The specific questions addressed in this study include respondents' exposure to guns, violence, and crime; respondents' criminal activities and drug activity profiles; respondents' gang membership profiles; gun possession and carrying patterns, including types of guns owned, among urban youth; important features of respondents' handguns; methods and cost of acquiring weapons; motivations for carrying guns and situations in which guns are used; gun sales by respondents; drug use and trafficking and their relationship to crime and gun activity; and correlations between gang membership, guns, and criminal activity. The book also explores the use of firearms by female juvenile inner-city youth, factors associated with weapon-related victimization, and the extent to which suburban youth engage in gun-related activity. The authors urge a policy aimed at reducing the motivation for gun possession by youth, to replace the current focus on taking away the guns they currently own. Chapter notes and tables, 190 references