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Current News Article: Details of Robb Elementary School Shooting

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Current News Article: Details of Robb Elementary School Shooting

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This CNN article does a phenomenal job at explaining the Robb Elementary School shooting in great detail. I was most curious as to how and where the suspect could acquire two AR-15 guns and hoards of ammunition; this article mentions how the suspect legally made these purchases fresh on his 18th birthday and had no problem accessing these extremely harmful weapons. The shooter was only 18 years old, had no drivers license or background check, and yet was still able to purchase these fatal weapons. The most shocking and horrific part of this tragedy was that the suspect was in the school for over an hour and twenty minutes before police entered the school to stop him. The police in this specific town get paid millions every year to protect citizens; instead, these officers were outside the school tasing and arresting parents who were more than willing to enter the school to save their babies. This delay by police resulted in 19 children and 2 teachers dead; many of which could have been saved, if this error from people who are paid and trained to do everything in their power, could have properly protected these children.

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Uvalde school shooting suspect was a loner who bought two assault rifles for his 18th birthday | CNN

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The gunman who killed 19 kids and two teachers at a Texas elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, was a local high school student with few if any friends who officials said legally purchased two assault rifles and scores of ammo last week for his 18th birthday.

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This is an interesting read from ABC News, which describes the current regulations on guns and ammunition in the United States. The current restrictions often allow the purchase of large quantities of ammunition and high-capacity magazines without a background check or even a face-to-face conversation. This amount of ammunition is most commonly used in mass shootings, so to decrease these fatalities ammunition may need restrictions as well.

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When an 18-year-old shooter arrived last week at Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde, Texas - where he ultimately killed 21 people, including 19 children and two teachers - he carried 1,657 rounds of ammunition, authorities said.

The large number of rounds should not come as a surprise, experts told ABC News. The tragedy drew renewed scrutiny to a collection of state and national laws that regulate ammunition less tightly than firearms, despite the vital role played by ammunition in mass shootings, experts said.

A shooter at a Las Vegas music festival, in 2017, who killed 59, had at least 1,600 rounds. A shooter at an elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, in 2012, who killed 27, had more than 1,700 rounds of ammunition at his home. And a shooter at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, also in 2012, who killed 12, had bought more than 6,000 rounds, officials said.

Current regulations often allow for the purchase of massive amounts of ammunition and high-capacity magazines without a background check or even a face-to-face interaction, experts added.

While gun control proponents say ammunition deserves stronger restrictions that would limit the frequency and severity of mass shootings, gun rights advocates argue that ammunition restrictions violate Second Amendment protections and unnecessarily duplicate the regulations in place for guns, experts said.

"There are fewer restrictions on ammunition sales than there are on firearm sales both at the federal level and in the vast majority of states," Jacob Charles, executive director of the Center for Firearms Law at Duke University School of Law, told ABC News.

"Someone intent on a mass casualty event is going to have enough ammunition to be able to keep shooting until they're stopped," he said.

Federal law prohibits the sale of ammunition in a narrow set of circumstances, experts said.

A gun lies on the ground next to the vehicle the suspect crashed near Robb Elementary School, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas.

Pete Luna/Uvalde Leader-News

People cannot purchase or possess ammunition if they've been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor domestic violence, committed to a mental institution, or if they belong to a handful of other categories deemed at-risk, experts said.

Also, under federal law individuals must be at least 18 to buy rifle or shotgun ammunition, and at least 21 to buy ammunition for any other guns. On top of that, in 1986, the U.S. enacted a law that bans armor-piercing bullets, which became notorious for the threat they posed to police officers.

Absent from national regulations are measures that require background checks for the buyers of ammunition or licenses for the sellers, which undermines enforcement of the few federal laws that are on the books, Tom Donohue, a law professor at Stanford University who specializes in gun legislation, told ABC News.

"Any restrictions on ammunition at the federal level are virtually feckless because you don't have to go through a background check to purchase ammunition," he said.

Federal law also lacks a measure that addresses high-capacity magazines, which enable shooters to fire a large number of bullets without stopping to reload. Such a law did exist once at the national level: The assault rifle ban enacted by Congress in 1994, which lapsed 10 years later, included a ban on high-capacity magazines.

A study published in 2019 by three researchers, including David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, examined mass shootings over a nearly three-decade period and found that attacks involving high-capacity magazines had a 62% higher average death rate than those without them. The study also showed that high-fatality mass shootings occurred more than twice as often in states without bans on high-capacity magazines than in states with them.

In all, nine states have enacted bans on high-capacity magazines, including predominantly Democrat-controlled states like New York and Connecticut, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

The landscape of high-capacity magazine bans reflects a general trend of state-level measures that strengthen ammunition laws in a small group of mostly blue states, while the remainder of states go no further than federal law, Charles said.

For instance, New York and California have instituted mandatory background checks for ammunition purchases at the time a sale takes place, Charles added.

