Table 231.40.

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 2015

[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Location and student characteristic	1993			1995			1997		1999			2001			2003			2005			2007			2009			2011			2013			2015
1	2			3			4		5			6			7			8			9			10			11			12			13
Anywhere (including on school       property)1
Total	22.1		(1.18)	20.0		(0.66)	18.3	(0.91)	17.3		(0.97)	17.4		(0.99)	17.1		(0.90)	18.5		(0.80)	18.0		(0.87)	17.5		(0.73)	16.6		(0.65)	17.9		(0.73)	16.2		(0.91)
Sex
Male	34.3		(1.68)	31.1		(1.03)	27.7	(1.57)	28.6		(1.71)	29.3		(1.67)	26.9		(1.31)	29.8		(1.35)	28.5		(1.41)	27.1		(1.45)	25.9		(1.07)	28.1		(1.31)	24.3		(1.27)
Female	9.2		(0.85)	8.3		(0.72)	7.0	(0.54)	6.0		(0.56)	6.2		(0.41)	6.7		(0.60)	7.1		(0.43)	7.5		(0.66)	7.1		(0.38)	6.8		(0.41)	7.9		(0.56)	7.5		(0.79)
Race/ethnicity2
White	20.6		(1.43)	18.9		(0.93)	17.0	(1.29)	16.4		(1.36)	17.9		(1.30)	16.7		(0.95)	18.7		(1.13)	18.2		(1.28)	18.6		(1.16)	17.0		(1.05)	20.8		(0.90)	18.1		(1.37)
Black	28.5		(1.24)	21.8		(2.03)	21.7	(1.99)	17.2		(2.68)	15.2		(1.23)	17.3		(1.77)	16.4		(0.81)	17.2		(1.05)	14.4		(1.33)	14.2		(0.85)	12.5		(0.96)	12.4		(1.37)
Hispanic	24.4		(1.35)	24.7		(1.87)	23.3	(1.44)	18.7		(1.35)	16.5		(0.78)	16.5		(1.31)	19.0		(1.10)	18.5		(1.21)	17.2		(0.94)	16.2		(0.82)	15.5		(0.95)	13.7		(1.16)
Asian3	—		(†)	—		(†)	—	(†)	13.0		(2.01)	10.6		(2.10)	11.6		(2.67)	7.0		(1.70)	7.8		(1.41)	8.4		(1.28)	9.1		(1.57)	8.7		(1.79)	7.1		(1.33)
Pacific Islander3	—		(†)	—		(†)	—	(†)	25.3		(5.02)	17.4		(4.35)	16.3	!	(6.37)	20.0	!	(6.52)	25.5		(4.35)	20.3		(3.40)	20.7		(5.00)	12.6	!	(3.98)	26.3		(7.87)
American Indian/Alaska Native	34.2		(8.08)	32.0		(5.69)	26.2	(3.65)	21.8		(5.68)	31.2		(5.52)	29.3		(4.58)	25.6		(3.79)	20.6		(3.02)	20.7		(3.40)	27.6		(2.41)	17.8		(4.01)	22.4		(4.01)
Two or more races3	—		(†)	—		(†)	—	(†)	22.2		(3.34)	25.2		(3.41)	29.8		(5.03)	26.7		(3.11)	19.0		(2.46)	17.9		(1.61)	23.7		(2.58)	18.8		(2.09)	20.8		(2.52)
Grade
9th	25.5		(1.42)	22.6		(1.24)	22.6	(1.34)	17.6		(1.58)	19.8		(1.44)	18.0		(1.81)	19.9		(1.21)	20.1		(1.41)	18.0		(0.87)	17.3		(1.07)	17.5		(0.99)	16.1		(1.11)
10th	21.4		(1.11)	21.1		(0.94)	17.4	(1.33)	18.7		(1.31)	16.7		(1.11)	15.9		(1.14)	19.4		(1.19)	18.8		(1.21)	18.4		(1.51)	16.6		(0.89)	17.8		(1.09)	16.3		(1.49)
11th	21.5		(1.66)	20.3		(1.40)	18.2	(1.69)	16.1		(1.31)	16.8		(1.26)	18.2		(1.21)	17.1		(1.13)	16.7		(1.08)	16.2		(0.93)	16.2		(0.84)	17.9		(1.43)	16.0		(1.19)
12th	19.9		(1.46)	16.1		(0.93)	15.4	(1.65)	15.9		(1.44)	15.1		(1.28)	15.5		(1.06)	16.9		(0.95)	15.5		(1.28)	16.6		(0.85)	15.8		(0.90)	18.3		(1.17)	15.8		(1.26)
Urbanicity4
Urban	—		(†)	—		(†)	18.7	(1.34)	15.8		(0.85)	15.3		(0.99)	17.0		(1.32)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)
Suburban	—		(†)	—		(†)	16.8	(1.02)	17.0		(1.34)	17.4		(1.39)	16.5		(1.36)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)
Rural	—		(†)	—		(†)	22.3	(2.12)	22.3		(2.19)	23.0		(1.86)	18.9		(1.91)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)
On school property5
Total	11.8		(0.73)	9.8		(0.45)	8.5	(0.79)	6.9		(0.60)	6.4		(0.52)	6.1		(0.57)	6.5		(0.46)	5.9		(0.37)	5.6		(0.32)	5.4		(0.35)	5.2		(0.44)	4.1		(0.29)
Sex
Male	17.9		(0.96)	14.3		(0.76)	12.5	(1.50)	11.0		(1.07)	10.2		(0.88)	8.9		(0.74)	10.2		(0.83)	9.0		(0.65)	8.0		(0.52)	8.2		(0.59)	7.6		(0.70)	5.9		(0.45)
Female	5.1		(0.65)	4.9		(0.53)	3.7	(0.37)	2.8		(0.38)	2.9		(0.27)	3.1		(0.50)	2.6		(0.30)	2.7		(0.33)	2.9		(0.24)	2.3		(0.19)	3.0		(0.40)	2.0		(0.28)
