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How Can We Prevent Gun Violence in American Schools?

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Gun violence in schools is preventable, but school leaders and policymakers must support strong gun safety measures to keep kids safe.

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Gun laws work

When we compare the states head-to-head on the top 50 gun safety policies, a clear pattern emerges. States with strong laws see less gun violence.Indeed, the 14 states that have failed to put basic protections into place-"national failures" on our scale-have nearly triple the rate of gun deaths as the eight national gun safety leaders.

The top 50 laws we focus on represent a wide range of interventions. Some block gun access by people who pose a threat with a firearm while others focus on limiting gun violence in public. Some seek to increase police accountability and protect civil rights, while another set targets bad actors in the gun industry.

All states should start with a core group of five foundational laws-passing background checks and/or purchase permitting, along with Extreme Risk laws and secure gun storage requirements; and rejecting Shoot First (also known as Stand Your Ground) and permitless carry laws. While each of the top 14 states in the gun law rankings has all five of these policies in place, only one of the bottom 14 states has even one of these critical protections.

The national gun safety landscape has seen states move in opposite directions in recent years. While all nine states in our "making progress" tier have made significant additions to their firearm laws in recent years-with each adding several points to its gun law score-a whopping 24 states at the other end of the scale have made the dangerous decision to repeal their concealed carry permit requirements.

Our gun law rankings are a roadmap for how to build the ideal state system. They will walk you through the most important policies and help you compare these protections across the country.

Even the strongest system can't protect a state from its neighbors' weak laws

The rankings clearly show that gun laws save lives. But no state is an island (except Hawaii), and any state may be vulnerable if its neighbors fail to protect public safety. That's how northeastern states with strong laws ended up victims of the infamous "iron pipeline," the route traffickers use to bring guns up from southeastern states with weak laws. The evidence tells a simple story about porous borders: Out of all guns showing up at crime scenes after crossing state lines, four out of five come from states that lack good background check laws.

Notable strong law states like Illinois and Maryland remain plagued with high gun violence in their biggest cities-in large part because they're targeted by traffickers. Indeed an outsized share of likely trafficked crime guns recovered in Illinois begin their journey in states with weak laws. And Virginia, which had weak gun purchase laws until 2020, has long been the top supplier of crime guns into Maryland. At the other end of the scale, states like New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island have unusually low gun death rates compared with their somewhat weaker policies, in part because they are buffered by robust laws among other states in the region.

High gun ownership rates also play a role in strong states where deaths are higher

Access to a firearm drastically increases the likelihood of suicide and a gun in the home is associated with more gun homicide. Again, a state like Rhode Island has low gun violence relative to the strength of its laws-likely due in part to its very low gun ownership rate (it's fourth-lowest in the nation). On the other hand, states like Nevada and New Mexico have higher rates of gun violence than their laws might suggest-perhaps in part as a result of above-average gun ownership.

It takes time for new laws to have an impact

Several states have had recent success passing strong policy-for example, Nevada added half of its gun law score and New Mexico added over 40% of its score in the past several years. Both states enacted Extreme Risk, background check, and domestic violence laws, with New Mexico also limiting qualified immunity and Nevada tackling secure storage and ghost guns. Those states can hope to see newfound protection in the coming years-and more lives saved.

At the other end of the scale, Iowa repealed both its background check and carry permit laws in 2021, losing over 40% of its gun law score in one year. This new, radical change in its score provides a partial and likely temporary explanation for its relatively low gun death rate. Iowans should be concerned about a future spike in violence.

Federal laws help prevent gun violence nationwide

All 50 states can rely on a backbone of federal laws to help keep guns out of the wrong hands. Yet the federal system is far too weak overall-for example, failing to require background checks on all gun sales and giving special legal immunity to the gun industry. State policymakers should protect their residents by filling the many gaps in federal law, and must also take action where state power is at its strongest, such as requiring a process for domestic abusers to turn in guns when they become prohibited from having them.

