Laura PortelaSchool psychologists, counselors, and social workers can offer assessment and counseling to students and can consult with families and teachers to provide effective interventions and supports. Mental health, behavior, safety, and learning are integral to one another. Schools can and must respond to all threats that students (and others) make on school campuses. Such reporting is one of the most effective school safety strategies.
Education settings at all levels must establish safe, supportive, nurturing environments where students can thrive. Organizations such as the Coalition to Support Grieving Students provide resources to assist schools in becoming grief-sensitive. Childhood bereavement can also have a significant impact on children’s health https://everytownresearch.org/report/school-gun-violence-prevention-response-guide-part-one-gun-violence-prevention/ and well-being.
Background checks on all gun sales
Answering these and other important questions can help break cycles of violence and prevent firearm violence for future generations. Taking into account all types of firearm injuries, including homicides, suicides, and unintentional injuries, firearm injuries were the leading cause of death among children and teens ages one to 19 in 2020 and 2021. Injuries and deaths from firearms impact many children and teens, their families, and their communities in the United States. However, a robust body of public health research strongly suggests that armed teachers would not effectively deter violence. This means electing representatives ready and willing to stand up for lifesaving gun laws. Help your children seek a balance between schoolwork and outside activities.
Emergency Response Protocols: Rapid Detection and Coordinated Action for School Gun Safety
There are a number of current practices and policy in place with the goal of preventing K-12 school shootings, however, these solutions must account for the well-being and developmental needs of children and ensure they are not harmful in their own ways. The RAND Corporation has determined that there is substantial evidence that CAP laws prevent accidental shootings and suicides (the only policy to achieve a “supportive” rating), and there is some evidence that CAP laws also prevent violent crime.78 In 2020, 29 states and the District of Columbia have implemented some form of CAP law, although the details can vary greatly by jurisdiction. In 1990, one of the most well-known instances of a federal law intended to prevent shootings in schools, the Gun-Free Zones Act of 1990,74 was passed. As long as firearms are as widely accessible as they are in the United States, the effectiveness of this strategy against preventing school shootings is still unknown. Most school shootings are perpetrated by minors who are often already unable to legally possess a firearm.
- The Everytown Support Fund’s Gunfire on School Grounds database details the myriad ways in which gun violence manifests in U.S. schools.
- These efforts improve students’ readiness to learn and build positive school climates.
- The Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund developed a yearly average based on the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gun death data available (2018–2022).
- The gun homicide rate in the U.S. is 26 times higher than that of other developed countries, but research shows that common-sense public safety laws can reduce gun violence and save lives.
Children’s exposure to gun violence can also erode physical health. Due to policy decisions that enforce racial segregation and disinvestment in certain communities, gun violence is concentrated in Black neighborhoods within cities, many of which are marked by high levels of poverty and joblessness and low levels of investment in education.23Chandler A. As with gun violence generally, the impact of this crisis on children and teens is not equally shared across populations. Like the incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School—and, more recently, at Robb Elementary School—are not commonplace, schools are more likely to experience gun homicides and assaults, unintentional shootings resulting in injury or death, and gun suicide and self-harm injuries. When US children and teens are killed with guns, 65 percent are homicides—nearly 1,300 deaths per year.5Everytown Research analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, WONDER Online Database, Provisional Mortality Statistics, Multiple Cause of Death (accessed December 16, 2025). This two-part lesson consists of two readings which review gun violence through the lens of a public health crisis, and what it means to approach gun violence as a public health issue.
Comprehensive staff training programs ensure that human responders can effectively utilize technological capabilities while maintaining positive school environments. Anonymous reporting systems enable students and staff to report potential threats without fear of retaliation. The integration of 3D facility mapping enhances prevention capabilities by providing comprehensive spatial awareness. Prevention systems must operate continuously across entire school campuses, providing coverage that traditional security measures cannot match.
