School Safety and Secure Firearm Storage

The perpetrators of school gun violence are students or recent graduates.

The New York City Police Department reviewed 57 active shooter incidents in K-12 schools in the United States from 1966 to 2016. The NYPD found that in 75 percent of these incidents, the shooter or shooters were  school-age and were current or former students.¹New York City Police Department, “Active Shooter: Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation,” 2016, https://on.nyc.gov/2nWHM4O. Research has also shown that in the six mass school shootings and 39 attempted mass school shootings in the US between April 1999 and May 2019, 91 percent were current or former students at the school.²Jillian Peterson and James Densley, “School Shooters Usually Show These Signs of Distress Long before They Open Fire, Our Database Shows,” The Conversation, February 8, 2019, https://bit.ly/2vBTA3J. 

The overwhelming majority of firearms used in school gun violence incidents are obtained from the shooter’s home, the homes of relatives, or the homes of friends.

The US Secret Service studied targeted school violence from 2008 through 2017. The study showed that three in four school shooters used a firearm they took from a parent or close relative’s home. In nearly half of these shootings, the firearm was easily accessible or was not stored securely.³National Threat Assessment Center et al., “Protecting America’s Schools: A US Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence” (US Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, 2019), https://bit.ly/2U7vnwa.

Access to unsecured firearms also contributes to gun violence among children and teens.

Every year, nearly 350 children under the age of 18 unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else.⁴Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, “#NotAnAccident Index,” https://everytownresearch.org/maps/notanaccident/. Analysis includes incidents that occurred between 2015 and 2019. That’s roughly one unintentional shooting per day.⁵Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, “#NotAnAccident Index,” https://everytownresearch.org/maps/notanaccident/. Analysis includes incidents that occurred between 2015 and 2019. Another 700 children die by gun suicide each year,⁶Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. WONDER Online Database, Underlying Cause of Death. A yearly average was developed using five years of most recent available data: 2015 to 2019. Children defined as aged 0 to 17. most often using guns belonging to a family member.⁷Renee M. Johnson et al., “Who Are the Owners of Firearms Used in Adolescent Suicides?,” Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior 40, no. 6 (2010): 609–11, https://doi.org/10.1521/suli.2010.40.6.609. Over 80 percent of child firearm suicides take place in a home.⁸Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), Ages 0-17, Five-Year Average: 2013 to 2017.

Secure firearm storage can help prevent school gun violence and gun violence among children and teens.

Research shows that secure firearm storage practices are associated with reductions in the risk of self-inflicted and unintentional firearm injuries among children and teens. One study found that households that locked both firearms and ammunition were associated with a 78 percent lower risk of self-inflicted firearm injuries and an 85 percent lower risk of unintentional firearm injuries among children and teens, compared to those that locked neither.⁹David C. Grossman et al., “Gun Storage Practices and Risk of Youth Suicide and Unintentional Firearm Injuries,” JAMA 293, no. 6 (2005): 707–14, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.293.6.707.

Policymakers should encourage a culture of secure gun storage by increasing awareness of secure storage practices.

Across the country, lawmakers, community members, and local leaders are working together to implement public awareness campaigns—such as the Be SMART program—that encourage secure gun storage practices and highlight the public safety risks of unsecured guns.¹⁰https://besmartforkids.org/

Since 2019, school districts across the country have passed school board resolutions to require that information be sent home with students to educate parents about the importance of securely storing any firearms they own.¹¹Some of the larger school districts that have passed secure storage notification resolutions include the Los Angeles Unified School District, San Diego Unified School District, Clark County School District, Phoenix Union High School District, Tucson Unified School District, and Denver Public Schools and County School District. In some school districts, parents or guardians are required to sign and return a letter acknowledging that they have read the information. This type of action is a simple yet effective step that others can and should take to protect our students. Learn more about the Be SMART program and at BeSMARTforkids.org. 

Recommendations 

Local school districts should take proactive steps to address the safety of students and the school community by building awareness of the need for secure firearm storage practices. 

1. Twenty-two states, DC, and several localities have some form of secure firearm storage law.¹²CA,CO,CT,DC,DE,FL,IL,IA,HI,MA,MN,MD,NV,NH,NJ,NC,NY,OR,RI,TX,VA,WA,WI. In addition, localities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City have secure firearm storage ordinances. In these places, schools can notify parents of these laws and the importance of secure gun storage. 
2. In localities without a secure firearm storage law, schools can bridge the gap and provide families with information about secure firearm storage and its importance in keeping schools safe.

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