There's work to do beyond strong state laws

By comparing state gun laws with gun violence outcomes, we see how critical it is to enact strong policy. But a caveat is required: There is necessary non-legislative gun safety work this site doesn't show-including community-based violence intervention programs; regulatory efforts, funding campaigns, and on-the-ground implementation; local executive action and city and town ordinances; and responsible cultural norms around gun safety.

Where do we go from here?

A safer future is possible. Our gun law rankings show which states are ahead and which are behind, and provide a checklist for how to get there.

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Compares gun policy across 50 states. In states where elected officials have taken action to pass gun laws, fewer people die by gun violence.

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Spring 2008 ] In the United States, suicides outnumber homicides almost two to one. Perhaps the real tragedy behind suicide deaths-about 30,000 a year, one for every 45 attempts-is that so many c...

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If people aren't allowed to own guns, it would be less likely for people to commit suicide. People still would, but the numbers would decrease.

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Thesis:

"Minnesota is closer than it's ever been to having expanded background checks and a "red flag" law that could curb gun use in domestic violence incidents and other situations" (1 Tribune).

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3 quotes:

"I know that there's no place for weapons of war in our schools, or in our churches, or in our banks, or anywhere else people are just trying to live without fear" (2 Tribune).

"We're going to have a red flag law to keep guns out of the wrong hands" (3 Tribune).

"Domestic violence calls can be some of the most dangerous calls that law enforcement goes out on... Domestic violence incidents in which one partner has access to firearms" (1 Tribune).

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What are ‘red flag’ laws and how can they prevent gun violence?

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Psychiatrist Amy Barnhorst explains how red flag laws work and how ordinary people can utilize them if they are concerned someone is at risk of harming themselves and others with a gun.

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The red flag law was made because, there were too many mass shootings. It is an extreme risk protection.

“When somebody was making threats about hurting people at their school or even threats of suicide, there wasn't much that could be done,” Barnhorst said. “Red flag laws have changed that. With the law, there is something that can be done about people who are making threats or have concerning behaviors" (Davis).

Red flag law helps people to feel more protected.

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Red flag laws allows guns to be temporarily.

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If guns were more secure it would help reduce gun violence. If some people who are suicidal, it would be harder for them to get their parents gun. The suicide rate would go down a little bit, and violonce in general.

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Solutions | Center for Gun Violence Solutions

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Children wouldn't be able to get a hold of any guns if they were locked up. It would be safer for kids.

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Requiring background checks when buying a gun, can help reduce gun violence by a lot. It can prevent teenagers from buying guns. It also makes sure to prevent someone from buying a gun.

https://www.everytown.org/solutions/background-checks/

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Current federal law does not require background checks on sales between unlicensed parties. This means that people with dangerous histories can easily circumvent the background check system simply by purchasing their firearm online or at a gun show.

An Everytown investigation showed that as many as 1 in 9 people arranging to buy a firearm on Armslist.com, the nation's largest online gun marketplace, are people who cannot legally have firearms. And the unlicensed sale marketplace is large: the same investigation found that each year, 1.2 million ads offering firearms for sale are listed that would not legally require a background check to be completed. A 2015 survey found that nearly a quarter of Americans-22 percent-who acquired a firearm in the two years prior did so without a background check.

Requiring background checks on all gun sales is proven to reduce gun violence. State laws requiring background checks for all handgun sales-by point-of-sale check and/or permit-are associated with lower firearm homicide rates, lower firearm suicide rates, and lower firearm trafficking.

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Background Checks on All Gun Sales | Everytown

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States that require background checks for guns have lower rates of firearm homicide and suicide as well as lower rates of gun trafficking.

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Having background checks can help reduce suicide for youth, and youth hurting other people.

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Many of gun violence is school shootings. 93% of school shooters planned the attack before hand.

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Domestic, accidental, robberies

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2700 accidental deaths with a gun happen in an average year in the us.

in 2022 shooting by over 21 children causing 9 deaths and 13 injuries

1/2 of deaths occur from children happen at home

happen by showing it to others, playing with it is the most common ways for it happening

deaths caused by accident were most often stored near their night stand or where they slept

the gun was loaded and unlocked