A survey of 28,000 Quebec high school students shows that about 5% have been subjected to so much bullying, they resorted to carrying a weapon to school.
The Laval University study obtained by La Presse shows that 1400 of the teenagers surveyed admitted packing weapons.
The most popular weapon, favoured by nearly half, was a knife.
About 300 teens confessed to carrying a chain and about the same number resorted to packing some kind of fake gun.
Startlingly, 307 said they took a real firearm to school for protection from bullies.
Although teenage exaggeration may have been a factor, the researchers say the findings are still worrisome, in part because some victims allow their anger to turn them into bullies themselves.