a hook for gun violence essay

Gun Control Essay: Important Topics, Examples, and More

Gun Control Definition

Gun control refers to the regulation of firearms to reduce the risk of harm caused by their misuse. It is an important issue that has garnered much attention in recent years due to the increasing number of gun-related incidents, including mass shootings and homicides. Writing an essay about gun control is important because it allows one to explore the various aspects of this complex and controversial topic, including the impact of gun laws on public safety, the constitutional implications of gun control, and the social and cultural factors that contribute to gun violence.

In writing an essay on gun control, conducting thorough research, considering multiple perspectives, and developing a well-informed argument is important. This may involve analyzing existing gun control policies and their effectiveness, exploring the attitudes and beliefs of different groups towards firearms, and examining the historical and cultural context of gun ownership and use. Through this process, one can develop a nuanced understanding of the issue and propose effective solutions to address the problem of gun violence.

Further information on writing essays on gun control can be found in various sources, including academic journals, policy reports, and news articles. In the following paragraphs, our nursing essay writing services will provide tips and resources to help you write an effective and informative guns essay. Contact our custom writer and get your writing request satisfied in a short term.

Gun Control Essay Types

There are various types of essays about gun control, each with its own unique focus and approach. From analyzing the effectiveness of existing gun laws to exploring the cultural and historical context of firearms in society, the possibilities for exploring this topic are virtually endless.

Let's look at the following types and examples from our essay writing service USA :

• Argumentative Essay : This essay clearly argues for or against gun control laws. The writer must use evidence to support their position and refute opposing arguments.
• Descriptive Essay: A descriptive essay on gun control aims to provide a detailed topic analysis. The writer must describe the history and evolution of gun laws, the different types of firearms, and their impact on society.
• Cause and Effect Essay: This type of essay focuses on why gun control laws are necessary, the impact of gun violence on society, and the consequences of not having strict gun control laws.
• Compare and Contrast Essay: In this type of essay, the writer compares and contrasts different countries' gun laws and their effectiveness. They can also compare and contrast different types of guns and their impact on society.
• Expository Essay: This type of essay focuses on presenting facts and data on the topic of gun control. The writer must explain the different types of gun laws, their implementation, and their impact on society.
• Persuasive Essay: The writer of a persuasive essay aims to persuade the reader to support their position on gun control. They use a combination of facts, opinions, and emotional appeals to convince the reader.
• Narrative Essay: A narrative essay on gun control tells a story about an individual's experience with gun violence. It can be a personal story or a fictional one, but it should provide insight into the human impact of gun violence.

In the following paragraphs, we will provide an overview of the most common types of gun control essays and some tips and resources to help you write them effectively. Whether you are a student, a researcher, or simply someone interested in learning more about this important issue, these essays can provide valuable insight and perspective on the complex and often controversial topic of gun control.

Persuasive Essay on Gun Control

A persuasive essay on gun control is designed to convince the reader to support a specific stance on gun control policies. To write an effective persuasive essay, the writer must use a combination of facts, statistics, and emotional appeals to sway the reader's opinion. Here are some tips from our expert custom writer to help you write a persuasive essay on gun control:

• Research : Conduct thorough research on gun control policies, including their history, effectiveness, and societal impact. Use credible sources to back up your argument.
• Develop a thesis statement: In your gun control essay introduction, the thesis statement should clearly state your position on gun control and provide a roadmap for your paper.
• Use emotional appeals: Use emotional appeals to connect with your reader. For example, you could describe the impact of gun violence on families and communities.
• Address opposing viewpoints: Address opposing viewpoints and provide counterarguments to strengthen your position.
• Use statistics: Use statistics to back up your argument. For example, you could use statistics to show the correlation between gun control laws and reduced gun violence.
• Use rhetorical devices: Use rhetorical devices, such as metaphors and analogies, to help the reader understand complex concepts.

Persuasive gun control essay examples include:

• The Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual's right to own any firearm.
• Stricter gun control laws are necessary to reduce gun violence in the United States.
• The proliferation of guns in society leads to more violence and higher crime rates.
• Gun control laws should be designed to protect public safety while respecting individual rights.

Argumentative Essay on Gun Control

A gun control argumentative essay is designed to present a clear argument for or against gun control policies. To write an effective argumentative essay, the writer must present a well-supported argument and refute opposing arguments. Here are some tips to help you write an argumentative essay on gun control:

• Choose a clear stance: Choose a clear stance on gun control policies and develop a thesis statement that reflects your position.
• Research : Conduct extensive research on gun control policies and use credible sources to back up your argument.
• Refute opposing arguments: Anticipate opposing arguments and provide counterarguments to strengthen your position.
• Use evidence: Use evidence to back up your argument. For example, you could use data to show the correlation between gun control laws and reduced gun violence.
• Use logical reasoning: Use logical reasoning to explain why your argument is valid.

Examples of argumentative essay topics on gun control include:

• Gun control laws infringe upon individuals' right to bear arms and protect themselves.
• Gun control laws are ineffective and do not prevent gun violence.

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How to Choose a Good Gun Control Topic: Tips and Examples

Choosing a good gun control topic can be challenging, but with some careful consideration, you can select an interesting and relevant topic. Here are seven tips for choosing a good gun control topic with examples:

• Consider current events: Choose a topic that is current and relevant. For example, the impact of the pandemic on gun control policies.
• Narrow your focus: Choose a specific aspect of gun control to focus on, such as the impact of gun control laws on crime rates.
• Consider your audience: Consider who your audience is and what they are interested in. For example, a topic that appeals to gun enthusiasts might be the ethics of owning firearms.
• Research : Conduct extensive research on gun control policies and current events. For example, the impact of the Second Amendment on gun control laws.
• Choose a controversial topic: Choose a controversial topic that will generate discussion. For example, the impact of the NRA on gun control policies.
• Choose a topic that interests you: You can choose an opinion article on gun control that you are passionate about and interested in. For example, the impact of mass shootings on public opinion of gun control.
• Consider different perspectives: Consider different perspectives on gun control and choose a topic that allows you to explore multiple viewpoints. For example, the effectiveness of background checks in preventing gun violence.

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Pro-Gun Control Essay Topics

Here are pro-gun control essay topics that can serve as a starting point for your research and writing, helping you to craft a strong and persuasive argument.

• Stricter gun control laws are necessary to reduce gun violence in America.
• The Second Amendment was written for a different time and should be updated to reflect modern society.
• Gun control and gun safety laws can prevent mass shootings and other forms of gun violence.
• Owning a gun should be a privilege, not a right.
• Universal background checks should be mandatory for all gun purchases.
• The availability of assault weapons should be severely restricted.
• Concealed carry permits should be harder to obtain and require more rigorous training.
• The gun lobby has too much influence on government policy.
• The mental health of gun owners should be considered when purchasing firearms.
• Gun violence has a significant economic impact on communities and the nation as a whole.
• There is a strong correlation between high gun ownership rates and higher gun violence rates.
• Gun control policies can help prevent suicides and accidental shootings.
• Gun control policies should be designed to protect public safety while respecting individual rights.
• More research is needed on the impact of gun control policies on gun violence.
• The impact of gun violence on children and young people is a significant public health issue.
• Gun control policies should be designed to reduce the illegal gun trade and access to firearms by criminals.
• The right to own firearms should not override the right to public safety.
• The government has a responsibility to protect its citizens from gun violence.
• Gun control policies are compatible with the Second Amendment.
• International examples of successful gun control policies can be applied in America.

Anti-Gun Control Essay Topics

These topics against gun control essay can help you develop strong and persuasive arguments based on individual rights and the importance of personal freedom.

• Gun control laws infringe on the Second Amendment and individual rights.
• Stricter gun laws will not prevent criminals from obtaining firearms.
• Gun control laws are unnecessary and will only burden law-abiding citizens.
• Owning a gun is a fundamental right and essential for self-defense.
• Gun-free zones create a false sense of security and leave people vulnerable.
• A Gun control law will not stop mass school shootings, as these are often premeditated and planned.
• The government cannot be trusted to enforce gun control laws fairly and justly.
• Gun control laws unfairly target law-abiding gun owners and punish them for the actions of a few.
• Gun ownership is a part of American culture and heritage and should not be restricted.
• Gun control laws will not stop criminals from using firearms to commit crimes.
• Gun control laws often ignore the root causes of gun violence, such as mental illness and poverty.
• Gun control laws will not stop terrorists from using firearms to carry out attacks.
• Gun control laws will only create a black market for firearms, making it easier for criminals to obtain them.
• Gun control laws will not stop domestic violence, as abusers will find other ways to harm their victims.
• Gun control laws will not stop drug cartels and organized crime from trafficking firearms.
• Gun control laws will not stop gang violence and turf wars.
• Gun control laws are an infringement on personal freedom and individual responsibility.
• Gun control laws are often rooted in emotion rather than reason and evidence.
• Gun control laws ignore the important role that firearms play in hunting and sport shooting.
• More gun control laws will only give the government more power and control over its citizens.

