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ABSTRACT
Few studies to date have explored the issue of the extent to which young females possess and carry guns. We report here the results of a study of patterns of gun acquisition and gun carrying among a sample of female inner-city high school students in five prominent cities in California, Illinois, Louisiana, and New Jersey. While the focus of the present analysis is upon females, findings regarding males (previously published elsewhere) are reported parenthetically for purposes of comparison. The findings indicate that gun possession and carrying were prevalent in the immediate social environment of our respondents. The respondents assumed also that guns were readily available in their neighborhoods. Roughly one in ten of our respondents reported having possessed a gun at sometime. A similar percentage reported that they carried guns. In all cases, levels of possession and carrying of firearms were substantially lower than those reported by a corresponding sample of male respondents.