According to a report by the Department of Education, over 6,000 students were expelled in 1996-1997 for bringing guns into their public schools. A 1990 survey by the Centers for Disease Control reported that one in 20 high school students had carried a gun in the past month. This Youth Update addresses these questions and provides you with a broader understanding of why choosing violence is a poor answer to any problem. For others, having a gun is a way to feel more important. Even though it's illegal, teens can get a gun quite easily.
Teens sometimes take their parent's gun without permission.
In other cases, a parent gives a gun to a teen child. Once one student starts bringing a gun to school, some students will follow suit because they are scared. Self-harm can also be a reason for bringing a weapon to school. Tina, a Michigan youth, was just 15 when she hid a weapon in her purse. When the pressures from both home and school proved too much for her to handle, suicide seemed the only way out.