Example Essays

Whether you have been assigned to write a gun control research paper or essay, the tips provided above should help you grasp the general idea of how to cope with this task. Now, to give you an even better understanding of the task and set you on the right track, here are a few excellent examples of well-written papers on this topic:

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Final Words

In conclusion, writing a sample rhetorical analysis essay requires careful analysis and effective use of persuasive techniques. Whether you are a high school student or a college student, mastering the art of rhetorical analysis can help you become a more effective communicator and critical thinker. With practice and perseverance, anyone can become a skilled writer and excel in their academic pursuits.

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is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Gun Violence

Essays on Gun Violence

Hook examples for gun violence essays, anecdotal hook.

Picture yourself in a peaceful neighborhood, where the sound of children's laughter is suddenly drowned out by the deafening cracks of gunshots. It's a grim reality that countless communities face, and it begs us to explore the issue of gun violence.

Statistical Hook

Every year, thousands of lives are lost to gun violence, and countless more are forever changed. Examining the alarming statistics behind this issue reveals the pressing need for action.

Historical Hook

From the Wild West to modern-day America, guns have played a significant role in shaping our nation's history. Analyzing the historical context of gun violence provides valuable insights into its complexities.

Policy and Legislation Hook

As gun violence persists, so does the debate over gun control policies. Delve into the intricate web of legislation, rights, and responsibilities that govern firearms in our society.

Impact on Communities Hook

Behind every statistic is a community in mourning. Explore the devastating effects of gun violence on families, neighborhoods, and the broader social fabric of our nation.

Psychological and Societal Factors Hook

What drives individuals to commit acts of gun violence? Analyzing the psychological and societal factors that contribute to this phenomenon sheds light on its root causes.

Call to Action Hook

Amid the tragedy of gun violence, there is a call to action for change. Join the conversation on how we, as a society, can work towards preventing future acts of gun violence.

Why Guns Should not Be Banned

Correlation between mental health and the number of gun-related crimes, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

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Policy Suggestion Related to Gun Violence in America

The problem of gun control in america, gun violence in the united states and my solutions to this problem, gun is not the answer: the importance of gun control, let us write you an essay from scratch.

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Addressing Gun Violence: Effective Measures and Solutions

Gun-related crimes in the usa: a look into the social problem, the reasons why america need stricter gun control laws, review of articles concerning arming teachers as a solution to gun violence, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

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Analysis of Strict Gun Control as The Best Solution to Gun Violence in America

The benefits of strict gun control, positives and negative sides of gun control, pros and cons of gun control and gun ownership, a national public safety concern: gun violence, gun violence in america, gun violence in the united states, guns are not the issue, my viewpoint on gun control and how government officials should handle it, gun control and school shooting issue, differences in gun control around the world, arguments against gun control laws, an analysis of molly ivins' get a dog, get a knife, but get rid of guns, reasons why guns should be banned from the us, advantages and disadvantages of gun control, molly ivins' argument in 'get a knife, get a dog, but get rid of guns', why gun control laws should be stricter in the us, intersectionality and mass gun violence, special methods to assist gun control, rhetorical analysis of 'get a knife, get a dog, but get rid of guns', relevant topics.

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Gun Violence - Essay Samples And Topic Ideas For Free

Gun violence refers to acts of violence committed with the use of firearms. Essays might discuss the causes and consequences of gun violence, the debate around gun control policies, the impact of gun violence on communities, and comparisons of gun violence and gun control measures across different countries. A substantial compilation of free essay instances related to Gun Violence you can find at PapersOwl Website. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Solutions to Gun Violence

Firearms are one of the most debated issues in the United States. On the one hand are the people who demand and require more strict control in the possession and distribution of guns, and on the other side are the people who pressure the government to keep the laws as they are. Buying a gun in this country takes less than an hour. It is very sad how an individual can purchase a gun easily. It is unhappy because some […]

Gun Violence and Gun Control

Gun violence in America is a never-ending series of tragedy after tragedy, mass-shooting and the one of the constant social problem in United State. Many innocent lives have been taken to gun violence from Sandy Hook elementary, Pulse nightclub in Orlando, 2017 Las Vegas, Columbine High School, and all of that violence has been increasing. The Second Amendment, the right of the people to bear arms, has given the individual to own a gun, but many have abused the power […]

The Gun Problem in America

Introduction As stated in the Social Problems textbook, “Social problems: Continuity and change”, “A social problem is any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people and that is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed” (2015). As a result, I decided to discuss the social problem of the second amendment. Since the founding of the United States of America, the right to bear arms has always been a hot button […]

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Examining the Deep Impact of U.S. Gun Violence on American Society

U.S. gun violence has had put a struggle on american living and the quality of it. Its put America into a spiral of fear, a lot of people don't know the extent of how its effecting are lives and the way we live. Schools have built there security, airports and all other large businesses and or public businesses have also done the same. Laws have been getting stricter and stricter but simply some people just dont listen and obey those […]

The Problem of the Gun Violence

In success central, I attended a small breakout session about gun violence. At first, I thought this breakout session was going to be over gun control and politics but it was more in depth. The session was about how a victim truly feels after being affected by gun violence. Some of the statistics that I learned at the session is, gun-related deaths are now the third leading cause of death for American children. One of the main reasons i enjoyed […]

Should Teachers Carry Guns

Over the past several years there have been mass shootings in America that has struck the feelings of many Americans. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, extended family, and strangers have all been affected by the victims of shootings at Aurora, Colorado, Columbine High school, and Sandy Hook Elementary school. Because of these tragedies, U.S. citizens have become more involved and interested in gun control and prevention of gun violence. Gun Control is a controversial issue that many people have different views […]

Why Gun Violence Increasing

Gun violence has had a drastic increase over the years, leaving the United States desperate for laws to be implemented concerning the well-being and safety of citizens. Terrifying events surrounding gun violence have left researchers with no option but to investigate gun laws and regulations. Only some states require permits in order to purchase a firearm and background checks are required by federal law to anyone purchasing a gun as well. A citizen at the age of 21 is legal […]

Mental Health Screenings and the Effect on Gun Violence

Historically speaking, guns were used for hunting and for protection. In the late 1700's, the Revolutionary War began from Britain's pursuit to take away the colonists weaponry and oppress them. Lexington and Concord was the beginning of the fight for freedom. When Britain surrendered at Yorktown in 1781, the colonists had won their independence. The first constitution called the Articles of Confederation was ratified by all thirteen colonies in 1781 and was in place until 1789 when the U.S Constitution […]

Gun Control Vs Gun Rights

In the U.S, there is a lot of controversy about gun control laws. There are protests, arguments, and laws that not many agree with because it does not support their Second Amendment rights. What truly did the Founding Fathers mean by the Second Amendment? Pro-gun supporters believe it was meant for individuals to have access to guns while gun control supporters believe it was for trained officials. Many people are trying to find a solution on how it should be […]

Combating Gun Violence

A school shooting is an attack at an educational institution, such as a school or university, involving the use of firearms. The first recorded school shooting in the United States took place in 1840, when a law student shot and killed his professor at the University of Virginia. Despite that crime rates in the United States are declining, and homicide specifically is especially rare, many people believe that school shootings are becoming epidemic, occurring more frequently than the have in […]

Students Protest and Addresses Gun Violence

A schools' biggest fear is having a shooter come onto campus. There has been so many incidents on the news that people are trying to find solutions for this issue. Students need to feel safe while they are learning. I have found three articles of school shootings that go into detail about what took place on those days. Each author has had an interesting stand-point about what should happen next. In this paper, i will be comparing the authors perspective […]

The Second Amendment – Firearm Legislation

Americans are being murdered at unprecedented rates and little action has been attempted to prevent similar events from reoccurring. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ninety-six Americans die by firearms every day (The Editorial Board). Ninety-six lives end because of a bullet. It is unethical and immoral for that many people to perish, and for there to be little change made. Unfortunately, legislators can not just simply change firearm laws due to the long-standing and well-respected second […]

