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Preprimary, Elementary, and Secondary Education

Students Carrying Weapons and Students’ Access to Firearms

Last Updated: July 2024
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This indicator also appears under School Crime and Safety.
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The percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported carrying a weapon on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days decreased from 5 percent in 2011 to 3 percent in 2021. In every survey year from 2011 to 2021, a higher percentage of male students than of female students in grades 9–12 reported that they had carried a weapon on school property during the previous 30 days.
This indicator uses data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) to examine the percentages of students in grades 9–12 who reported carrying a weapon on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days. Then, using data from the EDFacts data collection, the indicator presents state-level data on public schools’ reports of the number of students who possessed firearms during the school year. It concludes with a discussion of data from the School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey on students ages 12–18 who reported having access to a loaded gun during the school year—either at school or away from school—without adult permission. The latest data for each of these sources generally corresponds to the 2021–22 school year. Overall, these data show lower percentages of students who reported carrying weapons at school in 2021 and having access to a loaded gun without adult permission in 2022 than in 2011.1 However, public schools reported higher incident rates of firearm possession in the 2021–22 school year than in any other year over the previous decade. While contrasting, these results are not necessarily contradictory. Readers should take note of the differing data sources, which measure different phenomena (e.g., carrying any weapon vs. finding firearms) for different populations (students in particular grades vs. school-level incidents) over different refence periods (previous 30 days vs. entire school year). In combination, these different sources offer a more complex understanding of the issue of weapons at school.

Select a subgroup characteristic from the drop-down menu below to view relevant text and figures.

All available findings Control of institution Grade level/Student level Race/ethnicity Sex or gender Sexual identity State/jurisdiction Time series
In the YRBSS, students in grades 9–12 were asked if they had carried a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club2 on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days.3 In 2021, the percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported having carried a weapon on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days was 3 percent overall, with 1 percent of students each reporting that they carried a weapon with the following frequencies: 1 day, 2 to 5 days, and 6 or more days. The overall percentage ranged from 1 percent in Delaware to 9 percent in Montana among states and jurisdictions with state-level data available.4 [State/jurisdiction]
Figure 1. Percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported carrying a weapon on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days, by sex: Selected years, 2011 through 2021
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Users can select any combination of available years and categories in any figure format (i.e., bar or table). The initial selection of years and categories may not be optimal in different views.
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A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
Confidence Interval
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Users can select years at irregular intervals. However, as a result, the distance between the data points will not be proportional to the number of years between them.
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NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Respondents were asked about carrying “a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club.” In the question asking students about carrying a weapon at school, “on school property” was not defined for respondents. Figures are plotted based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), 2011 through 2021. See Digest of Education Statistics 2023, table 231.40.

Overall, the percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported carrying a weapon on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days decreased from 5 percent in 2011 to 3 percent in 2021.5 This overall decrease was driven by a decline among male students, from 8 to 4 percent. Among female students, 2 percent reported that they had carried a weapon on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days in both 2011 and 2021. In every survey year from 2011 to 2021, a higher percentage of male students than of female students in grades 9–12 reported that they had carried a weapon on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days. [Time series ] [Sex or gender]
Figure 2. Percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported carrying a weapon on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days, by race/ethnicity and sexual identity: 2021
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Users can select any combination of available years and categories in any figure format (i.e., bar or table). The initial selection of years and categories may not be optimal in different views.
Bar | Table
A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
Confidence Interval
Bar | Table
Users can select years at irregular intervals. However, as a result, the distance between the data points will not be proportional to the number of years between them.
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†Not applicable.

! Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases for a reliable estimate or the coefficient of variation (CV) is 50 percent or greater.

1 Students were asked which of the following—“heterosexual (straight),” “gay or lesbian,” “bisexual,” “I am not sure about my sexual identity (questioning),” “I describe my sexual identity in some other way,” or “I do not know what this question is asking.”—best described them. Students who selected “I do not know what this question is asking” are considered to be missing the sexual identity data.

NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Respondents were asked about carrying “a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club.” In the question asking students about carrying a weapon at school, “on school property” was not defined for respondents. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Figures are plotted based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), 2021. See Digest of Education Statistics 2023, table 231.40.

There were some differences—by race/ethnicity, sexual identity,6 and grade level—in the percentages of students who reported carrying a weapon on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days. For students of all racial/ethnic groups, students of all sexual identities, and 9th- through 12th-graders, the percentage of students who reported carrying a weapon on school property was 5 percentage points or less in 2021. Specifically, these percentages were
  • lower for Asian students (2 percent) than for Hispanic students (3 percent), students of Two or more races (4 percent), and Black students (5 percent);
  • lower for White students (2 percent) than for students of Two or more races (4 percent) and Black students (5 percent);
  • lower for students who were heterosexual (2 percent) than for students who defined their sexual identity as “other/questioning” (5 percent);
  • lower for 9th-graders (2 percent) than for 11th-graders and 12th-graders (4 percent each); and
  • lower for 10th-graders (2 percent) than for 12th-graders (4 percent).
[Race/ethnicity ] [Grade level/Student level] [Sexual identity]
In addition to the YRBSS collecting student reports about carrying weapons, EDFacts collects state reports of school and district counts of public school students known to have brought firearms to or possessed firearms at school. During the 2021–22 school year, 5,000 public school students from kindergarten to 12th grade were reported to have possessed firearms at schools in the United States.7 This translates to an overall rate of 10 firearm possessions per 100,000 students, which was higher than in any other school year over the previous decade (ranging from 2 to 7 possessions per 100,000 students). Across the United States in 2021–22,
  • 30 states had rates below 10 firearm possessions per 100,000 students;
  • 15 states had rates between 10 and 20 firearm possession per 100,000 students; and
  • 5 states—Louisiana, South Carolina, New Mexico, Illinois, and Alabama—and the District of Columbia had rates above 20 firearm possessions per 100,000 students.
[Time series ] [State/jurisdiction]
Figure 3. Percentage of students ages 12–18 who reported having access to a loaded gun without adult permission—either at school or away from school—during the school year, by selected student and school characteristics: School year 2021–22
Hover, click, and tap to see more for all figures on this page.
Users can select any combination of available years and categories in any figure format (i.e., bar or table). The initial selection of years and categories may not be optimal in different views.
Bar | Table
A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
Confidence Interval
Bar | Table
Users can select years at irregular intervals. However, as a result, the distance between the data points will not be proportional to the number of years between them.
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Embed this figure

! Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.

‡Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases for a reliable estimate or the coefficient of variation (CV) is 50 percent or greater.

1 Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.

2 Excludes students with missing information about the school characteristic.

NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Excludes students who received any homeschooling education during the school year and students who only attended virtual public or private schools. Figures are plotted based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey, 2022. See Digest of Education Statistics 2023, table 231.70.

Students who do not bring firearms to school may nevertheless have access to these weapons. In the SCS survey, students ages 12–18 were asked if they had access to a loaded gun without adult permission—either at school or away from school—during the current school year. In school year 2021–22, about 3 percent of students reported having such access, which was lower than the percentage reported in 2010–11 (5 percent) and in 2019 (4 percent). [Time series ]
In 2021–22, there was no measurable difference between the percentage of male students (3 percent) and female students (2 percent) who reported having access to a loaded gun without adult permission. This differed from most survey years over the previous decade, in which the percentage was higher for male students than for female students. Consistent with the pattern for students ages 12–18 overall, the percentage of male students who reported having such access to a loaded gun was lower in 2021–22 than in 2010–11 (3 vs. 6 percent), as was the percentage of female students (2 vs. 4 percent). [Time series ] [Sex or gender]
In 2021–22, there were some differences in the percentages of students who reported having access to firearms across student and school characteristics. Specifically, the percentage of students ages 12–18 who reported having access to a loaded gun without adult permission—either at school or away from school—during the school year was
  • higher for Black students (5 percent) than for Asian and Hispanic students (2 percent each);
  • higher for 12th-graders (5 percent) than for 9th-graders (3 percent) and 8th-graders (2 percent);
  • higher for 10th-graders (4 percent) than for 8th-graders (2 percent); and
  • higher for public school students (3 percent) than for private school students (1 percent).
There were no measurable differences in the percentages of students who reported having access to a loaded gun without adult permission by school locale (city, suburb, town, rural). [Race/ethnicity ] [Grade level/Student level] [Control of institution]

1 For general technical notes related to data analysis, data interpretation, rounding, and other considerations, please refer to the Reader’s Guide.

2 The question on weapon carrying at least 1 day during the previous 30 days asked about these weapon types combined. Separate data on each type of weapon were not collected. For more information, see the questionnaire at https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/2021/2021-YRBS-National-HS-Questionnaire.pdf.

3 In the question asking students about carrying a weapon at school, “on school property” was not defined for respondents.

4 In 2021, state-level data on the percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported carrying a weapon at least 1 day during the previous 30 days on school property were available for 33 states and the District of Columbia (for detailed information by state, see the table on weapon carrying on school property for all locations in the YRBSS Youth Online Data Analysis Tool.

5 The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is a component of YRBSS. The national YRBS is conducted biennially, typically during the spring (January–June) of odd-numbered years. However, the 2021 national YRBS administration was postponed until fall (September–December) 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic and the shift to virtual and hybrid school instructional models and ongoing school closures during spring 2021. For more details, see https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/su/su7201a1.htm?s_cid=su7201a1_w.

6 Students were asked which of the following best described them: “heterosexual (straight),” “gay or lesbian,” “bisexual,” “I am not sure about my sexual identity (questioning),” “I describe my sexual identity in some other way,” or “I do not know what this question is asking.” Students who selected “I do not know what this question is asking” are considered to be missing the sexual identity data and thus excluded from the analyses.

7 U.S. total includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Supplemental Information

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Table 231.40 (Digest 2023): Percentage of students in grades 9-12 who reported carrying a weapon at least 1 day during the previous 30 days, by location and selected student characteristics: Selected years, 1993 through 2021;
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Table 231.50 (Digest 2023): Percentage distribution of students in grades 9-12, by number of days they reported carrying a weapon on school property during the previous 30 days and selected student characteristics: 2021;
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Table 231.65 (Digest 2023): Total number of public school students who brought firearms to or possessed firearms at school and number of students who did this per 100,000 students enrolled, by state or jurisdiction: School years 2011-12 through 2021-22;
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Table 231.70 (Digest 2023): Percentage of students ages 12-18 who reported having access to a loaded gun, without adult permission, at school or away from school during the school year, by selected student and school characteristics: Selected years, 2007 through 2022
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At school Firearm/explosive device Locale codes On school property Private school Public school or institution Racial/ethnic group Sexual identity (Youth Risk Behavior Survey System) Weapon (Youth Risk Behavior Survey System)
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Previous versions of this indicator available in the Indicators of School Crime and Safety reports.
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Suggested Citation

National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). Students Carrying Weapons and Students’ Access to Firearms. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved [date], from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/a13.
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