On May 23, 2024, Skyline High School held its graduation ceremony on its school grounds in Oakland, California. What should have been a celebratory occasion turned violent in an all-too-familiar way.
Just as the ceremony was wrapping up, a dispute escalated into gunfire, leaving three people wounded. Three minors—one armed with a Glock handgun—fled the scene and were later arrested. This harrowing incident was just one of 18 shootings to occur on school grounds in the last month of the school year and is indicative of gun violence at schools throughout the school year. While most people think of planned attacks such as at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida or at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas when they imagine school shootings, the most common situation is a simple dispute that turns into gun violence. This spontaneous gun violence usually means that the students involved were habitually carrying guns at school.
During the pandemic, gun violence in the United States reached record levels. Though gunfire at schools dropped during widespread school lockdowns, as students returned to in-person learning, there was a sharp increase in the number of shootings at schools. To this day, the rate of gun violence in the United States remains unacceptably high, but for the most part, it has been on a steady decline since the pandemic. The same cannot be said for the rates of gunfire at our children’s schools. The impact of missing in-school interactions during critical ages for social development may also be contributing to disputes escalating to gunshots rather than being solved peacefully, without weapons.
31 percent
There were at least 144 incidents of gunfire on school grounds in the 2023-2024 school year, a 31 percent increase from the prior school year.
Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund analysis of Gunfire on School Grounds database, 2013–2024.
School is the last place where kids should have to worry about gun violence, yet we saw the number of incidents of gunfire on school grounds increase last year. The 2023–2024 school year saw the second-highest number of shootings at K–12 schools since Everytown began tracking them in 2013. Nearly four in 10 of those shot in these school incidents were students.
Gunfire at K–12 Schools by Year
Source: Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and K–12 School Shooting Database analysis of Gunfire on School Grounds database, 2013–2024.
Last updated: 8.8.2024
The 2021–2022 school year saw both the highest number of shootings and the highest number of shooting victims on school grounds. That was the school year when many students returned after widespread COVID-19 pandemic closures.
The most common shootings at schools this past academic year involved attempted or actual assaults or homicides. In addition, the 2023–2024 school year saw record-high numbers of shootings by police and unintentional shootings.
In one instance, two people were unintentionally shot and wounded during a basketball game at Escambia County High School in Alabama. They were in the gym when a gun fell from someone’s waistband and went off. Another unintentional shooting took place in the parking lot of Atrisco Heritage High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when a 16-year-old student unintentionally shot and killed another student after a school basketball game. The two were playing with a gun when it discharged. In May, a sixth-grader at Alger Middle School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, inadvertently shot his friend when the two kids were outside while class was in session. Their classmates heard screams from outside, then looked through the classroom window to see a bloodied classmate. “I was crying. Like, this has never happened before,” said an 11-year-old girl in their class.”
These shootings offer a window into the devastating impact that gunfire on school grounds has on students. All incidents of gun violence in schools, regardless of their intent or victim count, compromise the safety of students and staff. In addition, they cause a ripple effect of anxiety in the school community, impacting students’ health and ability to concentrate, learn, and feel safe.
“From the fear of school shootings to traumatizing lockdown drills and everyday gun violence in our communities, gun violence has dominated our childhoods and our educations.”
—Cora Lynn Mundy, Students Demand Action National Organizing Board Member and 2024 graduating senior at Staten Island Academy in New York
Gunfire on school grounds persists at a time of national decline in the total number of gun homicides. This national-level decline coincides with four important efforts:
People Shot at K–12 Schools by Year
Source: Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund analysis of Gunfire on School Grounds database, 2013–2024.
Last updated: 8.8.2024
From firearms assaults at graduation ceremonies, unintentional discharges at basketball games, and police shootings of students, shootings at schools have a damaging impact on entire school communities. Measures to prevent them must be comprehensive and evidence-based.
Research on these shootings over decades pinpoints both the place where weapons are originating (often from the home of a parent or close relative) and the identity of most shooters (former or current students at that school). Understanding these facts leads us to understanding solutions. As a start, gun owners must lock every gun securely. This prevents not only school shootings but youth suicides as well. And schools must foster a nurturing and trusting school climate, so kids have adults to help them if they’re struggling and to whom they feel safe reporting concerning behavior.
So-called solutions to gunfire on school grounds like arming teachers—now allowed in 17 states—too often put the entire community at greater risk. Expecting teachers to neutralize an active shooter—possibly a current or former student—is dangerous and unrealistic. Even highly trained law enforcement personnel see their ability to shoot accurately in split-second situations decrease significantly. Armed teachers nearly always have a fraction of the training of law enforcement, and they may even complicate the response of law enforcement to already complex, fast-moving emergencies. Finally, unlike law enforcement, teachers also do not have training in the legal framework—known as a “use of force” policy—on which situations justify shooting a student.
The data are clear. Popular “school safety” initiatives like arming teachers have not led to fewer shootings and are bringing new risks into schools. Further, research shows that educators feel less safe on campuses where other staff members are carrying firearms. Arming teachers is ineffective, expensive, and clearly has not prevented violence on school grounds.
Instead, a more comprehensive approach to protecting our youth is necessary. Preventing children’s exposure to gun violence in their communities and stopping guns from coming into schools in the first place are both critical. Solutions must include a combination of gun safety laws, secure firearm storage at home, community-based violence intervention programs, and school-based programs that create a trusting environment for involving students in the solution.
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