The State of Gun Violence in the US

Gun violence in today's America has become routine and common. This violence causes a surprising number of deaths and injuries throughout the United States. The main lethal weapon used to take part in violence is the gun. That's one of the reason why stricter gun control policy is needed to make it impossible to own a gun for those who should not own them in the first place. Taking such action could make our neighborhood is a safer place to […]

Stop Gun Violence

Guns in America are ruining our society. Watch the news any day and you will most likely see either a school shooting ora shooting at some type of gathering. For some children going to school is horrifying because they are extremely disturbed by the school shootings that are going in our society. Children as young as kindergarten are learning how to act in the case of a school shooting. Yet, guns are killing innocent people by being able to have […]

Understanding Gun Violence

Almost each and every other year there gets to be cases and more cases related to gun violence where from one point one gets to hear about some suicide by gun, some forceful assaults, some kind of accidental occurrences with a gun and many more. With the unending rising cases linked to the same, there still is quite a lot to be looked at especially when trying to cover the same situation and be able to make sure that one […]

Gun Violence and the Second Amendment

According the Cornell Law Studies Institute, the second amendment states, "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The Second Amendment of the constitution is one of the most misunderstood and confusing sentences in the history of America. The 27-word sentence has a partial collectivist ora while still maintaining the individualistic right to keep and bear arms. Before discussing the reasons behind […]

The Problem of Mass Shootings

Mass shootings are problematic, because they are getting more deadly and more frequent. Mass shootings are defined as a single shooting incident which kills or injures four or more people, including the assailant/shooter ("Guns in the US: The Statistics"). Mass shootings have been shown to be contagious, meaning that a mass shooting one day increases the likelihood of others in the following days (Leatherby). Five of the eighteen most lethal shootings in America since 1949 have occured between 2007 and […]

Gun Violence Prevention

The right to own a gun is established as the Second Amendment in the United States Constitution. Though this right is guaranteed, our country’s relationship with guns is a tumultuous one. Gun laws vary by each state, for instance California gun laws states that, “An application for sale or transfer must be made with a licensed California gun dealer before any firearm may be sold or transferred. The purchaser must present the dealer with a valid California Driver’s License or […]

How the Government Can Decrease Gun Violence

There should be more gun control laws to control gun violence. The debate on gun control in America has been up for deliberation for decades. Almost forty thousand people are killed each year due to homicidal, accidental, and suicidal use of guns (Politics 7). Despite the fact that America has approximately twenty thousand gun laws, there are still often occurring crime due to gun violence. To fix this problem, the government should enforce stricter background checks for all gun sales, […]

Impact of Gun Violence

The constitution of America has various amendments that provide many kinds of leverage to its people, like right to vote, right to speech etc. Among them, one of the most controversial amendment is Second Amendment which gives people right to bear weapons like gun, for their safety. Safety is one of the basic needs of people and they should be provided to the people. However, the word 'safety' is a critical term here; is it really safe to have people […]

How to Change the Gun Violence Situation in the US

In the United States, the number of cases of gun violence have increased tremendously. The reason why these numbers have been so high is because guns have been made easily accessible to the general public. The implications that gun violence has had on the country are so damaging that it is time that the American government come up with ways in which the availability of guns to the American citizens can be restrained. Due to the gun violence situation; people […]

The Las Vegas Shooting, Gun Control and American Violence

The night of October 1, 2017 at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas was interrupted by the sound of gun fire that was opened by a gunman from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino (Time, 2017). As Time reported, in this massive shooting, which went on for 10-15 minutes at about a crowd of 20,000 people, more than 500 people were injured and at least 50 people were killed (Time, 2017). With this tragic […]

The Question of Gun Violence

The first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is one (Mcavoy). America is a country overflowing with individuals holding a great sense of nationalism and pride. Many of these individuals remark that America is the greatest country in the world. This statement is direct, and it takes a stand that no other country is as great as America. Although the United States has many aspects that are great, gun violence is a rising issue holding back the country. […]

Gun Violence in Parkland Florida

There are over thirty thousand deaths a year in the United States related to gun violence with Americans using guns for defensive purposes as many as a million times every year. These deaths are a result of suicides, homicides and accidents. It is evident that gun violence and gun control are issues of serious national importance and are worth debating. The main issues and arguments found in the debate over gun control in the United States have not changed a […]

Public Health Solutions: Gun Violence

Gun violence accounts for approximately 35,000 deaths and 89,600 injuries annually in the United States (Gun Violence in America, 2018). It consists of both intentional and unintentional assault, domestic and family violence, law enforcement intervention, homicide, suicide, self-harm, and undetermined causes (Gun Violence in America, 2018). According to Santhanam (2018), in 2016 the United States ranked second in gun-related deaths, after Brazil and before India. Gun violence is a prominent issue in American society and is certainly a public health […]

Reducing School Gun Violence in New Mexico

School gun violence in the United States is on the rise. Since 2014 there have been an average of five school shootings per month. Since Sandy Hook in 2012, there have been at least 239 school shootings nationwide. In these school shootings 438 were shot, and 138 were killed, and 16 shootings were classified as where 4 or more people were shot. (Preventing School Violence: Assessing Armed Guardians, School Policy, and Context.) More people, including students and teachers, were killed […]

The Problem of Gun Politics in the United States

The Brady campaign to prevent gun violence states every day 8 children and teens die from gun violence, 4 are murdered, 3 die from suicide and 1 killed unintentionally. Every day 39 children and teens are shot and survive, 31 injured in an attack, 1 survives a suicide attempt and 7 shot unintentionally Not only is the 2nd amendment giving access to have a gun to protect ourselves, it is giving others access to commit violent crimes that involve a […]

Gun Violence in America

The issue of gun violence has attracted a heated debate in the US. With time, people have advanced significantly in gun availability and the power to buy military-style firearms, which has led to more likelihood of criminals getting guns that they can use for mass destruction. Yet, burning gun ownership can be a significant issue since most civilians who buy firearms do so to ensure their protection and safety. Many supporters of gun ownership postulate that firearms do not kill, […]

Why does Drug Trafficking Cause Gun Violence

There is a strong relationship between drug trafficking, drug use, and gun violence. The research attempts to come up with a solution for the research question why does drug trafficking cause gun violence. Most youths have been involved in the use of drugs like marijuana, stimulants, hallucinogens, crack cocaine, heroin, and cocaine hence being involved in violence including gun violence (Johnson, Golub, Dunlap, 2000) This research will play a major role in improving academic research, sow the existing causal effect […]

Gun Violence in America: who is to Blame?

Too often, when you raise the issue of guns in this country, it starts a debate with both sides pointing the blame at each other. In the middle, we hear the voices of children who’ve witnessed the killing of their friends and teachers and who are sounding out for action. The question is, will we listen to them? Will we care enough to do something? Horrific tragedies like the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School a little under a […]

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How To Write an Essay About Gun Violence

Introduction to the issue of gun violence.

Gun violence is a pressing issue in today's society, affecting countless lives and communities. When setting out to write an essay on this topic, it's crucial to first establish a comprehensive understanding of what gun violence entails. This involves not just looking at the statistics and incidents of shootings, but also understanding the various forms of gun violence – from mass shootings to domestic incidents and suicides. The introduction of your essay should present the topic's relevance and urgency, outlining the scope of the issue and its impact on society. This stage is about laying the groundwork for your argument, identifying the key aspects of gun violence that you will explore in the rest of your essay.

Developing Your Argument

The body of your essay should be dedicated to developing a well-structured argument. Start by defining your thesis statement clearly. What aspect of gun violence are you focusing on? Are you examining its causes, the effectiveness of gun control laws, or the societal impact of gun-related incidents? Each paragraph should tackle a specific point that supports your thesis, with evidence and examples to back up your claims. This might include data on gun violence rates, analysis of legislation and its effectiveness, or case studies of particular incidents. It's also important to consider and address counterarguments, as this demonstrates a thorough understanding of the topic and strengthens your own position.

Ethical and Societal Implications

An essay on gun violence should also delve into the ethical and societal implications of the issue. This is where you can explore the broader context of gun violence, such as its impact on public health, the ethical debates surrounding gun ownership and rights, and the societal factors that contribute to the prevalence of gun violence. Discuss the balance between individual rights and public safety, the role of mental health, and the impact of cultural and societal norms around guns. This part of the essay challenges readers to think beyond the immediate effects of gun violence and consider the larger societal structures that enable it.

