Looking Back: Gun Violence in the 2022-2023 School Year

Gun violence in the 2022-2023 school year

• As another school year ends, the impact of gun violence on American children and families is increasingly difficult to ignore. Communities across the nation are mourning those who lost their lives while learning, teaching, and protecting. 
• During the school year, the U.S. saw 47 school shootings. Eighteen of those shootings resulted in death. Twenty-six people did not survive the academic year due to gun violence on school grounds, and 17 were children.

Gun violence: The numbers

• According to the Gun Violence Archive, the U.S. saw 647 mass shootings in 2022, and as of June 23, 320 mass shootings in 2023. 
• There were 51 shootings at K-12 schools in 2022; 40 students and adults were killed in these shootings. In 2022 alone, 43,450 children were exposed to gun violence at school. So far in 2023, 862 kids and teens have been killed by gun violence. 
• The executive director of the Gun Violence Archive, Mark Bryant, said:

"We get truckloads of thoughts and prayers and they all go to a warehouse somewhere. Nothing has changed."

A growing trend

• Between 1999 and 2018, over 187,000 children have experienced gun violence at school. From 2018 to 2023, the number grew to 338,000 children.
• There have been 380 school shootings in the U.S. since the Columbine High massacre in 1999 in Columbine, Colorado.
• Retired Marine general John Allen said:

"Americans today are more likely to experience gun violence than they might in many of the places to which I deployed in the name of defending our nation."

A lack of action

Texas

• A lack of action can be seen nationwide, but one of the most prominent and high-profile examples is in Texas.
• Since the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvlade, Texas, which claimed 21 lives, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has largely ignored calls for increased gun restrictions since the tragic event, which 71% of Americans are asking for. Instead, the Texas legislature started focusing on mental health funding and school safety. These initiatives include "in-person, unannounced, random intruder detection audits on school districts" to pinpoint weak access spots in school buildings.

Nationwide

• Weeks after the Uvalde shooting, federal lawmakers passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which contained modest provisions to target gun violence, such as making it harder for people under 21 to acquire guns. Around the same time, the Protecting Our Kids Act — a package of eight gun safety bills — was voted on in the House, with 202 Republicans voting against it. The legislation has been stalled in the Senate ever since. 
• An absence of constructive changes at this level is evident nationwide as the GOP continues to fight against commonsense gun control that could save the lives of American children.  

Looking forward

• Thirteen months and 47 school shootings later, much of the American public is wondering what U.S. lawmakers have learned since the Uvalde shooting. What progress has been made? Why are lawmakers compliant in the face of such carnage?
• The Council on Foreign Relations said of the gun violence cycle:

"The cycle—horrendous violence, a clamor for change, and then a steady fading from public view—was thus repeated numerous times, each new round of gunfire offering another thundering reminder to American children and young adults that they have been left alone on the frontlines of our nation's love affair with guns."

• Analysts say America is experiencing a gun violence epidemic. The failure to address this public health issue has resulted in 361 deaths and 772 injuries caused by firearms on school grounds in the last decade. 
• Gun violence at school is just the tip of the iceberg — an estimated 3 million children are exposed to shootings yearly. Every day, an estimated 120 Americans are killed with guns.
• U.S. lawmakers have exhausted their thoughts and prayers. Gun safety policies have proven successful in other nations, from background checks to total bans. Are U.S. representatives going to let another school year go by without gun reform?

You don't have to wait until the next school shooting to speak up. Tell your representatives to implement gun safety laws before another group of kids risk not surviving the 2023-2024 school year.

-Jamie Epstein & Emma Kansiz

(Photo credit: iStock/Gangis_Khan)