Gun rights advocates staunchly oppose ammunition regulation, experts said. Gun proponents argue that there's no need for additional regulation of ammunition once an individual has been deemed fit to own a gun.

People become emotional at the City of Uvalde Town Square during a prayer vigil in the wake of a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas.

Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

"In theory, if I have given you a license and found you to be a law-abiding citizen, there's no reason for me to care what kind of gun you buy or how much ammunition you buy or what else you do, as long as it's legal," Alexandra Filindra, a political science professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago who studies gun laws, told ABC News.

Similarly, gun rights advocates have argued that regulation of ammunition infringes on their Second Amendment protections in the same manner that gun regulations do, since ammunition is a necessary part for operating a gun, Filindra said.

"The theory goes that essentially you are implicitly regulating gun ownership by taking away people's ammo," she said.

A network of gun rights groups, most notably the National Rifle Association, has fought ammunition regulation by framing it as an attack on gun ownership, the experts said.

"The same group standing in the way of gun safety reform is standing in the way of ammunition reform," said Ari Freilich, the state policy director at Giffords Law Center.

Some ammunition-related bills have been introduced in Congress. The Age 21 Act, put forward by Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would raise the minimum age for buying assault rifles and high-capacity magazines from 18 to 21. Meanwhile, a bill in the House would require a license for all ammunition sellers and mandate that all ammunition sales take place in person.

Experts said that meaningful reform of ammunition laws is unlikely in the short term, but some said that incidents like the mass shooting in Uvalde make action more likely in the long term.

"A lot of people have woken up to how senselessly, dangerously reckless our lack of protections currently are," Freilich said.

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'Feckless' ammunition laws under scrutiny following Uvalde, other mass shootings

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When an 18-year-old shooter arrived last week at Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde, Texas - where he ultimately killed 21 people, including 19 children and two teachers - he carried 1,657 rounds of ammunition, authorities said. The large number of rounds should not come as a surprise, experts told ABC News.

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Video: Timeline of Robb Elementary School Shooting

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Video: Timeline of Robb Elementary School Shooting

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This is a video from ABC News that describes in detail the timeline of the Robb Elementary School shooting. They mention how the suspect was in the school for up to 77 minutes before he was disarmed and shot by local authorities. They also describe what the suspect was doing before entering the school and the numerous 911 calls made before the shooting took place. If you don’t have much knowledge on what happened with this situation-this video is essential.

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0:00 / 6:44•Watch full video

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Uvalde school shooting: Tracking a changing Story

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Video: 13 Year-Old Legally Purchases Gun

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Video: 13 Year-Old Legally Purchases Gun

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This is an appalling and distressing video by CNN that I believe is imperative for all Americans to watch. This video showcases an experiment that is much too real in how America restricts certain items from children, but doesn’t restrict the most fatal: guns. A 13 year old child is driven by his mother (because he isn’t able to acquire his driver’s license yet), and is dropped off at several convenient store locations to purchase various age-restricted items like alcohol, cigarettes, pornographic magazines, and scratch-off lottery tickets. Because he is under-age, he is unable to make any of these purchases and is sent away by the stores, with many of the cashiers laughing at him for even trying. He was then sent into a gun show, where within minutes he was legally able to purchase a semi-automatic rifle. This video not only perfectly describes how easy it is to acquire a gun, but also how inconsistent American legislation really is.

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Video shows 13-year-old buy a gun on first try

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Go Fund Me: Texas Elementary School Shooting Victims Fund

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Go Fund Me: Texas Elementary School Shooting Victims Fund

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Please try to donate even if it is just a few dollars, this money is going directly to victims and their families!

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Our hearts are breaking for the victims and survivors of the mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX where two adults and 19 children were murdered and many others wounded, some critically.

We, VictimsFirst (a network of families of the deceased and survivors from over two decades of previous mass shootings) have started this fund to make sure that 100% of what is collected goes DIRECTLY to the victim base so the victims' families and those wounded/injured are protected from fraud and exploitation. You can read more about what we do and who we are at www.victimsfirst.org.

We do this because our own families have been re-victimized in the past by non-profits that collect funds for themselves after a mass shooting saying they will "support" the families, which is usually the legal verbiage used when donations do not go directly to victims/survivors themselves.

We vowed this would never happen again, so families of the deceased from Columbine, VaTech, Northern Illinois University, the Aurora theater shooting, the Oak Creek Sikh Temple shooting, and Newtown (Sandy Hook Elementary School) joined together to help establish the National Compassion Fund with the National Center of Victims of Crime. Since then, families from across the nation from other mass shootings including Tucson, Vegas, Alturas, Santa Barbara (Isla Vista), Roseburg, and Orlando Pulse, Boulder and others have endorsed the National Compassion Fund.

We hope The National Compassion Fund will be brought in to handle these funds in Uvalde for the sake of those directly impacted.

The funds collected will go to the families in cash payments with no strings attached, thereby fulfilling the full intent of the donors (you).

