WASHINGTON (The Hill) –
Instances of gunfire in schools spiked to the highest number in almost a decade, a new report has found.
The study from Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy organization, found that between August 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022, there were 193 reported “incidents of gunfire” in preschools and K-12 schools. This is more than triple the previous school year, which saw 62 incidents of gunfire, and a notable increase from the previous high of 75 incidents during 2018-2019 academic year.
The report, conducted with the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, found that in school gunfire incidents during the 2021-22 year, 59 people were killed and 138 people were wounded. Six in 10 victims who were fatally shot and 4 in 10 victims who were wounded were either current or former students of the schools where the event occurred.
“For the last 20 years, students, educators, and parents have lived with the reality of increasingly frequent school shootings,” the report states, adding, “The worst period for this violence has been in the 2021–2022 school year, which saw nearly quadruple the average number of gunfire incidents since 2013.”
Everytown began tracking gun violence incidents in 2013 and reported 36 gunfire incidents in the 2013-14 school year.
The organization also detailed a number of ways it says gun violence in schools can be prevented, including enacting and enforcing stricter gun laws, raising to age to purchase semiautomatic weapons and requiring background checks on all gun sales.
The report comes three months after the devastating school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, that resulted in the deaths of 19 students and two teachers.
Law enforcement’s response to the shooting has come under scrutiny after it was reported that officers waited for more than an hour in the hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was present.