Concluding the Discussion

In your conclusion, bring together all the threads of your argument, reaffirming your thesis and summarizing the key points you've discussed. This is your opportunity to leave a lasting impression on the reader. You might want to reflect on the broader implications of gun violence for future societal and legislative changes. Suggest possible solutions or areas for further research, and encourage your readers to think critically about their stance on gun violence. A strong conclusion will not only wrap up your essay neatly but will also provoke further thought and discussion on this critical issue.

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Gun Control Essay: Goals, Topics, And How to Write

13 October, 2020

14 minutes read

Author:  Mathieu Johnson

The issue of gun control is yet one of the top topics for heated debates. Some people have rather a negative opinion regarding gun control; others support it and believe that loose gun control rules lead to violence and devastation. And since the topic of gun control is represented by a multitude of contrasting opinions, it might be the topic for your next college paper.

The subject of gun control is an ongoing question, that is why many students either get assigned  a gun control essay or do so for personal motives. What to include in your gun control essay and how to outline your ideas? You can find the answers to your questions in this guide.

Gun Control Essay: Definitions, Goals & Topics

Once you get assigned a gun control essay, you first need to make sure that you fully understand what a paper’s main idea is. As you can tell from the name ‘gun control essay’, such an essay asks you to indicate your opinion regarding restrictive regulations of gun use and production. While most countries have been limiting gun possession to minimize the risk of innocent people dying, the USA hasn’t. On the contrary, the US has persuasive gun control, meaning that almost anyone can buy and hold a gun. Many people share an idea that gun possession should be limited and permitted only to particular categories of people, that is why the question is very ongoing.  So the most critical goal of a gun control essay is to present reasonable ideas about why people need or don’t need gun control. 

Some of the compelling and relevant topics for a gun control essay may be:

• Gun ownership promotes violence among young people
• Gun ownership is unlikely to prevent some people from murdering 
• Gun possession as the only way to protect oneself
• The wide accessibility of guns is the reason for suicides in the US

Gun Control Essay Titles

When writing a pro gun control essay, your initial task is to pick an intriguing, catchy title. You shouldn’t underestimate the importance of such a step if your goal is to attract the reader’s attention and make them aware of a topic. The thing to keep in mind is intriguing the audience and making them willing to take a deep dive into the subject. If you have no precise vision of which title to choose, take a look at a few tips we prepared for you.

First and foremost, you need to have a precise position regarding gun control in America. Are you a supporter, or are you firmly against gun control? Since there is yet a heated debate on this issue in the USA, you can decide to write either a for or against essay on gun control. 

Titles supporting gun control: 

• Violence has never solved any problem
• Guns out of control: why should innocent people die?
• Youth violence as the result of no gun control

Titles opposing gun control:

• Gun control won’t prevent people from killing 
• Gun control: why should we sacrifice our lives just because we can’t defend ourselves?
• Illegal weapons trade as the only guaranteed outcome of gun control.

Gun Control Essay Structure

Most likely, you already know that a good structure largely predicts the success of a gun control argumentative essay. Whenever you are willing to present your opinion on a specific issue and want to convince the audience that your arguments are valid, you should sound logical. The ultimate way to make your gun control essay structure coherent and comprehensive is to draw an outline and plan the essay thoroughly. To assure that your argumentative essay on gun control communicates your idea to the reader, make sure to follow the structure that includes an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

Introduction 

It would help if you organized your gun control essay introduction in a way that serves as an attention grabber. Namely, you can feel free to include some rhetorical question at the beginning or literally any good essay hook. To grab the reader’s attention, you may also outline some background information so that a reader grasps the idea of your gun control persuasive essay. And last but not least, don’t forget to introduce the most important part of a gun control essay outline – a thesis statement. A sound thesis statement gives a reader a general understanding of what you will cover in your essay.

Main body paragraphs’ role is to reveal what you mentioned in the thesis statement. Since your gun control essay will most likely be argumentative, you need to devote one paragraph to one argument. In each and every body paragraph, your main task is to build on some solid evidence and refer to numbers or facts to protect your position. It is better to include 3-5 body paragraphs so that the gun control essay doesn’t look messy. 

When writing a gun control essay conclusion, you should avoid adding any extra information. Try to be very precise and make sure you restate the arguments you have indicated before. All in all, your gun control essay should logically end up with a summary of all the points. The reader has to be 100% sure that he or she fully comprehended your idea. 

Best Tips For Writing Gun Control Essay

An outline is everything.

Create an outline even if you think that this step isn’t indeed necessary. Even when you have all those sparkling ideas and structure in your mind, it requires no effort to confuse them. And if we talk about an argumentative essay, it is fundamental for you as a writer to sound convincing and confident. An outline helps you to sound so. Hence, don’t neglect dedicating a few minutes to creating a helpful essay plan.  

Find some convincing evidence 

The goal of any gun control essay is to communicate an idea of why strict gun control is necessary or should be abandoned. After reading your essay, the audience will form an exact opinion: gun control is either good or bad. Try to search for some substantial evidence, numbers, particular cases that you find helpful while supporting your arguments. Otherwise, you undermine the chances of being heard. 

Write about the topic that bothers you 

Don’t try to figure up titles and topics that aren’t interesting for you. The point of a gun control essay is to make your voice heard and to be sincere while presenting your ideas. Try to give some ideas the way you see them, discuss only those topics that cannot let you stay indifferent. Only in this way will you end up with an excellent essay. 

Edit and proofread

Once your essay is ready, don’t forget to proofread it and check it at least twice. So many excellent essays get a terrible score just because some minor mistakes spoiled the general impression! You can use a wide array of means to make sure your paper is polished: ask your friends to check it, use online tools, or ask a professional essay writing and editing service to get your paper checked by an expert.

Gun Control Essay Examples

If you feel like you need to refer to an example to get a profound insight into an idea of a gun control essay, here is one for you.  

Strict gun control deprives people of their legal rights

The US is the country in which the share of people who own a gun is impressively high. Besides, there is no single country in the world that can be compared to the US by the number of firearms in the citizen’s hands. According to the official statistics, 80 percent of adults own a gun, meaning that the likelihood of  a stranger you come across in the street possessing one are unbelievably significant. Recently, several regulations attempted to restrict gun possession to impose gun control. However, gun control is not only unjustifiable, but it also deprives people of their right for self-defence and peaceful life.

First and foremost, gun control, unfortunately, does not reduce the murder and crime rates in the US. Although it should generally hold true, the statistics contradict the misbelief that limiting gun possession minimizes the number of crimes committed. The research on weapon ban which was carried out during the past twenty years demonstrates that there is no correlation between reducing gun ownership and a falling number of murder cases. The research also indicated that the states that imposed strict gun control have witnessed a larger number of crimes.

This all leads to the conclusion that imposing a ban on gun possession is not a way to fight crime. Also, as the evidence shows, the number of guns in the US had been steadily growing in the last century, and this coincided with a decrease in the number of crimes committed. Essentially, gun control is unlikely to resolve the issue of crimes, since some people are likely to commit crimes even when they have no gun at their disposal.

Another argument against gun control is that the first inevitably infringe the citizen’s rights, Namely, banning weapons contradicts the right that the constitution of the US guarantees. According to the second amendment, under no circumstances should the citizen’s rights to possess a gun  be infringed. The right to own a gun had already existed long before many countries appeared on the map. That is why many people deem gun control as a crime against humanity. Even though there is yet some logical explanation to an attempt to control gun usage and manufacturing, it still deprives US citizens of their inviolable right.

What is even more, the supreme court together with the constitution considers gun ownership as one of the liberties that all the US citizens have. Just like the freedom of speech, the space to protect oneself is crucial, and it should remain untouchable. Introducing gun control, therefore, leads to violating people’s freedom and liberties since people become incapable of even defending themselves in their property.

Gun control robs people of the right for safety and self-defence. Imposing strict gun regulations will inevitably make millions of people incapable of defending themselves if something threatens their and their close ones’ lives. According to the data represented by the National Rifle Association, the number of cases of gun usage solely for self-defence purposes equals 2.5 million times annually. People use guns to protect their families and property, but, apparently, the states find the self-defence motive weak enough. If they impose strict gun control, it means that these 2.5 million people may literally sacrifice their lives and die just because they couldn’t hold a gun legally.

The truth is, the Police are physically incapable of protecting all the people who need protection, so these people are bound to defend themselves on their own. But how to protect yourself  if you cannot even possess a gun? So far, using a weapon for self-defence has proved to be the most effective way . Therefore, depriving people of the right for self-defence or for saving other people in trouble is inhumane and unjustified.