Depending on how the City of Uvalde decides to proceed, we will either join forces with them, with the National Compassion Fund, or distribute directly ourselves as long as your generous financial gifts go Directly to the victim base.

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Texas Elementary School Shooting Victims Fund, organized by Victims First

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Our hearts are breaking for the victims and survivors of the mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX where two adults and 19 children were murdered and many others wounded, some critically.

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Video: Mother Saved Children During Uvlade Shooting

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Video: Mother Saved Children During Uvlade Shooting

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This is another heartbreaking video of a mother whose children were both at Robb Elementary throughout the duration of the shooting. The mother was brave enough to enter the school to rescue her children while many officers threatened to arrest her, instead of entering the school and arresting the suspect. She was in tears throughout this video explaining how the police could have done so much more throughout the time of the shooting and could have saved so many more lives. This is another important video to watch because this woman was a first-hand witness of what happened and was brave enough to do what police couldn’t.

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0:00 / 9:08•Watch full video

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Mom who ran into school during Uvalde, Texas shooting discusses moments inside

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Global Health Organizations: Why Gun Violence Should Be Considered A Global Health Issue 

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Global Health Organizations: Why Gun Violence Should Be Considered A Global Health Issue 

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This article is really important for understanding that gun violence is an often neglected global health issue. Firearm violence is a serious public health problem that is spreading over the world. Even though firearms are responsible for over 250,000 deaths each year worldwide, they continue to be a large commercial business, with over 1 billion weapons in circulation as of 2017. Despite the overwhelming figures, there is a scarcity of research, reporting, and priority of firearm violence as a worldwide public health concern, with attention concentrated on high-income nations when it is given. This article goes into detail about the impact of firearm violence, the causes that shape it, and how it fits into global public health frameworks in order to demonstrate how firearm violence is a global health issue that requires evidence-based advocacy worldwide.

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Firearm violence is a pressing public health issue that is growing on a global scale. Mortality from firearms contributes more than 250,000 deaths each year worldwide, yet firearms still hold a massive commercial industry, with over 1 billion weapons in circulation as of 2017 [ 1, 2]. 857 million of these firearms are in civilian hands; an estimate that has increased by 32% from 2006 [ 1]. Even as research on non-communicable diseases and injuries (NCDIs) continues to progress, the burden of firearms on global mortality has received less attention. In fact, research, reporting, and prioritization of firearm violence is often concentrated in high- income countries (HICs), despite this issue affecting all populations globally.

Given the increasing importance of firearm violence, this commentary aims to restate the impact of firearms on health using selected research on the burden of firearm violence. It will demonstrate how politics, globalization, and spread of culture and ideals influence firearm violence on a global scale, and recognizing the diversity in definitions of the term "global health," provides three definitions to demonstrate how firearm violence ought to be framed as a global health issue [ 3, 4, 5]. The need to recognize firearm violence as a global health issue is important to support prioritizing research and creating sound interventions, especially in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs).

The impact of firearm violence

Injury and mortality rates from firearm violence, high-risk populations, causal factors, and societal issues which impact the rates of firearm violence are available from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data (Table 1). However, globally civilian populations share a majority of the burden of firearm violence; only 10% of mortality from firearms occurs in conflict situations [ 3, 6]. Mortality from firearms is also disproportionately concentrated in LMICs in South America, in addition to the United States; the GBD data from 2017 estimates that 50% of mortality from firearms occurred in countries that make up just 10% of the global population [ 1]. Worldwide, populations see similar patterns of firearm mortality; in every country, death rates are higher for men than women, and often the highest risk is among 20- to 24-year-olds. The majority of firearm deaths globally are in fact as a result of homicides [ 1].

Table 1 Mortality and Disability from Firearm Violence in 2017 (per 100,000)a

Overall, fatality from firearm violence in the US has not decreased in over a decade. This is even as homicide risk is decreasing and suicide risk increasing over time; around 70% of homicides and 50% of suicides in the US involve firearms [ 7]. A disproportionate amount of these homicides are concentrated among black males; while white males have the highest risk for suicide by firearms, which also starts in younger populations and contributes to more than half of firearm mortality. At-risk populations also differ geographically in the US; suicide rates are 54% higher in rural areas while homicide rates are 90% higher in urban centers. Given these types of statistics, the US is an outlier in mortality from firearms as compared to other nations worldwide.

The GBD data separates firearm violence into three categories- deaths from firearms, unintentional injuries from firearms, and self-harm from firearms [ 1]. Collectively, mortality from these three categories contributes to over 250,000 preventable deaths per year, and over 46,000 Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost (Table 1) [ 1]. Mortality from firearms is also significantly higher in LMICs; those in Central and South America, most notably Guatemala, Venezuela, and El Salvador, have mortality rates significantly higher at around 40 per 100,000 deaths as compared to the global average of 6 per 100,000 [ 1]. 2400 per 100,000 DALYs are lost from physical violence in these countries, compared to a global average of 171 per 100,000 [ 1].

