Increase in School Shootings Seen as Children Return to School

The day after two teenagers were fatally shot outside her daughter’s school in Nashville, Tennessee, Jeannie Hunter offered to let her 13-year-old skip school if she felt unsafe.

What she received in response was unexpected. Her daughter expressed, “Murder is a daily occurrence,” asserting that gun violence wasn’t a valid reason to miss out on education.

Feeling a mix of fear, sadness, and anger over the heinous crime that unfolded in the campus parking lot, Hunter reflected on the world in which children are raised.

Even now, six months later, Hunter remains apprehensive about her daughter’s safety, particularly on days overshadowed by news of school shootings, she shared.

As students across the country head back to school, some parents are grappling with silent dread during drop-offs, anxious about their children’s safety on school grounds. Their concerns are substantiated by recent data revealed to USA TODAY, indicating that schools are witnessing a surge in gun violence.

Released on Friday by the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety and David Riedman, the founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database, the findings delve beyond high-profile mass shootings that capture media attention, shedding light on incidents where gunfire disrupts the learning environment. The data calls for a broader perspective on schools grappling with gun presence and children being exposed to firearm incidents beyond fatal tragedies.

The study documented a 31% upswing in school shootings during the most recent academic year in comparison to the previous one. It pinpointed the 2023-24 academic year as the second-highest record of incidents since Everytown began monitoring gun violence in schools over a decade ago, with the peak noted in the 2021-2022 school year post-pandemic closures, witnessing the highest gun violence incidents on campuses.

Based on media reports scrutinized by Everytown researchers and Riedman, there were at least 144 instances of gun violence, defined as any discharge of a firearm on campus, during the last school year. Tragically, these incidents led to 36 fatalities and 86 injuries, with 45 children sustaining gunshot wounds on school premises.

This escalation in school gun violence occurs amid a contrasting decline in overall violent crime, as highlighted in recent data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Reasons Behind the Surge in School Gun Violence

The factors underpinning the surge in gunfire incidents on school campuses remain nebulous.

Riedman, a lead researcher on the project and architect of the K-12 School Shooting Database, attributes the uptick to the “ease of access to firearms.”

Others attribute the issue to lax safety measures in schools and the prevailing mental health crisis among youth who resort to bringing guns to school.

According to Odis Johnson, the executive director at the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, while the possibility of more firearms entering schools is one facet, Everytown’s documented spike in shootings may also signal the improved tracking of gun violence cases compared to past data.

Strategies to Combat Gun Violence in Schools

In a bid to enhance student safety amid escalating gun violence in schools, several Republican-led state legislatures in Tennessee and Iowa enacted laws allowing teachers to bear arms on school premises. Advocates maintained that educators play a pivotal role in ensuring student safety during perceived threats on campus. More than two-thirds of states authorize educators to carry firearms, as per data compiled by the Giffords Law Center To Prevent Gun Violence.

Conversely, many supporters of Everytown for Gun Safety advocate against arming teachers or conducting active shooter drills, deeming such measures counterproductive. The mere presence of armed police and school resource officers on campuses also draws objection from this faction.

Sarah Burd-Sharps, spearheading research initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety, voiced concerns that heightened firearm possession among educators could amplify the risk of gun violence in schools.

The findings from Everytown highlighted the 2023-24 school year as a period marked by a surge in police shootings and inadvertent firearm discharges on campuses, highlighting the necessity for preventive measures.

Proposing their own solutions to combat the scourge of gun violence in schools, Everytown recommends states to elevate the age threshold for purchasing semi-automatic firearms, enforce stringent firearm storage laws, and mandate background checks for all gun transactions.

Survivor’s Perspective: Reshaping the Narrative on Gun Violence

Imagine being in a classroom or conversing in the cafeteria when an intruder barges onto the school premises with a gun.

Recounting her experience, Rebekah Schuler was navigating the halls of her Michigan high school on November 30, 2021, when gunshots reverberated from the other end of the corridor. The school near Detroit fell victim to a 15-year-old student who fatally shot four students and wounded six others.

While Schuler survived the harrowing mass shooting, the residual trauma lingers, manifesting in her daily life “day in and day out,” she disclosed.

Now 18, Schuler channels her ordeal into advocacy work for Everytown, urging states to enact laws mandating background checks for handguns, ensuring secure firearm storage, and instituting measures to safeguard students.

The normalization of gun violence constitutes a distressing reality for survivors like Schuler, rendering them susceptible to flashbacks, anxiety, and depression, as noted by clinical psychologist Rachel Masi.

As students usher in a new school year, Masi underscores the inclination for students to normalize the prevailing fear and anxiety stemming from gun violence, reflecting the somber backdrop against which they navigate their formative years.

La-Shanda West, an educator at Miami Dade County Public Schools in Florida, collaborates with Sandy Hook Promise and local education bodies to foster awareness on preventing gun violence. West emphasizes the preventability of gun violence, urging individuals to report any suspicions of firearm threats on school premises to relevant authorities.

A Mother’s Plea: Averting the Perils of Gun Violence

In a state like Tennessee, where educators are empowered to carry firearms on school grounds, Hunter, a mother from Nashville, bemoans the escalating prevalence of gun violence.

Reticent about her children’s proximity to firearms, Hunter resents the possibility of them encountering crime scenes on school property, akin to her daughter and fellow students.

Expressing her dismay, Hunter laments, “I refuse to subject her to this existence. This daily reality is unacceptable,” aspiring for her daughter to perceive such violence as aberrant rather than routine.