Table 1

Weapons: Percentage of High School Students Who Carry Weapons,¹Selected Years, 1991-2007

1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

All Students

26.1

22.1

20.0

18.3

17.3

17.4

17.1

18.5

18.0

Race/Ethnicity²

White, non-Hispanic

25.1

20.6

18.9

17.0

16.4

17.9

16.7

18.7

18.2

Black, non-Hispanic

32.7

28.5

21.8

21.7

17.2

15.2

17.3

16.4

17.2

Hispanic

25.8

24.4

24.7

23.3

18.7

16.5

19.0

18.5

Grade

27.5

25.5

22.6

17.6

19.8

18.0

19.9

20.1

26.8

21.4

21.1

17.4

18.7

16.7

15.9

19.4

18.8

29.0

21.5

20.3

18.2

16.1

16.8

18.2

17.1

16.7

21.3

19.9

16.1

15.4

15.9

15.1

15.5

16.9

15.5

Male

40.6

34.3

31.1

27.7

28.6

29.3

26.9

29.8

28.5

Race/Ethnicity²

White, non-Hispanic

41.2

33.4

30.6

27.0

28.6

31.3

27.1

31.4

30.3

Black, non-Hispanic

43.4

38.2

29.6

29.1

23.1

22.4

24.9

23.7

24.6

Hispanic

40.0

37.3

36.6

35.0

29.5

26.0

24.3

29.8

28.2

Grade

44.4

39.0

33.8

33.2

28.7

33.7

26.6

31.6

31.0

41.5

32.5

32.4

26.6

30.7

28.4

26.5

30.6

29.3

44.0

33.0

32.1

28.8

26.9

28.1

29.2

28.6

27.7

33.1

32.6

26.0

23.3

27.3

25.6

25.2

27.6

25.0

Female

10.9

9.2

8.3

7.0

6.0

6.2

6.7

7.1

7.5

Race/Ethnicity²

White, non-Hispanic

7.5

6.9

5.5

4.4

3.6

5.1

5.5

6.0

6.1

Black, non-Hispanic

23.6

18.9

15.7

14.7

11.7

8.6

9.8

9.4

10.0

Hispanic

12.9

11.5

13.2

9.6

8.4

7.4

8.5

7.8

9.0

Grade

10.4

11.1

9.3

10.9

6.5

7.4

8.8

8.1

8.9

11.1

9.8

9.3

6.3

7.1

5.4

5.2

7.8

8.1

12.9

9.1

7.7

5.7

5.2

5.9

6.8

6.1

6.0

9.5

6.9

6.3

5.3

4.8

5.3

5.2

6.2

Note: Estimates do not include youth who dropped out of school and therefore may not reflect total national values

"-" Indicates data not available.

¹Such as a gun, knife, or club on one or more occasion in the 30 days preceding the survey.

²Race/ethnicity estimates from 1999 and later are not directly comparable to earlier years due to federal changes in race definitions. In surveys conducted in 1999 and later, respondents were allowed to select more than one race when selecting their racial category. Estimates presented only include respondents who selected one category when choosing their race.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Surveillance Summaries, Data for 1991: YRBSS: Youth Online, Comprehensive Results. Retrieved May 24, 2004 from URL: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/yrbss/.; Data for 1993: March 24 1995. MMWR 1995; 44(No. SS-1): Table 4; Data for 1995: September 27, 1996. MMWR 1996; 45 (No. SS-4): Table 4. Data for 1997: August 14, 1998. MMWR; 47(No. SS-3): Table 4; Data for 1999: June 9, 2000. MMWR 2000; 49(No. SS-5): Table 6; Data for 2001: June 28, 2002. MMWR 2002; 51 (No. SS-4): Table 6. Data for 2003: May 21, 2004. MMWR 2004:53(No. SS-2): Table 6. Data for 2005: June 9, 2006. MMWR 2006; 55 (No.SS-5): Table 6. Data for 2007: June 6, 2008. MMWR 2007:57 (No. SS-4). Table 7