Firearm violence also places a substantial burden on healthcare systems, economies, and societies around the world. In 2010 alone, the societal costs of firearm violence totaled $164 billion, the equivalent of 1.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States in that same year. The 2015 Global Burden of Armed Violence report noted that almost USD 2 trillion could have been saved in a decade if the global homicide rate had been decreased from 7.4 to 3 deaths per 100,000; this is the equivalent of 2.64% of global GDP from 2010 [ 6].

Factors that influence global firearm violence

The global political landscape directly influences firearm violence, particularly in LMICs [ 8]. The dynamic between high-income and low-income countries around the world also shapes the burden of firearm violence as policies, trade, and globalization worsen the problem. For example, extensive supply chains and the import of arms from HICs like the United States to other countries around the world highlight the importance of considering firearm violence as a global health issue [ 9]. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a surge of more than 90 million USD worth of firearms being exported to LMICs, particularly in Asia [ 9]. As scholars begin to better understand the private industry's role in firearm violence, it is clear that such expansions in trade, supply chains, and marketing of arms on a global scale are contributing to the burden of firearm violence worldwide.

The global war on drugs has also extensively impacted the burden of firearm violence. In Mexico, government efforts to crack down on drug trafficking organizations resulted in an escalation of drug-related violence [ 10]. In addition, the political influence of HICs (such as the United States) has contributed to this issue, taking into account increasing drug consumption, loose firearms regulations, and regimes which are reportedly key actors in the drugs trade [ 8]. In fact, the political climate in HICs like the United States has the influence to shape how firearm regulations are interpreted, and enacted, in LMICs around the world. Most recently, the Mexican government has sued gun manufacturers in the United States for facilitating the trafficking of weapons with their negligent practices [ 11]. Roughly 70% of the trafficked firearms in Mexico come from the U.S., and 17,000 homicides can be linked to these weapons annually. The estimated damage of these trafficked weapons in Mexico is nearly 2% of the country's GDP, which they will seek in the lawsuit, aiming to reduce further homicides in Mexico [ 11].

Additionally, globalization plays a role in increasing firearm violence as dynamics between HICs and LMICs change over time. Increases in foreign imports around the world have escalated competition within arms markets to produce higher performing weapons that can fire multiple types of ammunition, increasing both the accessibility and lethality of firearms [ 9]. Increasing globalization has also been found to promote the openness of trade and weaken public authority, making small arms ownership more likely [ 12]. The demand for small arms in HICs, which are responsible for the majority of the manufacturing and trading of these weapons, has caused the proliferation of small arms in LMICs as they are recycled down the "economic ladder." [ 12] While research shows that attempting to limit globalization would not stop the trade of firearms, it is critical that the public health community more closely studies the movement of arms from HICs to LMICs [ 12].

Researchers have also suggested that "gun culture" from HICs (like the United States) has been "sold" to LMICs through various forms of media. In India, a country with historically low gun ownership rates, globalization has caused rates to increase [ 13]. In the city of Shivpuri, a program was sponsored which fast tracked the firearm permit process for men who were undergoing vasectomies, noting that this program allowed men to trade one aspect of their masculinity for another [ 13]. The shifting ideals surrounding the policies and accessibility of firearms caused by globalization has drastically impacted LMICs, a critical consideration for public health professionals as they begin to target this issue [ 12].

Finally, foreign policies can have an impact on arms trade and firearm violence in LMICs. In 2006, the United States was the only nation to dissent from the UN vote to implement stricter standards using an international arms trade treaty [ 14]. Traditionally the US policy positions on firearms have weakened efforts to further international agreements and gun control policies, and have particularly affected Latin America, as loopholes in laws have allowed for a consistent flow of arms across the US and Mexico border [ 14]. Alternatively, in the 1990s, the United States suspended arms exports to Paraguay until they were able to improve arms policies, illustrating how foreign policy can influence firearm violence in both positive and negative ways [ 14].

It is also clear that local policy can be successful in reducing violence; in 2021, Colombia introduced gun carrying restrictions in the cities of Bogotá and Medellín. Within 6 years, these cities saw a 22.3% reduction in firearm violence (adjusted for the standard annual reduction in control cities) [ 15]. Given this research, it is critical that global and local policy focuses their efforts on combating firearm violence.

Firearm violence is a Global Health issue

As the body of research on firearm violence continues to grow, the public health and medical communities have shifted towards treating firearm violence not only as a preventable condition but also akin to an "infectious disease." [ 16] Individuals who are more susceptible to firearm violence typically share various common exposures; like traditional disease epidemics. The environment, social networks, socioeconomic status, and education all influence the prevalence of firearm violence among communities and individuals [ 16].

