“School gun violence is preventable — we don’t have to live like this, and our children and educators should never die like this.”
These are the words of Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots gun violence prevention organization, in response to a new report from Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization that promotes gun prevention.
The report indicates a significant spike in the number of gunfire incidents on pre-K-12 campuses during the 2021-22 school year.
From August 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022, there were 193 accounts of gunfire, the highest the organization has seen since it started tracking this in 2013. The national average number of incidents was 49 in all other years, nearly four times less than last year’s numbers.
Last year’s school shootings left 59 people dead and 138 wounded.
“Far too long, gun violence has been a dangerous reality in the daily lives of our students and educators—from constant ‘lockdown’ drills to the unspeakable trauma that our communities experience in the aftermath of a shooting,” said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association.
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The report provides 10 recommendations for reducing gun violence in schools:
- Enact and enforce secure firearm storage laws
- Pass extreme risk laws
- Raise the age to purchase semi-automatic firearms
- Require background checks on all gun sales
- Foster a safe and trusting school climate
- Build a culture of secure gun storage
- Create evidence-based crisis assessment/prevention programs in schools
- Implement expert-endorsed school security upgrades: entry control and locks
- Initiate trauma-informed emergency planning
- Avoid practices that can cause harm and traumatize students
“There are no panaceas but the recommendations in this report include smart strategies and measurable actions we can take to protect students and staff without deploying bad ideas like arming teachers or turning schools into hi-tech prisons,” said the President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten.
In June, President Joe Biden signed off on the first major gun legislation bill in 30 years, following the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two adults dead.
The bill offers incentives for states to pass red-flag laws, which allow for the removal of weapons from people who pose a threat to themselves or others. It also expands a preexisting law that prevents people who have been convicted of domestic abuse from owning a gun to also include dating partners rather than just spouses and former spouses.
In addition, it expands background checks on individuals who are between the ages of 18 and 21 and planning to purchase a gun.
The National Rifle Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