Race/ethnicity2
White	10.9		(0.86)	9.0		(0.65)	7.8	(1.16)	6.4		(0.87)	6.1		(0.62)	5.5		(0.57)	6.1		(0.66)	5.3		(0.55)	5.6		(0.44)	5.1		(0.40)	5.7		(0.65)	3.7		(0.42)
Black	15.0		(0.85)	10.3		(1.13)	9.2	(0.98)	5.0		(0.50)	6.3		(0.92)	6.9		(0.96)	5.1		(0.66)	6.0		(0.46)	5.3		(0.74)	4.6		(0.67)	3.9		(0.42)	3.4		(0.69)
Hispanic	13.3		(1.09)	14.1		(1.63)	10.4	(0.99)	7.9		(0.73)	6.4		(0.53)	6.0		(0.56)	8.2		(0.91)	7.3		(0.82)	5.8		(0.58)	5.8		(0.70)	4.7		(0.61)	4.5		(0.57)
Asian3	—		(†)	—		(†)	—	(†)	6.5		(1.44)	7.2		(2.05)	6.6	!	(2.44)	2.8	!	(1.24)	4.1		(1.01)	3.6		(0.84)	4.3	!	(1.66)	3.8		(1.13)	2.3	!	(0.78)
Pacific Islander3	—		(†)	—		(†)	—	(†)	9.3		(2.66)	10.0	!	(3.05)	4.9	!	(2.05)	15.4	!	(6.10)	9.5	!	(3.40)	9.8		(2.33)	10.9	!	(3.73)	4.0	!	(1.95)	15.0	!	(6.42)
American Indian/Alaska Native	17.6	!	(5.70)	13.0	!	(4.35)	15.9	(3.68)	11.6	!	(5.13)	16.4		(4.02)	12.9		(3.40)	7.2		(1.60)	7.7		(2.08)	4.2	!	(1.50)	7.5		(1.62)	7.0	!	(3.22)	10.5		(2.48)
Two or more races3	—		(†)	—		(†)	—	(†)	11.4		(2.76)	13.2		(3.61)	13.3	!	(4.10)	11.9		(2.99)	5.0		(1.11)	5.8		(1.35)	7.5		(1.87)	6.3		(1.58)	5.7		(1.54)
Grade
9th	12.6		(0.73)	10.7		(0.76)	10.2	(0.90)	7.2		(1.07)	6.7		(0.66)	5.3		(1.13)	6.4		(0.75)	6.0		(0.59)	4.9		(0.46)	4.8		(0.50)	4.8		(0.69)	3.4		(0.31)
10th	11.5		(0.97)	10.4		(0.78)	7.7	(0.99)	6.6		(0.83)	6.7		(0.60)	6.0		(0.53)	6.9		(0.70)	5.8		(0.61)	6.1		(0.57)	6.1		(0.72)	4.8		(0.58)	4.1		(0.54)
11th	11.9		(1.41)	10.2		(0.94)	9.4	(1.33)	7.0		(0.60)	6.1		(0.74)	6.6		(0.80)	5.9		(0.71)	5.5		(0.68)	5.2		(0.44)	4.7		(0.44)	5.9		(1.19)	4.8		(0.50)
12th	10.8		(0.83)	7.6		(0.68)	7.0	(0.91)	6.2		(0.78)	6.1		(0.71)	6.4		(0.64)	6.7		(0.64)	6.0		(0.58)	6.0		(0.57)	5.6		(0.51)	5.3		(0.88)	3.6		(0.56)
Urbanicity4
Urban	—		(†)	—		(†)	7.0	(0.67)	7.2		(1.09)	6.0		(0.67)	5.6		(0.81)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)
Suburban	—		(†)	—		(†)	8.7	(0.68)	6.2		(0.74)	6.3		(0.68)	6.4		(1.01)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)
Rural	—		(†)	—		(†)	11.2	(2.19)	9.6		(1.61)	8.3		(1.48)	6.3		(0.67)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)	—		(†)

—Not available.

†Not applicable.

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

1 The term "anywhere" is not used in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) questionnaire; students were simply asked how many days they carried a weapon during the past 30 days.

2 Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.

3 Before 1999, Asian students and Pacific Islander students were not categorized separately, and students could not be classified as Two or more races. Because the response categories changed in 1999, caution should be used in comparing data on race from 1993, 1995, and 1997 with data from later years.

4 Refers to the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) status of the respondent’s household as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Categories include "central city of an MSA (Urban)," "in MSA but not in central city (Suburban)," and "not MSA (Rural)."

5 In the question asking students about carrying a weapon at school, "on school property" was not defined for survey respondents.

NOTE: Respondents were asked about carrying "a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club."

SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), 1993 through 2015. (This table was prepared July 2016.)