This shift in knowledge has informed a variety of public health interventions aimed at decreasing the burden of firearm violence. However, to strengthen these interventions, it is critical that firearm violence be framed as a global health issue. As is evident from the factors which shape firearm violence, this issue takes place on a global scale, affecting the world's most vulnerable populations. Politics, globalization, and the spread of culture and ideals through multi-media sources around the world has all contributed to the spread of firearm violence, which must be addressed by the global public health community [ 8, 12, 13].

Firearm violence also fits within the numerous frameworks and definitions proposed for 'global health.' In 2008, United Kingdom launched a 5-year strategy to target global health issues, defined as " health issues where the determinants circumvent, undermine or are oblivious to the territorial boundaries of states, and are thus beyond the capacity of individual countries to address through domestic institutions." [ 3, 17] Firearm violence is certainly a global health issue by this standard, in urgent need of research, attention, resources, and intervention. It is also beyond the capacity of individual nations to address this through domestic institutions; many countries are struggling to achieve a social and health system in which firearm violence is no longer a cause for mortality, and due to the effects of globalization, it will take interventions in every country to curb the transfer of firearms between HICs and LMICs [ 12]. Koplan defines global health as " an area for study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving health equity for all people worldwide." [ 4] Reducing mortality from firearm violence is an area of critical research and practice and has direct health and equity implications. By better understanding patterns of violence in at-risk populations around the world and synthesizing current research on successful interventions, this knowledge can be used to develop strategies to reduce the burden of firearm violence on individuals, communities, and economies.

Scholars also state that for an issue to be considered a global priority, it should have four tenets: a global conceptualization of health, the synthesis of population-based approaches, the central concept of equity in health, and a cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary approach [ 5]. Firearm violence fits well within this conceptualization of global health; while all countries experience varying degrees of burden on their economies, healthcare systems, and populations as a result of firearm violence, globally it affects everyone and therefore warrants solutions rooted in research, evidence-based policy, and interventions. Given the applicability of firearm violence to the current definitions and frameworks for global health, the need for transnational solutions to firearm violence, and the ways in which firearm violence is influenced by global politics, it is apparent that given its vast impact on the health of world populations, firearm violence is a global health issue [ 8, 12, 13].

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Firearm violence: a neglected "Global Health" issue - Globalization and Health

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Populations around the world are facing an increasing burden of firearm violence on mortality and disability. While firearm violence affects every country globally, the burden is significantly higher in many low- and middle-income countries.

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Peer-Reviewed: How Gun Laws Have Improved Other Developed Countries 

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Peer-Reviewed: How Gun Laws Have Improved Other Developed Countries 

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This article is essential for looking at how gun control legislation has improved fatality rates in countries like Britain or Australia. This article notes how America has one of the highest gun-related fatality rates among any developed country. After other developed countries implemented gun-restricted laws, gun violence progressively diminished.

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Other Countries Had Mass Shootings. Then They Changed Their Gun Laws. (Published 2022)

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Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway: All had a culture of gun ownership, and all tightened restrictions anyway. Their violence statistics now diverge sharply from those of the U.S.

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This article shows how many school shootings have happened in 2022 and where in the United States. It is also described how the Robb Elementary School shooting has been the deadliest school shooting since 2012, when the infamous Sandy Hook shooting occurred.

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School shootings-terrifying to students, educators, parents, and communities-always reignite polarizing debates about gun rights and school safety. To bring context to these debates, Education Week journalists began tracking shootings on K-12 school property that resulted in firearm-related injuries or deaths.

In 2022, we continued this heartbreaking, but important work. More information about this tracker and our methodology is below.

There were 51 school shootings in 2022 that resulted in injuries or deaths, the most in a single year since Education Week began tracking such incidents in 2018. Prior to 2022, the highest number of school shootings with injuries or deaths was last year when there were 35. There were 10 in 2020, and 24 each in 2019 and 2018. See School Shootings Over Time: Incidents, Injuries, and Deaths for historical data.

Injuries & Deaths
40 People killed 100 People injured
Where the Shootings Happened
The size of the dots correlates to the number of people killed or injured. Click on each dot for more information.
About the Shootings
Click on the column names to sort the data. A previous version of this table included the age, sex, and status of the suspect(s). We are no longer tracking that information.
Contact Information

For media or research inquiries about this data, contact library@educationweek.org.

About This Tracker

In the emotionally charged aftermath of school shootings, politicians, activists, news media, and ordinary citizens often cite statistics that can present a distorted view of how many of these incidents occur. Those statistics are used to fuel ongoing debates about gun control, arming teachers, and school security.

With this tracker, Education Week aims to provide a clear accounting of K-12 school shootings. There is no single right way of calculating numbers like this, and the human toll in the immediate aftermath and long term is impossible to measure. We hope to provide reliable information to help inform discussions, debates, and solutions.

Methodology

Counting Incidents

This page refers to incidents that meet all the following criteria:

where a firearm was discharged,

where any individual, other than the suspect or perpetrator, has a bullet wound resulting from the incident,

that happen on K-12 school property or on a school bus, and

that occur while school is in session or during a school-sponsored event.