Overall, gun control has lately become a hot topic that has both its advocates and opponents. So far, the evidence against gun control is very reasonable and convincing. Gun control robs the citizens of their exceptional right – the right to protect themselves and those in danger. Besides, gun control contradicts the second amendment, which guarantees the right to possess a gun for adult US citizens. Finally, it is unlikely to reduce the crime rate as the science hasn’t yet found any valid proof for that.

Write a Gun Control Essay with HandmadeWriting

Composing a brilliant essay about gun control is somewhat challenging due to the peculiarity of this topic. But this is not something above your capacity. Keeping all the tips in mind as well as following a precise gun control essay structure will significantly facilitate the writing process. And if you need help with writing or editing – HandmadeWriting will have you covered! At any time of day and night, essay writers at HandmadeWriting work hard to deliver top-quality papers and support students from all over the world. So if you’re struggling with your essay, feel free to get in touch with us. 

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5 Essays about Gun Violence

Gun violence impacts every part of society. There are certain places in the world where it’s more prevalent. According to a 2018 report, the United States had the 28th highest rate of gun violence deaths in the world. That puts the US above other wealthy countries. Gun violence is also a major issue in places like the Caribbean, Central America, and Venezuela. Here are five essays that address the financial and emotional impact of gun violence, how people use art to cope, and how the problem can be addressed.

“What Does Gun Violence Really Cost?”

Mark Follman, Julia Lurie, Jaeah Lee, and James West

This article opens with the story of a woman and her fiance shot on their way to dinner. After being close to death and staying in a hospital for five months, Jennifer Longdon couldn’t move her body from the chest down. After more hospitalizations, the bills got close to $1 million in just the first year, forcing her to file for personal bankruptcy. More expensive hospital stays followed for problems like sepsis, while wheelchair modifications for her house added up, as well.

For many people, their knowledge of gun violence comes from the news or movies. These venues tend to focus on the moment the violence occurs or the emotional impact. The long-term financial consequences as a result of health issues are less known. This article examines the existing data while telling a personal story.

“I Think of People Who Died At Sandy Hook Every Day”

Mary Ann Jacob

In this essay from 2016, Mary Ann Jacob remembers the horrific elementary school shooting from 2012. She worked at the library at the time and recalls hearing shouting from the intercom on the morning of December 14. Believing someone had pushed it by mistake, she called in, only to have the secretary answer the phone and shout, “There’s a shooter!” Mary Ann Jacob lived through one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. The essay goes on to describe what happened after and the steps survivors took to advocate for better gun control.

“You May Not See Me On TV, But Parkland Is My Story, Too”

Kyrah Simon

In 2018, a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killed 17 students and wounded 17 others. Several students became vocal afterwards, challenging the lack of gun control in the face of such violence. They founded an advocacy group and many of the young people became household names. Kyrah Simon, a senior at the school, lost one of her best friends. She also wanted to speak up and share her story but realized that the media wanted certain speeches, certain faces. She writes, “I was just a girl that lost her friend. And it wasn’t enough.” Raw, honest, and enlightening, this personal essay is a must-read.

“Mexican Artist Transforms 1,527 Deadly Guns Into Life-Giving Shovels To Plant Trees”

In Culiacan, Mexico, the city with the highest rate of deaths by gun violence in the country, an artist and activist began a special project. Pedro Reyes used local media and TV ads paid for by the city’s botanical garden to advertise his gun-trading project. In exchange for bringing their weapons, people received electronics and appliances coupons. Reyes made over 1,500 trades. What came next? The guns were crushed by a steamroller and melted down. Reyes used the material to create shovels. He made the same number of shovels as guns, so each gun was represented as something new.

Turning guns into art is not an uncommon action. Reyes has also made instruments while other artists make sculptures. The transformation of an object of death into something that plays a part in fostering life – like planting trees – sends a powerful message.

“Forum: Doing Less Harm”

David Hemenway

What is the best approach to gun violence? David Hemenway, a professor of health policy and director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center, advocates for a public-health approach. He believes gun violence is a public-safety problem and a problem-health problem, but gun lobbyists dismiss both claims. The gun lobby focuses on the shooter – the individual – so attention is diverted from the firearms industry. In focusing so much on who to blame, prevention is left out of the equation.

A public-health approach returns the attention to prevention and asks everyone to work together on the issue. Hemenway uses motor-vehicle injury prevention as a blueprint for why gun violence prevention can work. Not sure what prevention could look like? Hemenway provides examples of how actors like healthcare workers, consumers, and the federal government can work together.

Learn about the consequences of gun violence in America and which interventions are most effective to reduce gun violence in homes, schools and communities!

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

Gun Control Essay Guide: Titles, Example, Writing Tips

Writing against gun control essay follows the basic steps of an argumentative essay. The paper begins with an introduction which highlights what the entire essay will be about. Then, three body paragraphs follow: the second paragraph presents the first supporting reason; the third gives the second supporting argument, whereas the fourth paragraph offers the pro-gun control arguments to show the existence of opposing viewpoints.

The firearms debate is something that has been going for a while, and in light of increased mass shootings and a higher risk of terrorist threats, it will continue to be a hot topic. Here at EssayService , we have put together a handy guide to help you with creating any type of essay on this controversial subject.

What is The Gun Control?

The problem of mass shootings has been on the rise around the world, with the United States being the most affected. A report published by The Guardian in 2016 showed that in the United States, there are 265 million guns compared to the 242 million adults living in the country. Also, half of the guns are owned by 3% of the adult population, with each of these adults owning eight to 140 guns. The gun control law aims at regulating the manufacture, possession, transfer or use of firearms by civilians.

The use of guns is something that has to be regulated to maintain safety for everyone. Pro campaigners argue that with increased mass shootings and easy access to firearms, make it too difficult to prevent this kind of tragedies.

Anti-gun control crusaders argue that due to the failure of the governments to ensure their safety, they are forced to acquire guns to defend themselves. However, some pro-gun control campaigners argue that gun ownership should be limited to the police and army officers due to the increased shootings in high schools and colleges. The report published by The Guardian revealed that there are 30, 000 gun deaths in the US annually, the highest across the globe.

One of the pro-gun control arguments is that the law on gun ownership must be amended to control how guns are used and stored. They link the increased shootings in schools to unsafe storage of firearms. As a result, students quickly access their parent’s shotguns and carry them to school and use them to commit crime and murder. Although anti-gun control crusaders argue that the guns will ensure their safety, there have been instances where innocent people were hurt injured and even killed.

The pro-gun control campaigners advocate changing the constitution to either monitor the use of guns or totally ban gun possession among civilians. Also, parents and educationists have taken measures to educate children on the misuse of guns through lectures and open forums. One of the techniques professors use to educate students is by assigning them assignments to write an essay on gun control. That way, students can do adequate research and review existing literature before drafting the final gun control essay. Parents have also taken steps to monitor their children’s exposure to violent video games and videos that influence them to be violent.

In recent years there has been increased education in schools and universities to ensure fewer chances of this kind of tragedies happening again. A typical exercise can involve giving students a gun control essay to research and write. This way the students can see what are the current laws and do research themselves into what problems can be affected if you change them.

Things to Consider when Writing a Gun Control Essay

The law states that anyone in the U.S. can carry a firearm under certain conditions and restrictions depending which local authority governs them. Even tho there is Federal laws and local laws in place they can be confusing in some areas but generally, a version of the second amendment is followed.

The original text from the Bill of Rights 1789 which was later edited and ratified as the Second Amendment is as follows:

“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”.

There is debate over interpretation of this ancient text but it generally accepted as having a trained military or “state guard” and the people which is anyone native or considered part of the community to be able to keep and carry weapons.

Things to consider:

• When this law was drawn up the world was a very different place.
• Many laws have been changed to fit in with modern society.
• Other countries gun laws are much stricter.
• People owning guns would not protect themselves from the government.

Gun Control Essay Titles

It is an important part of your essay to include a catchy title, this will inform the reader of your stance and also intrigue them to read further. It can also help other people look for your article quicker. If at first, you can not think of a title then it's a good idea to write as much of the essay and come back to naming it. It should be a creative process and do not just rush in to label your work. Think of something different and fresh that could challenge the reader, so a question, for example, is a good way to do this. Imagine your gun control essay to be a movie and you need to title it suitably can be another useful trick.

