Content warning: this article discusses topics relating to gun violence and school shootings.
With election day coming closer and new footage from the Uvalde, Texas shooting being released, the topic of gun rights and school shootings is even more pressing than usual.
According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, 2023 saw 349 school shootings in K-12 schools, which has skyrocketed compared to 34 school shootings in 2013. The frequency at which firearms enter school campuses has caused widespread desensitization, reflected in the media’s lack of focus on these tragedies. While school shootings are still occurring, they are not nearly as large of a talking point as they once were, and have been overshadowed by other issues.
Unfortunately, school shootings have become a concern that is always in the back of people’s minds. Although it is not the largest concern for many people in the United States at this time, they are still a leading cause of death for the American youth. In a report published in Sept. 2024, the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions found that since 2020, firearms have killed more children and teens, aged one to 17, than any other cause.
This lack of focus on these attacks has even impacted the most vulnerable. Ella Evans, a student at Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas, and reporter for Bellaire High School’s Three Penny Press, highlighted how this affects her life in a personal statement.
“My initial reaction to the hearing about the Nashville school shooting wasn’t horror, rage or tears. All I felt was defeated,” she wrote.
Evan’s piece emphasizes how people are tired of hearing the same news in a continuous loop. Moreover, those this can affect have started to accept it as part of their reality.
“I’m sick of hearing the same news over and over again. No matter how many petitions we sign or protests we have, nothing changes,” Evans said. “The only way we can truly ensure safety in schools is through enforcing gun control laws.”
Students like Evans are not old enough to vote but fall victim to the decisions made by adults around them. She stressed the need for stronger gun laws and restrictions.
“As someone who isn’t old enough to vote on these laws, I often feel like there’s nothing I can do,” Evans said. “Not feeling anything about school shootings isn’t a sign of strength. It’s a wakeup call that we’ve been desensitized, and that’s the scariest thing about school shootings.”
“We are all becoming completely desensitized to school shootings. My reaction to a lockdown announcement should not be ‘oh, let me pull out my homework and use the time productively,’ but it is.”
Ella Evans
Based on information from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS), between January 1970 and June 2022, there have been 2,069Â shootings on K-12 school property in the U.S., resulting in 684 fatalities and 1,937 injuries. When looking at the concentration of incidents among different areas, the East Coast has significantly more logged shootings that fit into CHDS’s categories. These incidents include accidental, drive-by, suicide or attempted suicide, officer-involved, and indiscriminate shootings among others.
Most school shootings fall into the indiscriminate category, meaning an attack where someone uses a weapon that doesn’t have a specific target or purpose. This can result in innocent people being hurt. By sorting through indiscriminate shootings taking place during school hours, there is a much more even distribution throughout the United States. However, there is still a heavy concentration on the East Coast, specifically in Ohio and Pennsylvania. According to the World Population Review, 288 of these attacks occurred between 2009 and 2018.
The thing to focus on is change and finding a solution to prevent these attacks from continuing, and the U.S. does not spiral down into a place of being passive towards violence. Learn more on how to stop gun violence while in college by reading this Her Campus article, and check your voter registration status on vote.org.