We do not track incidents in which the only shots fired were from an individual authorized to carry a gun on school property, such as a school resource officer, and who did so in their official capacity.

The numbers of incidents, injuries, and deaths reported in this tracker do not include suicides or self-inflicted injuries. While suicides and attempted suicides are serious issues of health and safety, many of the critical questions and debates that those incidents raise for educators and the broader public are often distinct from those generated by school shootings. Incidents may be added out of sequence as it can take time for verification.

Counting Injuries & Deaths

Injuries included in this tracker may be major or minor. While we only track incidents resulting in at least one bullet wound, total injuries are not necessarily the result of gunfire.

The total number of people killed or injured does not include the suspect or perpetrator.

Sources

In addition to our own reporting, we rely on local news outlets, school and district websites, news alerts via online search engines, the Gun Violence Archive, David Riedman's K-12 School Shooting Database, and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security's Naval Postgraduate School's K-12 School Shooting database.

How to Cite This Page

School Shootings This Year: How Many and Where (2022, January 5). Education Week. Retrieved Month Day, Year from https://www.edweek.org/leadership/school-shootings-this-year-how-many-and-where/2022/01

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School Shootings in 2022: How Many and Where

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Education Week tracked K-12 school shootings in 2022 with injuries or deaths. See the number of incidents and where they occurred.

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Video: Ineffective Texas Gun Legislation

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Video: Ineffective Texas Gun Legislation

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This video clarifies the current, ineffective gun laws in Texas. Gun legislations vary state-to-state, so it can be confusing trying to keep up with 50 different states and each of their different laws. This video discusses how the suspect at Robb Elementary could acquire mass amounts of weapons within days of turning 18 and why it was not reported in this case.

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0:00 / 2:38•Watch full video

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How was the Uvalde shooter able to purchase several weapons? An expert  explains Texas gun laws

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Global Health Organizations: The Educational Fund To Stop Gun Violence 

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Global Health Organizations: The Educational Fund To Stop Gun Violence 

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This is a website of The Educational Fund To Stop Gun Violence; they believe gun violence is, in fact, a public health epidemic because over 100 Americans suffer from a highly preventable death everyday from firearms. This organization is keen on supporting a public health approach that addresses many forms of gun violence by focusing on firearm access and underlying risk factors that focus on gun violence. EFSGV’s primary goal is to apply this issue as a public health approach that will prevent gun violence in all of its forms and work toward health equity, where everyone may live without fear of gun violence.

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The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence

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Background

Each day more than 100 Americans die by firearms.7 These deaths are preventable. A comprehensive public health approach is needed to address the gun violence epidemic. This approach brings together a wide range of experts to determine the problem, identify key risk factors, develop evidence-based policies and programs, and ensure effective implementation and evaluation. Through a public health approach to gun violence, we can cure this epidemic, save thousands of lives, and make gun violence in America rare and abnormal.

What is Public Health?

Public health is the science of reducing and preventing injury, disease, and death and promoting the health and well-being of populations through the use of data, research, and effective policies and practices. Public health works to address the underlying causes of a disease or injury before they occur, promote healthy behaviors, and control the spread of outbreaks. Public health researchers and practitioners then work with communities and populations to implement and evaluate programs and policies that are based on research. Policymakers, researchers, and advocates have successfully used the public health approach in the United States to drastically decrease premature death rates, reduce injury, and improve the health and well-being of the population, including by eradicating diseases like polio, promoting widespread usage of vaccines, reducing smoking-related deaths, addressing environmental toxins, and decreasing motor vehicle crashes.

Applying the Public Health Approach to Prevent Firearm Suicide

The social ecological model is a public health framework that is used to show the interplay between risk and protective factors for health outcomes and to develop parallel policies and programs that address these factors. The model spans four levels: individual, relationship, community, and society.

Access to firearms is a significant risk factor for firearm suicide, and addressing firearm access is a critical component of any suicide prevention strategy. Prevent Firearm Suicide is a project of the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence that applies the social ecological model for firearm suicide prevention, by sharing the available programs and policies that reduce access to firearms from individuals when they are at an elevated risk for suicide. These interventions span the four levels of the model and include safer firearm storage (individual), lethal means safety counseling (relationship), gun shop projects (community), and extreme risk laws (society). To learn more, visit PreventFirearmSuicide.com.

Recommendations
Apply the public health approach for effective gun violence prevention.
Public health is the science of reducing and preventing injury, disease, and death and promoting the health and well-being of populations through the use of data, research, and effective policies and practices. The public health approach has been successfully applied to tackle a wide variety of complex health problems at the population level. Gun violence is a public health epidemic that requires a public health solution. We recommend:

Better data collection: Federal, state, and local governments should collect more comprehensive gun violence data for fatal and non-fatal firearm injuries, shootings that may not involve physical injuries, and firearm-involved crimes where no shots were fired, including domestic violence-related threats. Federal, state, and local governments should make data publicly available where possible and particularly to researchers studying gun violence and its prevention.

