Special Committee on Gun Violence

• Nationwide, 6.1% of high school students reported carrying a gun at least once during the last 30 days. Male students (10.2%) were significantly more likely than females (1.6%) to have carried a gun.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance – United States, 2003.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 21, 2004, Vol 53, No SS-2 (p. 5).

• Between 1985 and 1994, the risk of dying from a firearm injury more than doubled for teenagers 15 to 19 years of age.

National Summary of Injury Mortality Data, 1987-1994. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, November, 1996.

• From 1985 through the early 1990s, the use of handguns in homicides committed by youth under the aged of 18 increased nearly four times and handgun homicides by those aged 18-24 doubled.

Blumstein, Alfred. Youth, Guns and Violent Crime. Children, Youth and Gun Violence.
The Future of Children Vol. 12 No. 2, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation 2002.
(Based on F.B.I. Supplementary Homicide Reports)

• More than 30% of homes with children have a gun in them, ranging from 31.7% of households with one child to 39.6% of households with two children. Nearly 35% of households with no children have a gun in the home.

Help Network, http://www.helpnetwork.org/pdf/2003%20Guns%20in%20America.pdf