Number of NYC teens who carry guns down 36% since 2001: CDC

The Big Apple has the fewest percentage of teens with guns of any major U.S. city, according to stats released Thursday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg cited the NYPD's crime-stopping efforts -- including its controversial "stop and frisk" tactics -- in explaining why 2.3% of teenagers carry guns, below the national average, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance unit.

The mayor, who was joined by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly at the 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, said communities are working with the police to teach kids the dangers of gun violence and gangs.

"We are the safest big city in the country and we have done it not by locking people up after they commit crimes. ... We have done it by deterring people from doing the crimes in the first place," Bloomberg said.

The national average of armed teens is 5.1%, according to the CDC, which surveyed adolescents. New York City saw a 36% decline of teens with guns between 2001 and 2011. The national average dropped 11%.