Research funding: Enhanced research funding is key for advancing knowledge and improving public health interventions and outcomes. Federal, state, and local governments, in addition to foundations and universities, should dedicate funding to research gun violence prevention.

Evidence-based policies and practices: Gun violence takes many forms and is a multifaceted problem that requires a multitude of data-driven solutions. Gun violence prevention policies and practices should be evidence-based.

Implementation and evaluation: Policies and practices should be continuously monitored and evaluated to ensure equitable implementation and ongoing effectiveness.

RESOURCES

Educational Materials

Reports

Fact Sheets

Comprehensive Website

Read More

Research

Allchin A, Chaplin V, & Horwitz J. (2019). Limiting access to lethal means: applying the social ecological model for firearm suicide prevention. Injury Prevention.

Branas CC, Flescher A, Formica MK, Galea S, Hennig N, Liller KD ... & Ying J. (2017). Academic public health and the firearm crisis: an agenda for action. American Journal of Public Health.

Decker MR, Wilcox HC, Holliday CN, & Webster DW. (2018). An integrated public health approach to interpersonal violence and suicide prevention and response. Public Health Reports.

Cook PJ. Expanding the public health approach to gun violence prevention. (2018). Annals of Internal Medicine.

Hemenway D & Miller M. (2013). Public health approach to the prevention of gun violence. New England Journal of Medicine.

McGinty EE, Siddiqi S, Linden S, Horwitz J, & Frattaroli S. (2019). Improving the use of evidence in public health policy development, enactment and implementation: a multiple-case study. Health Education Research.

Mozaffarian D, Hemenway D, & Ludwig DS. (2013). Curbing gun violence: lessons from public health successes. Journal of the American Medical Association.

Maa J & Darzi A. (2018). Firearm injuries and violence prevention-The potential power of a Surgeon General's report. New England Journal of Medicine.

Rajan S, Branas CC, Hargarten S, & Allegrante JP. (2018). Funding for gun violence research is key to the health and safety of the nation. American Journal of Public Health.

Zeoli AM & Webster DW. (2019). Firearm policies that work. Journal of the American Medical Association.

Additional Resources

Why is Gun Violence a Public Health Epidemic?

Gun violence is a public health epidemic that affects the well-being and public safety of all Americans. In 2019, nearly 40,000 Americans were killed by gun violence, more than the number of Americans killed in car crashes.2 An additional 71,000 Americans suffer nonfatal firearm injuries,3 and millions of Americans face the trauma of losing a loved one or living in fear of being shot. The impacts of gun violence, both direct and indirect, inflict an enormous burden on American society. When a child is shot and killed, they lose decades of potential: the potential to grow up, have a family, contribute to society, and pursue their passions in life. When compared to other communicable and infectious diseases, gun violence often poses a larger burden on society in terms of potential years of life lost. In 2019, firearm deaths accounted for 925,023 years of potential life lost before the age of 65 - more than diabetes, stroke, and liver disease combined.4

Scope of Gun Violence

Americans are impacted by various forms of gun violence - including suicide, homicide, and unintentional deaths, as well as nonfatal gunshot injuries, threats, and exposure to gun violence in communities and society.

Firearm Suicide:

Each year more than 23,000 Americans die by firearm suicide.6

Half of all suicide deaths are by firearm.7

Suicide attempts by firearm are almost always deadly - 9 out of 10 firearm suicide attempts result in death.8

Access to a firearm in the home increases the odds of suicide more than three-fold.9

Firearm Homicide:

Each year 14,000 Americans die by firearm homicide.11

Three out of four homicides are committed with a firearm.11

Access to firearms - such as the presence of a gun in the home - doubles the risk for homicide victimization.12, 13

The firearm homicide rate in the United States is 25.2 times higher than other industrialized countries.14

Domestic Violence:
Police-Involved Shootings:

1,000 Americans are shot and killed by police every year.18

Black Americans are disproportionately impacted by police-involved shootings and are killed at more than twice the rate as White Americans.19

Unintentional Shootings: Nonfatal Firearm Injuries: Exposure to Gun Violence:

How public health differs from healthcare

People often assume that public health is the same as healthcare. While both strive to improve health and well-being, they approach this goal differently. In healthcare, the focus is on improving the health of the individual. In contrast, public health focuses on improving the health of an entire population through large-scale interventions and prevention programs.

Public health works to address the many factors that determine the health and well-being of populations. These factors are often referred to as risk and protective factors. They are characteristics or behaviors in individuals, families, communities, and the larger society that increase or decrease the likelihood of premature death, injury, or poor health.

What is the Public Health Approach?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization outline a public health approach to violence prevention based on four steps: (1) define and monitor the problem, (2) identify risk and protective factors, (3) develop and test prevention strategies, (4) ensure widespread adoption of effective strategies. 29, 30

Preventing Car Crashes

Preventing Gun Deaths

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Public Health Approach to Gun Violence Prevention - The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence

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Each day more than 100 Americans die by firearms.7 These deaths are preventable. A comprehensive public health approach is needed to address the gun violence epidemic. This approach brings together a wide range of experts to determine the problem, identify key risk factors, develop evidence-based policies and programs, and ensure effective implementation and evaluation.

