Increase in school gun violence noted in latest government report, despite overall decrease in crime

Gun violence has increased in K-12 schools compared to ten years ago, as per a recent report released by the Education Department. Conversely, incidences of bullying and violence against students and teachers within school premises have decreased.

The report, which was made available on July 25, sheds light on the evolving landscape of K-12 educational institutions, providing valuable insights that can aid policymakers and practitioners in developing strategies aimed at curbing violence and promoting safety within schools, remarked the authors of the report.

Recently, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy labeled gun violence a public health emergency, issuing a 39-page advisory outlining measures to prevent firearm-related deaths. The advisory highlighted that the rate of firearm-related fatalities had escalated to a level not seen in almost three decades by 2021.

According to KFF, a nonprofit news organization specializing in health policy research and polls, gun violence emerged as the primary cause of death among children and teenagers in 2020, a trend that persisted in 2021 and 2022.

Let’s delve into the domain of crime on school campuses:

Overall Crime at Schools Shows a Decline

Across the span of a decade leading up to 2022, criminal activities occurring on public school grounds witnessed a decline. This encompassed incidents such as student altercations and physical assaults on educators. Furthermore, gang-related violence and hate-motivated graffiti also saw a reduction, as outlined in the report.

The proportion of high school students carrying a weapon on school premises at least once in the previous month dwindled from the levels recorded a decade earlier. Additionally, the percentage of students and faculty members reporting threats or attacks involving weapons on campus plummeted between the academic years of 2011-2012 and 2021-2022. The report encapsulates the most recent data available.

Cyberbullying Outpaces Conventional Bullying

Bullying has been a prevailing issue in public schools, particularly among middle school students undergoing significant physical and emotional changes. Federal data suggest that cyberbullying has slightly surpassed traditional bullying in prevalence. Concurrently, a separate survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2022 revealed that almost half of U.S. adolescents reported encountering some form of cyberbullying.

In the 2021-2022 school year, roughly 19.2% of children aged 12 to 18 disclosed being victims of bullying at school, according to the Education Department’s report. A decade earlier, this figure stood at 28%. Notably, female students were more likely than their male counterparts to experience bullying.

Growing Prevalence of Gun Violence at Schools

Threats of gun violence have sadly become a norm in American educational institutions. Lockdowns are now a common occurrence nationwide, with approximately one in four teachers, according to a nationally representative survey by the Pew Research Center, reporting at least one gun-related lockdown in the previous academic year.

The report released by the Education Department identified a surge in student possession of firearms during the 2021-2022 academic year compared to preceding years. Alarmingly, in 2022, an active shooter incident on a school campus resulted in 52 fatalities or injuries, marking the second-highest toll from such events since 2018 when 81 individuals were harmed.