BOSTON -- A fifth-grader was arrested in Boston after packing a pistol in his backpack and bringing it to class. Two high school students in Leominster were caught with weapons and a hit list. And in New Bedford, police arrested a high school senior for carrying a handgun inside his gym bag.

Team 5 Investigates examined why kids bring guns to school, and how they're able to get their hands on firearms in the first place. NewsCenter 5's Sean Kelly reported Friday night that the reasons kids carry guns to class, vary greatly depending on where they live.

Dr. William Pollack is a national expert on school violence. "When people are using a gun in an urban environment to do business or to protect themselves, they're smart enough not to bring them into a school and they're smart enough not to get caught. When kids are bringing guns into school in suburban, upper middle class neighborhoods, they're bringing them for the reason that they will be seen," said Pollack.

An analysis of state records by Team 5 Investigates showed in the past three years, almost 300 firearms have been confiscated in schools across the Commonwealth, including handguns, shotguns and rifles. Many of those firearms did not come from communities with the most reported gun crimes. Instead, many of them were confiscated from students in suburban school districts, including Framingham, Bellingham, Norwood and Newton, twice named the safest city in America. Only 14 percent of the kids caught with firearms were expelled.

A Team 5 analysis of state statistics found eight firearms seized in Boston schools in the last three years, eight in the Worcester school district during the 2003-2004 academic year and nine in Brockton from 2005-2006. Over a three year period police seized 29 guns in the Springfield district.

"Kids are bringing guns to either threaten other kids or because they're so hurt, they're so angry, they're so bullied, they're so suicidal, they've come up with a solution which is to either show a gun or use a gun," said Pollack.

But it's a different story in urban cities like Boston, where kids carry guns for another reason. One sixteen-year old student interviewed by Team 5 Investigates said he carries a small pistol for protection. "I'd rather get caught with it than caught without one, because I'd rather the cops find me with it than my enemy find me without it," said the student, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Team 5 Investigates also interviewed a former gang member who said he carries a .38 for the same reason, although he said he never brought his gun to school. Instead, he said most city kids stash their weapons outside schools, in bushes and in basements where they're less likely to be found. When asked how 14- and 15- year olds are getting the money to buy firearms, the former gang member said, "Kids start young. If you're in a gang or a crew, it makes it that much more easy."

In the suburbs, kids usually get their firearms from family and friends. It's a frightening reality to the Rev. Shaun Harrison, who heads up Operation Project GO, a group that counsels kids in crisis, trying to convince them to give up their guns.

Kelly: "Do you ever ask them where do they get their guns?"

Harrison: "Oh yeah. A lot of them tell me they get them out of state, they go to the gun shows, they get them from New Hampshire, they get them from Vermont. Some say even down south."

Kelly: "Can it be stopped? Harrison: "You're looking at an ant trying to beat an elephant, you know? Guns are always going to come into the city one way or another."

Kelly: "So are you the ant?"

Harrison: "Of course. No matter how many guns we get off the street, if we take off 12 guns today, there's probably 24 more out there."

Police and prosecutors say part of the problem is that gun laws are weak and kids are often too willing to break them. Another school of thought is that adults need to do a better job of connecting with kids so they're not resorting to guns to solve their problems in the first place.