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Global Health Organizations: The Sandy Hook Promise 

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Global Health Organizations: The Sandy Hook Promise 

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This organization is the Sandy Hook Promise, which is a national nonprofit organization created and led by numerous families whose loved ones were lost on December 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This program works by educating adolescents and adults on how to effectively prevent school violence, shootings, and other damaging fatalities. Students and instructors are taught how to recognize at-risk behaviors and intervene to help them. These early-warning techniques enable everyone to contribute to the safety of schools and communities.

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"The Sandy Hook Promise Foundation is one of the most effective and efficient charities I have ever come across. I give as freely of my time as I can to educate everyone I can that gun violence is preventable. #ProtectOurKids"

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Sandy Hook Promise trains students and adults to know the signs of gun violence so that no parent experiences the tragic, preventable loss of their child.

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Peer-Reviewed: Gun-Related Deaths in America

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Peer-Reviewed: Gun-Related Deaths in America

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This article looks at the prevalence of US gun-related deaths compared to other countries. The article also hits key points of locating where mass shootings have happened and their relation to current gun control laws.

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Data shows gun ownership in the US has grown over the last several years

Gun violence is a fixture in American life - but the issue is a highly political one, pitting gun control advocates against people who are fiercely protective of their right to bear arms.

We've looked into some of the numbers behind firearms in the US.

Mass shootings on the rise

There have been more than 560 mass shootings across the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are injured or killed. Their figures include shootings that happen in homes and in public places.

For each of the last three years there have been more than 600 mass shootings - almost two a day on average.

The deadliest such attack, in Las Vegas in 2017, killed more than 50 people and left 500 wounded. The vast majority of mass shootings, however, leave fewer than 10 people dead.

How do US gun deaths break down?

48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the US during 2021, according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That's nearly an 8% increase from 2020, which was a record-breaking year for firearm deaths.

While mass shootings and gun murders (homicides) generally garner much media attention, more than half of the total in 2021 were suicides.

That year, more than 20,000 of the deaths were homicides, according to the CDC.

Data shows more than 50 people are killed each day by a firearm in the US.

That's a significantly larger proportion of homicides than is the case in Canada, Australia, England and Wales, and many other countries.

How many guns are there in the US?

While calculating the number of guns in private hands around the world is difficult, the latest figures from the Small Arms Survey - a Swiss-based research project - estimated that there were 390 million guns in circulation in the US in 2018.

The US ratio of 120.5 firearms per 100 residents, up from 88 per 100 in 2011, far surpasses that of other countries around the world.

More recent data out of the US suggests that gun ownership grew significantly over the last few years. A study, published by the Annals of Internal Medicine in February, found that 7.5 million US adults became new gun owners between January 2019 and April 2021.

This, in turn, exposed 11 million people to firearms in their homes, including 5 million children. About half of new gun owners in that time period were women, while 40% were either black or Hispanic.

Who supports gun control?

A majority of Americans are in favour of gun control.

57% of Americans surveyed said they wanted stricter gun laws - although this fell last year - according to polling by Gallup.

32% said the laws should remain the same, while 10% of people surveyed said they should be "made less strict".

The issue is extremely divisive, falling largely along party lines.

"Democrats are nearly unanimous in their support for stricter gun laws," another Gallup study noted, with nearly 91% in favour of stricter gun laws.

Only 24% Republicans, on the other hand, agreed with the same statement, along with 45% of Independent voters.

Some states have taken steps to ban or strictly regulate ownership of assault weapons. Laws vary by state but California, for example, has banned ownership of assault weapons with limited exceptions.

Some controls are widely supported by people across the political divide - such as restrictions governing the sale of guns to people who are mentally ill or on "watch" lists.

Who opposes gun control?

Despite years of financial woes and internal strife, the National Rifle Association (NRA) remains the most powerful gun lobby in the United States, with a substantial budget to influence members of Congress on gun policy.

Over the last several election cycles, it, and other organisations, have consistently spent more on pro-gun rights messaging than their rivals in the gun control lobby.

A number of states have also gone as far as to largely eliminate restrictions on who can carry a gun. In June 2021, for example, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a "permitless carry bill" that allows the state's residents to carry handguns without a licence or training.

Similarly, in April last year Georgia became the 25th in the nation to eliminate the need for a permit to conceal or openly carry a firearm. The law means any citizen of that state has the right to carry a firearm without a licence or a permit.

The law was backed by the NRA, and leaders within the organisation called the move "a monumental moment for the Second Amendment".

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How many US mass shootings have there been in 2023?

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Explaining some of the key statistics behind gun ownership and attacks linked to guns in the US.