When writing your essay, you need to include a memorable title for your article. Here are some examples from our paper writing service online to help you:

• Take a side, not a sidearm
• Violence in America, guns under fire
• Gun control under control
• Shooting holes in the second amendment
• Gun deaths on deaf ears
• Guns don’t kill people, husbands that come home early do
• Putting guns into the hands of the bad and leaving the innocent unarmed
• Gun control: deciding who's pulling the trigger
• How gun control can cost your life
• Gun control, man caught over a barrel

Pro Gun Control Essay or Against Gun Position Choice

Before embarking on writing your essay, it is vital you decide if you are pro or against the idea. Then you can plan out the essay according to your stance.

When you have decided which angle you are taking, research as much as possible and gain a lot of statistics that are already published. Remember hard facts are needed for your article.

Here is an argumentative gun control essay sample to give you clearer idea:

Then you can begin to outline your essay.

How to Write Your Gun Control Essay Outline?

Draw up a plan of what you need to do, a gun control outline will save you time in the long run which will help with planning and researching. Here is a free template to follow and fill in sections accordingly:

Introduction - Brief description of the article and stance taken, include a hook and thesis.

Body of text - Supporting evidence and statistics for the argument.

Conclusion - Present summary of the most important ideas.

Gun Control Essay Introduction

After crafting a worthy title, you can move onto a gun control essay introduction. Sometimes the best way to start is with a gun control essay hook which the reader will find interesting. Then proceed with a description of what the article will include and maybe some interesting background to the research undertaken. Include a gun control essay thesis. This will give you a target to aim for during your research to help focus on the important parts, it is also possible to come back and change the thesis statement later on. This is a very important part of the article as the audience will already have formed some opinions of the work after they have finished reading the opening paragraphs.

Body of Gun Control Essay

Depending on what type of essay you are writing will determine which style you adopt. Most common styles would include an argumentative essay or expository essay so check the links for free help on this style of writing. The vital part to presenting your side in these formats would be stating a fact or statistic to prove your point then writing a paragraph with your ideas and opinions on it. Make sure you use hard evidence for every point or it will just count as just commentary. Another popular style would include a research paper , here is free help with this format. Make sure your paragraphs flow well between points and ideas so that the reader will not be bored and use transition words and phrases to help with this.

Gun Control Essay Conclusion

When you write the gun control essay conclusion it is important to present a summary of the main ideas that back up your thesis or the point that is being proved. Depending on the style you can restate the thesis then lead into the summary. Whichever style adopted make the final sentence memorable which could include a dramatic plea or a question as this will be the last thing the audience takes away with them. Even try to challenge the reader.

Citations or References Section of Gun Control Essays

Depending on the type of essay or work you are writing this will have an impact on how to reference material used. It is vital that you include a references section usually at the end of the essay.

Pro Gun Control Essay Tips

Here at essay writing service , we have collected some of the best top tips for writing your essay to help you out.

• Backup all your ideas. When you put a claim or point of view across make sure you have supporting evidence or statistics to back up. Most students forget to include the vital information to backup their ideas. Here is a good website for global firearm laws and statistics .
• Clearly structure each point or idea. Do not make the essay boring to the reader so include transition words and phrases and create one idea based on facts per paragraph.
• Look for fresh and new research. This topic has been covered a lot to a variety of different levels so try to get modern research and data to present the best ideas. There have been many students completing essays like this so try to stand out.
• Understand human psychology. Look and think outside the box because anyone can own a gun but not everybody has a strong enough mind to not pull the trigger. Guns are part of the argument but look at human thought and reasons.
• Be honest. With everybody under the sun having a say in this topic, just be clear and present your idea with truth and this will give you the best essay.

Gun Control Essay Example

Gun Policy: The Views of Republicans and Democrats

Do you know how many firearms are currently in civilian possession in the US? According to official numbers, over 393 million guns are owned by Americans, which makes up for 46% of the global stock of civilian firearms. This statement alone indicates how strong and well-developed gun culture is in this country. On the other hand, the rate of firearm deaths (both homicides and suicides) keeps growing at a rapid pace, causing the gun policy to be one of the hottest and most discussed topics. Unsurprisingly, the two major opposing parties in the US: Republicans and Democrats, are having very diverse opinions concerning this matter. While Republicans want to keep it easy, Democrats are voting for more restrictions, and they only agree on a couple of points.

To go into detail, Republicans are generally supporting gun ownership. They believe that it should be accessible to the majority of US citizens. According to the survey by the Pew Research Center, the majority of Republicans don't really see gun violence as a "very big" problem:

• 42% of the party representatives see the problem as "moderately big";
• And 23% believe there is no issue at all. 

Thus, when it comes to the majority of suggestions concerning stricter regulations of gun possession among civilians, Republicans vote for such changes very reluctantly. Instead, the party representatives strongly support the allowance of concealed carry of firearms in most public places. And, they also vote for allowing school teachers and authorities to carry guns at the workplace. All in all, Republicans are convinced that stricter gun policies cannot help minimize cultural brutality and prevent cruel crimes. But they believe that death penalties can.

Democrats, on the contrary, have a very different viewpoint on gun policy. According to Pew Research Center, as many as 65% of the party representatives believe that the problem of gun violence is very big. And another 26% think that it is moderately big. Due to their outlook on the problem, the majority of Democrats are strongly against making concealed carry of guns allowed. They also don't support reducing the waiting time for legal firearm purchases. They, on the contrary, support stricter background checks. Democrats even suggest creating federal databases to gain stronger control over gun sales. One more point in Democrats' policy is a restriction of sales of assault-style weapons.

Despite critically opposing ideas that Republicans and Democrats have regarding gun policy, they do find a few points of contact on this issue. Namely, the equal number of Republicans and Democrats vote for restricting mentally ill people from purchasing and owning firearms. Another shared idea with a small gap in the number of votes is that gun ownership should not be accessible to people who are included in no-fly or watch lists. Finally, the last policy update on which both parties somewhat agree implies the introduction of background checks for private sales and sales made at gun shows.

Overall, Republicans and Democrats have fundamentally contradicting views on issues related to gun violence. Despite the fact that the number of firearms crimes keeps striking, Republicans keep stubbornly voting for more sparing policies and less control. Democrats, on the contrary, are spreading awareness of the issue. They assure that the problem is real and suggest stricter policies. The goal of stricter gun policies is to minimize the danger for citizens. Interestingly enough, despite the strong gun culture in the country, according to surveys, most Americans would rather support democrats. 52% of citizens believe that gun control has to be stricter, and personally, I would also stand by the same ideas that the Democratic party is spreading.

Still Need Help with Your Gun Control Essays?

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MUSE in Focus: Addressing Gun Violence

Gun violence remains a pervasive public health crisis in the United States. As the country grows all too familiar with the cycle of violence, mourning, and inaction that takes place after any mass shooting, evidence-based research from experts and scholars is essential for any meaningful policy solutions to take place. In this spirit, and in collaboration with our publishers, we have compiled a list of select content on Project MUSE that addresses the complex challenge of gun violence.

“MUSE in Focus: Addressing Gun Violence” is a selection of recent scholarship from Project MUSE publishers on gun violence, its effect throughout the culture, and its possible solutions. Our hope is that bringing these pieces together will help to inform the policymakers responsible for solving this crisis, as well as to educate researchers and other concerned citizens who seek evidence-based work on this topic.

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Amid a growing consensus that the staggering toll of gun violence in the United States is an urgent public health issue, the Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health has convened experts on gun policy and violence from the United States and selected other countries to summarize relevant research and its implications for policymakers and concerned citizens. Legal scholars weigh in on the constitutionality of recommended policies, and researchers present new data on public support for a wide array of policies designed to reduce gun violence. Collected for the first time in one volume, this reliable, empirical research and legal analysis will inform the policy debate by helping lawmakers and opinion leaders identify the policy changes that are most likely to reduce gun violence in the United States. Researchers draw on new and existing studies on U.S. gun policies to demonstrate both the weaknesses of current federal gun policies and the efficacy of various state laws designed to reduce firearm availability to high-risk groups. By analyzing scientific and legal data, the contributors provide evidence in support of enhanced regulation and oversight of licensed gun dealers, background checks for private sales, and purchaser licensing. Lessons from bans of assault weapons and of large-capacity magazines for guns are considered, as is the promise of “smart guns,” which could be fired only by authorized users. Compelling case studies from Australia, Scotland, and Brazil demonstrate effective policy responses to gun violence that have led to significant reductions in gun-related deaths. The book concludes with data on public support for strengthening gun laws and Second Amendment considerations.

