II. FIREARM POSSESSION IN WEST VIRGINIA
Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance System were used to estimate prevalences of firearm possession among the
adult and youth populations in the state. As noted, hunting has been and continues to be
an important part of West Virginia's culture, both as recreation and a means of providing
food for the table, and many boys in the state begin hunting at a young age, especially in
the more rural counties. Neither of the surveys associated with the surveillance systems
discussed below distinguish between hunting firearms and other firearms; it would not be
unexpected, therefore, to find higher-than-average prevalences of firearm possession among
both adults and youth in West Virginia.
Behavioral Risk Factor Survey. The Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System (BRFSS), a random telephone survey, was designed by the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to measure health behaviors among adults over
time, enabling states to monitor progress toward the reduction of these risk factors by
providing ongoing surveillance (9). The BRFSS represents a collaborative effort
between individual state public health agencies and the CDC. The states provide
telephones, office space, interviewers, and data supervision (either in-house or through
contracted services). The CDC provides financial assistance, a standardized set of core
questions, computer-assisted telephone interviewing software, computers, data processing
services, and analytic consultation. In addition to the core questions, states may choose
among several optional modules containing questions that address specific health problems.
A module comprising 11 questions on firearm ownership and safety was offered in 1995 (see
Appendix A). The following discussion centers on data collected in that year from 2,434
West Virginia households.
Nearly one-half (47.9%) of all BRFSS respondents surveyed in 1995 reported having a loaded
or unloaded firearm in either their home, car, van, or truck (Table 2). Men were more
likely than women to possess a firearm (57.7% vs. 39.1%), a finding that crossed all age
groups (Figure 1). Lower percentages of both sexes possessed firearms in the youngest
(18-24) and oldest (65+) age groups interviewed. The percentage of men who reported having
a firearm decreased with increased educational level, a pattern not found among women
(Figure 2). By marital status, higher percentages of married men and women reported having
a firearm (Figure 3). However, while somewhat lower percentages of divorced, widowed, and
never married men possessed firearms, substantially lower percentages of gun ownership
were found among women in the same categories.
Three percent (3.1%) of all respondents reported carrying a loaded firearm in their car,
van, or truck, 5.1% of the men and 1.4% of the women interviewed (Table 2). Approximately
one in eight (12.3%) West Virginia adults reported having a loaded firearm in their home,
16.7% of men and 8.4% of women. However, only one in twenty (4.9%) respondents stored
their loaded firearms in a locked place that had to be opened with a key or combination or
with a trigger lock that could only be opened with a key or combination. Thirty-nine
percent (38.6%) of West Virginia's adult population kept at least one unloaded firearm in
their homes, 46.0% and 31.9% of male and female respondents, respectively. Only 21.9%
stored their unloaded firearms in a locked place or with a trigger lock. Ammunition was
kept in the same room as the firearms by 6.9% of the respondents, with less than one
percent (0.9%) locking their ammunition away. Six percent (6.0%) of male respondents had
carried a loaded firearm on their person for protection during the 30 days prior to the
interview, compared to only 0.8% of female respondents.
Overall, 27.4% of respondents reported that they felt safer because they had firearms in
their home, car, van, or truck. Higher percentages of men than women reported feeling
safer in all age groups (Figure 4). Married and divorced men reported feeling safer more
frequently than widowed or never married men; a higher percentage of married women
reported feeling safer because they possessed a firearm than either divorced, widowed, or
never married women (Figure 5).
Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance
System (YRBSS) was developed by the CDC to monitor high risk behaviors among the nation's
youth and young adults (10). The YRBSS includes national, state, and local
school-based surveys of high school students in grades nine through 12. The results from
surveys conducted in 1993, the latest year for which national data were available at the
time of publication, are presented in this paper. The 1993 YRBSS included 155 high schools
deemed representative of the U.S. population as a whole. Data concerning weapon and gun
possession among students were available from 21 states, including West Virginia.
In the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), the students are asked (1) During the
past 30 days, on how many days did you carry a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club? and
(2) During the past 30 days, on how many days did you carry a gun? The 1993 YRBS results
are presented in Table 3. The percentage of students who reported carrying a weapon ranged
from 31.8% in Tennessee to 18.4% in Hawai'i, with a U.S. median of 22.1%. In West
Virginia, 28.7% of students reported carrying a weapon of some type during the previous 30
days. Males were consistently more likely to report carrying a weapon than females. West
Virginia (48.2%) ranked second to Tennessee (52.6%) in the percentage of male students who
reported carrying a weapon; the U.S. median among males was 34.3%.
The overall percentage of students who reported carrying a gun during the past 30 days
ranged from 13.5% in Louisiana to 6.1% in Hawai'i; 12.5% of students in West Virginia had
carried a gun. The U.S. median was 7.9%. Among male students only, the percentages ranged
from 23.5% in Louisiana to 10.2% in Hawai'i and New Hampshire, with a U.S. median of
13.7%. Again, West Virginia ranked second, with 22.9% of males reported having carried a
gun during the past 30 days (Figure 6).
State data from the YRBS are available from 1990, 1993, and 1995. In the latest year of
surveillance, the West Virginia Youth Risk Behavior Survey (WVYRBS) was administered to
2,079 randomly selected 9th through 12th grade students in 39 public schools in the state.
In addition to three years of data on the two questions discussed above, state-level
information concerning carrying a weapon on school property, feeling unsafe at school, and
being threatened or injured with a weapon was available for 1993 and 1995 (see Appendix
B). Table 4 presents WVYRBS data for all five questions for the three survey years.
The percentage of male students who reported carrying a weapon (such as a gun, knife, or
club) during the past 30 days increased substantially between 1990 (36.1%) and 1993
(48.2%), decreasing slightly in 1995 (43.9%). The percentage among female students,
however, decreased steadily, from 10.8% in 1990 to 9.1% in 1993 and 6.6% in 1995. While
there was a marked increase among males in gun possession between 1990 and 1993 (6.3% to
22.9%), the percentage decreased in 1995 (18.8%). The percentage of gun carrying among
females remained low in all three survey years (Figure 7).
Nearly one in four (24.0%) male students reported possessing a weapon on school property
during the past 30 days in 1993, down to approximately one in five (20.5%) in 1995. The
percentage of female students carrying a weapon to school decreased from 4.2% in 1993 to
3.5% in 1995. About one in 10 males had been threatened or injured during the previous 12
months in both 1993 (10.5%) and 1995 (10.0%), compared to 4.6% and 4.5% of female
students, respectively. In both 1993 and 1995, approximately 4% of both male and female
students had missed at least one day of school during the previous 30 days because they
felt unsafe.
Health Statistics Center
Office of Epidemiology and Health Promotion
West Virginia Bureau for Public Health
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Last updated 02/07/06