table 1. Number and Percentage of Firearms Used by Student Perpetrators, United States, 1992–1999," in Morbidity and Mortality Report, vol. 152, March 7, 2003, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5209a1.htm (accessed October 9, 2004) | ||||||
| Home of perpetrator | 26 | (76.5) | 22 | (23.4) | 48 | (37.5) |
| Friend/relative of perpetrator | 4 | (11.8) | 26 | (27.6) | 30 | (23.4) |
| Purchased | 0 | (0.0) | 9 | (9.6) | 9 | (7.0) |
| Stolen | 2 | (5.9) | 5 | (5.3) | 7 | (5.5) |
| Victim | — | — | 2 | (2.1) | 2 | (1.6) |
| Other | 0 | (0.0) | 3 | (3.2) | 3 | (2.3) |
| Unknown | 2 | (5.9) | 27 | (28.7) | 29 | (22.7) |
| Total | 34 | 94 | 128 | |||
TABLE 7.7
| Number of students found to have brought a firearm to school, by grade, 2000–01 | ||||
| School level | ||||
| State/outlying area | Elementary | Junior high | Senior high | Total |
| SOURCE: "Table 2. Number of Students Found to Have Brought a Firearm to School, by School Level, 2000–2001," in Report on the Implementation of the Gun–Free Schools Act in the States and Outlying Areas for School Year 2000–2001, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, October 2003, http://www.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/gfsa/GFSA2000–2001.pdf (accessed October 9, 2004) | ||||
| Alabama | 49 | 60 | 91 | 200 |
| Alaska | 1 | 0 | 9 | 10 |
| Arizona | 35 | 31 | 65 | 131 |
| Arkansas | 6 | 9 | 17 | 32 |
| California | 18 | 32 | 73 | 123 |
| Colorado | 0 | 5 | 19 | 24 |
| Connecticut | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Delaware | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| District of Columbia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Florida | 10 | 21 | 64 | 95 |
| Georgia | 11 | 39 | 61 | 111 |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Idaho | 0 | 7 | 10 | 17 |
| Illinois | 5 | 2 | 25 | 32 |
| Indiana | 2 | 5 | 14 | 21 |
| Iowa | 0 | 1 | 10 | 11 |
| Kansas | 6 | 4 | 26 | 36 |
| Kentucky | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Louisiana | 38 | 38 | 37 | 113 |
| Maine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Maryland | 3 | 3 | 21 | 27 |
| Massachusetts | 1 | 7 | 10 | 18 |
| Michigan | 9 | 36 | 45 | 90 |
| Minnesota | 1 | 3 | 8 | 12 |
| Mississippi | 8 | 12 | 44 | 64 |
| Missouri | 6 | 13 | 30 | 49 |
| Montana | 1 | 4 | 7 | 12 |
| Nebraska | 0 | 1 | 10 | 11 |
| Nevada | 4 | 21 | 33 | 58 |
| New Hampshire | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| New Jersey | 0 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| New Mexico | 5 | 7 | 20 | 32 |
| New York | 20 | 17 | 52 | 89 |
| North Carolina | 6 | 21 | 50 | 77 |
| North Dakota | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Ohio | 522 | 355 | 334 | 1,211 |
| Oklahoma | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Oregon | 0 | 15 | 25 | 40 |
| Pennsylvania | 12 | 17 | 13 | 42 |
| Puerto Rico | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rhode Island | 0 | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| South Carolina | 5 | 3 | 35 | 43 |
| South Dakota | 3 | 1 | 8 | 12 |
| Tennessee | 8 | 32 | 48 | 88 |
| Texas | 13 | 51 | 140 | 204 |
| Utah | 11 | 12 | 30 | 53 |
| Vermont | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Virginia | 50 | 61 | 93 | 204 |
| Washington | 10 | 39 | 67 | 116 |
| West Virginia | 1 | 1 | 10 | 12 |
| Wisconsin | 3 | 25 | 39 | 67 |
| Wyoming | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| American Samoa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Guam | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Marianas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Virgin Islands | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Total | 884 | 1,034 | 1,739 | 3,657 |
was down from the 1996–97 school year, when 5,724 students were expelled, although the number was higher than the previous year, 1999–2000, when 2,837 students were expelled.
A September 2000 report by the Hamilton Fish Institute, a federally financed research group, claimed that school principals are underreporting the number of students with guns because they are unwilling to tarnish their schools' reputations. The authors stated that there were "one hundred times more guns in the hands of children attending American schools than principals have been reporting to Congress" (Paul M. Kingery and Mark B. Coggeshall, "School-Based Surveillance of Violence, Injury, and Disciplinary Actions," Hamilton Fish Institute, January 2001).
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