In 2013—in the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School—Johns Hopkins University Press published Reducing Gun Violence in America, a collection of essays written by the world’s leading experts on gun violence. Updated Evidence and Policy Developments on Reducing Gun Violence in America follows up on the state of American gun violence by analyzing new data, research, and policy developments one year after Sandy Hook. Over the course of ten substantive chapter addendums, contributors bring readers up-to-date on such varied topics as mental illness, domestic violence, background checks, illegal gun sales, and personalized guns. They describe the recent policy measures that have been enacted and suggest additional approaches that may help stem the violence. An essential companion to Reducing Gun Violence in America, the reliable, empirical research and legal analysis in this e-book will help lawmakers, opinion leaders, and concerned citizens identify policy changes to address gun violence, which takes an average of more than 80 lives every day in the United States.

On an average day in the United States, guns are used to kill over ninety people and wound about three hundred more; yet such facts are accepted as a natural consequence of supposedly high American rates of violence. Private Guns, Public Health reveals the advantages of treating gun violence as a consumer safety and public health problem—an approach that emphasizes prevention over punishment and that has successfully reduced the rates of injury and death from infectious disease, car accidents, and tobacco consumption.

Hemenway fair-mindedly and authoritatively outlines a policy course that would significantly reduce gun-related injury and death, pointing us toward a solution.

Weapons have been a source of political and legal debate for centuries. Aristotle considered the possession of arms a fundamental source of political power and wrote that tyrants "mistrust the people and deprive them of their arms." Today ownership of weapons -- whether handguns or military-grade assault weapons -- poses more acute legal problems than ever before. In this volume, the editors' introduction traces the history of gun control in the United States, arguing that until the 1980s courts upheld reasonable gun control measures. The contributors confront urgent questions, among them the usefulness of history as a guide in ongoing struggles over gun regulation, the changing meaning of the Second Amendment, the perspective of law enforcement on guns and gun control law, and individual and relational perspectives on gun rights. The contributors include the editors and Carl T. Bogus, Jennifer Carlson, Saul Cornell, Darrell A.H. Miller, Laura Beth Nielsen, and Katherine Shaw.

Although the rate of gun ownership in U.S. households has declined from an estimated 50 percent in 1970 to approximately 32 percent today, Americans' propensity for carrying concealed firearms has risen sharply in recent years. Today, more than 11 million Americans hold concealed handgun licenses, an increase from 4.5 million in 2007. Yet, despite increasing numbers of firearms and expanding opportunities for gun owners to carry concealed firearms in public places, we know little about the reasons for obtaining a concealed carry permit or what a publicly armed citizenry means for society. Angela Stroud draws on in-depth interviews with permit holders and on field observations at licensing courses to understand how social and cultural factors shape the practice of obtaining a permit to carry a concealed firearm. Stroud's subjects usually first insist that a gun is simply a tool for protection, but she shows how much more the license represents: possessing a concealed firearm is a practice shaped by race, class, gender, and cultural definitions that separate "good guys" from those who represent threats.

Stroud's work goes beyond the existing literature on guns in American culture, most of which concentrates on the effects of the gun lobby on public policy and perception. Focusing on how respondents view the world around them, this book demonstrates that the value gun owners place on their firearms is an expression of their sense of self and how they see their social environment.

University of Massachusetts Press, 2013 On the final day of its 2008 term, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-to-4 decision striking down the District of Columbia’s stringent gun control laws as a violation of the Second Amendment. Reversing almost seventy years of settled precedent, the high court reinterpreted the meaning of the “right of the people to keep and bear arms” to affirm an individual right to own a gun in the home for purposes of self-defense. The landmark ruling not only opened a new chapter in the contentious history of gun rights and gun control but also revealed both the strengths and problems of originalist constitutional theory and jurisprudence. This volume brings together some of the best scholarship on the Heller case, with essays by legal scholars and historians representing a range of ideological viewpoints and applying different interpretive frameworks. Following the editors’ introduction, which describes the issues involved and the arguments on each side, the essays are organized into four sections. The first includes two of the most important historical briefs filed in the case, while the second offers different views of the role of originalist theory. Section three presents opposing interpretations of the ruling and its relationship to modern constitutional doctrine. The final section explores historical research post-Heller, including new findings on patterns of gun ownership in colonial and Revolutionary America. In addition to the editors, contributors include Nelson Lund, Joyce Lee Malcolm, Jack Rakove, Reva B. Siegel, Cass R. Sunstein, Kevin M. Sweeney, and J. Harvey Wilkinson III.

Mass shootings have become the “new normal” in American life. The same can be said for the public debate that follows a shooting: blame is cast, political postures are assumed, but no meaningful policy changes are enacted. In After Gun Violence, Craig Rood argues that this cycle is the result of a communication problem. Without advocating for specific policies, Rood examines how Americans talk about gun violence and suggests how we might discuss the issues more productively and move beyond our current, tragic impasse. Exploring the ways advocacy groups, community leaders, politicians, and everyday citizens talk about gun violence, Rood reveals how the gun debate is about far more than just guns. He details the role of public memory in shaping the discourse, showing how memories of the victims of gun violence, the Second Amendment, and race relations influence how gun policy is discussed. In doing so, Rood argues that forgetting and misremembering this history leads interest groups and public officials to entrenched positions and political failure and drives the public further apart. Timely and innovative, After Gun Violence advances our understanding of public discourse in an age of gridlock by illustrating how public deliberation and public memory shape and misshape one another. It is a search to understand why public discourse fails and how we can do better.

In addressing the shape of appropriate gun policy, this essay assumes for the sake of discussion that there is a legal and moral right to private gun ownership. My thesis is that, against the background of this right, the most defensible policy approach in the United States would feature moderate gun control. The first section summarizes the American gun control status quo and characterizes what I call “moderate gun control.” The next section states and rebuts six leading arguments against this general approach to gun policy. The section that follows presents a positive case for moderate gun control that emphasizes safety in the home and society as well as rights whose enforcement entails some limits or qualifications on the right to bear arms. A final section shows how the recommended gun regulations address legitimate purposes, rather than imposing arbitrary restrictions on gun rights, and offers concluding reflections.

Described as ‘the most explicitly and self-consciously originalist opinion in the history of the [United States] Supreme Court’, District of Columbia v. Heller, decided in 2008 on a 5/4 split, embodies many of the central problems of a historically oriented legal hermeneutics. Antonin Scalia’s invocation of an unchanging constitutional text and a purity of reconstruction of an original meaning belies the intensity of social and political interests that inform the judicial decision-making process. This paper looks at the interpretive principles at stake in the controversy over the court’s account of the Second Amendment’s deeply ambiguous enunciation of the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Against the historicism that constitutes the unexamined norm of originalist interpretation, I argue that texts have no privileged “original meaning” but change their meanings as they acquire new purposes and uses. Second, I seek to specify the institutional underpinnings of the regime of interpretation that effects the translation of past texts into present structures of interest. In the broad sense in which I define it here, the interpretive regime is not just a matter of the rules of a discursive game but is effected by a mix of material, political, and disciplinary infrastructures that make those rules binding upon a particular interpretive community. Finally, I examine the play of blindness and insight that constitutes, in this case and more generally, the rhetorical condition of possibility for the establishment of a truth which then defines and enacts a reality.

During his first term as president, Barack Obama delivered four national eulogies at the sites of gun violence tragedies, two of which garnered considerable national attention: one delivered in Tucson, Arizona on January 12, 2011 (following the attack on Representative Gabrielle Giffords and an assembled crowd), and another in Newtown, Connecticut on December 16, 2012 (following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School). The deaths of innocents, the result of a host of causes, required the president to face the issue of gun violence, help the nation work through the trauma, and create the conditions of civility necessary for policy action. At Tucson, Obama drew from the book of Job to explain that the evil in Tucson happened “for reasons that defy human understanding.” In his Newtown address, Obama replaced the more fatalistic theology of his Tucson memorial with a spirit of perseverance and renewal rooted in 2 Corinthians. In this essay, I suggest that Obama’s eulogy at Newtown serves as a counterpart to the call Obama advanced in the Tucson address. I argue that, though the messages embedded in the Tucson speech serve as a legitimate theological and epistemological check on the presumptions of reason, the Newtown address better met the aspirations of civility because it led to a consideration of policies designed to reduce gun violence.

Last year came news about the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, at the hands of a nervous neighborhood vigilante. More recently, a graduate student in neuroscience named James Holmes opened fire in a Colorado theater with an array of advanced weaponry, killing twelve and wounding fifty-eight. And on a cold and clear December morning in Connecticut, a former high school honors student methodically executed twenty unsuspecting schoolchildren and seven adults with "a semiautomatic rifle that is similar to weapons used by troops in Afghanistan." These events have been described as "tragic"—and so they are, though not in the sense usually meant. The tragedy is not that something awful and terrible happened that should never have happened. The tragedy is that something awful and terrible happened that was, and is, supposed to happen. This is in keeping with the original Greek meaning; in Whitehead's gloss, "the essence of dramatic tragedy . . . resides in . . . the remorseless working of things . . .[the] inevitableness of destiny." Usually, this tragedy goes unremarked until it is too late; so in this essay I try to render it blindingly salient.

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Essay on Gun Violence

Gun violence is a multifaceted phenomenon that needs a sustainable solution for a better life within the society. The United States has the highest number of gun violence cases in the world among the developed nations. The use of guns within the community is a matter that continues to draw the attention of security agencies as the weapons are misused. Mass shootings have claimed the lives of many within the society, especially in the United States (Beland and Kim 113). Laws that govern the use of guns within the United States have failed to combat the levels of gun violence to desirable levels. The paper aims to study the issue of gun violence, why there are high levels of gun violence, the effects of gun violence in the United States, and recommend possible solutions to combat the vice. Understanding the underlying nature of the issue can help formulate formidable strategies to control acts of violence regarding guns.

It is essential to understand the root cause of the high levels of gun violence, especially in the United States. Statistics indicate that 36% of adults in the United States own a gun. Equally, many homes in the country can acquire a firearm for their own protection. The first reason why gun violence has increased in the United States is the policies in place to control the use of such weapons. The gun policy allows many homes to acquire a licensed handgun for security, exposing the society too risks associated with gun violence. The controversy behind the solution to such a vice lies in the hands of citizens. Many argue in support of the gun policy, stating that an armed population is a polite society. An increase in the number of guns on the public hand doubles the chances of gun violence. Such violence has been witnessed in schools, streets, churches, and other places on several occasions. Equally, reducing the number of guns that circulate in the hands of the public can help control the vice.

Second, developmental issues for children are a factor that increases gun violence in the United States. For instance, when a kid grows knowing that the only way to have something is through violence, it becomes a habit, which endangers the lives of the rest in the society. Most low and middle-class individuals in the states own guns for protection. Such weapons end up getting exposed to their children, which affects them psychologically. Children who have witnessed gun violence at a young age might develop mental issues, according to research. The dependency on guns for protection among minorities and the rich have led to increased gun violence in the United States. Children who develop mental issues might end up using their weapons violently at an adult age. Poorly brought up children can apply gun violence as a tool for having their way whenever they get angry. Also, adults with mental issues have increased their misuse across different fronts (McGinty, et al. 406).

A majority of the American population with guns are men. This is an indication that gender and culture play a key role in shaping the gun policy within the United States. There is a need for the country to find an explanation as to why men are always perpetrators in cases that involve gun violence. Such an indication can lead the society to conclude that culture promotes the tendency of men to use guns violently (Kalesan, Bindu, et al. 216). Women are rarely victims of circumstances in incidences on gun violence. The link between violence and the male ego should be unearthed for better solution determination in the society. Perceptions in the society indicate that psychological therapy can help change the mentality for a better nation. The American culture thrives in a community that believes that guns are meant for men, and women should not use them. The notion has since changed as women have equal rights as men to own a gun for protection. The issue has increased gun violence, even among couples.

Drugs and smuggling of products into the United States is a significant contributor to increased gun violence. For instance, when individuals are transporting drugs, they kill anybody who comes their way, increasing cases of gun-related violence. Gun violence, smuggling, and selling of drugs are all interrelated as the weapons are required to threaten and protect. Controlling the sale of drugs within the country can help reduce gun violence to a large extent. Regions that are mostly affected are those located along the borders, where smuggling is a common vice. The result of such acts is aggravated gun violence that has claimed many lives of Americans each year.

It is essential to highlight the effects of gun violence in the contemporary society, especially within the US. First, increased gun violence in the United States has scared foreign students who aspire to study in the country (Butts, et al. 39). There are numerous individuals from other parts of the world who have the ambition to study in the US. Such aspirations are thwarted by increased acts of gun violence in the country. The foreign learners cite insecurity and gun violence as the deterring reason. Most of the learners end up joining other institutions in other countries where the guardians feel they are safer. International students need an assurance from institutions and the nations that they intend to study in. Gun parents become terrified of their children getting involved in gun violence, which scares them off. Increased cases of gun violence thwart efforts to achieve a sustainable strategy in addressing multicultural education.

Psychological trauma for many who witness gun violence is a significant setback associated with the vice. Trauma can affect the functioning of a person and even lead to mental illness in the eventuality. There is no criterion correctly set to identify an individual who is likely to use a gun violently and one who will not. As such, it is difficult to issue firearms on that basis, which makes it hard to control the increased cases of gun violence. If a model that could indicate probability, it would be exceedingly appropriate in the fight to reduce gun violence in the United States. Trauma is affecting the development of children in school and their performance in general. It is stigmatizing to witness shootings in a learning setting, especially for minors in the institution. Most students in the United States become scared upon such shootings that end up affecting them mentally in their life (Stark and Shah 84). As such, gun violence has instilled trauma in the lives of children who fear the same might happen to them.

Criminal activities have increased in the recent past in the event of gun violence. The guns that are let loose to the public are causing havoc among the public. Homicide cases are over 100 lives in a day, which raises concerns over the use of guns. Besides the high number of deaths, gun violence leaves many victims injured and some paralyzed for life. Most of such cases are controllable if the victim cannot have access to a firearm. Research indicates that there are over 36000 intentional deaths that result from gun violence per year within the United States. Equally, gun violence leaves over 100000 unintended injuries to people in the United States each year (Malina, Debra, et al. 175). The numbers are high, indicating the essence of reducing gun accessibility to individuals. For instance, it is important to note that many gun violence cases get worse without being reported. The numbers mentioned are estimates, and the actual figures might go higher if unreported cases are counted.

Gun violence has impacted education negatively by disrupting learning activities within institutions in the United States. A recent study indicates that since 2013 and 2018, 405 incidents of gunfire were reported on institutional grounds. Most of the attacks, roughly 260, were conducted in elementary, middle, or high school level institutions of learning (Malina, et al.175). The 260 attacks claimed the lives of 109 people leaving 219 injured. The remaining cases were mass shootings, assaults, and homicides within the same period. The events of Sandy Hooks and Parkland are indications that there might be more shootings in schools to witness. Shootings that happen in schools compromise the security of both students and staff, which should be prioritized. When such shootings go down, learning is affected due to the disruption caused. Gun violence in schools should be prohibited in a bid to boost education in the multicultural context (Katsiyannis, Whitford and Ennis 1562).

Black children in the states experience much of gun violence than white children. According to research, black children are 14 times more likely to die by a gun as compared to their white counterparts. Equally, black children are ten times more vulnerable to firearm injuries than white children. Both white and black children can live in the same city and experience gun violence in different ways. Gun violence is mostly associated with poverty-stricken populations with little or no basic education (Alcorn 124). Most of such individuals from such societies are unemployed, which makes them resolve to use guns as a means of making money. A society that has been stricken by concentrated disadvantages is more susceptible to gun violence. Societies that have much of the white population do not face such challenges as the live modest lives. Children from such homes are protected hence they do not face gun violence. Exposing growing children to gun violence affects their learning, which might result in mental conditions.

Gun violence attracts medical costs that are high for individuals, as the injuries are unexpected. For instance, in the year 2010, a total of 36000 people visited public hospitals for treatment from gun injuries. The total approximated cost of dealing with injuries as a result of gun violence rose to $630 million, much of it, which was paid by taxpayer’s money. Such resources can be used to better other sectors of the economy within the States if gun violence can be contained. Also, gun violence makes many people in the States live in fear due to increased crime and shootings.

There is a need for governments to establish a sustainable strategy that can help control the incidences of gun violence in the United States and the world collectively. The first approach that should help reduce the impact is gun policy. Governments should implement policies that discourage ownership of firearms within their territories. For instance, if the cost of a gun is higher than that of a car, many individuals could not easily possess one. Such legislation can help reduce ownership among ordinary citizens, which makes the society safer. The process of acquiring a licensed gun in the states should be done rigorously to help issue firearms to the right people. Equally, lifting the age of gun ownership from 18 to 21 can help reduce gun violence among the youth. Policies that are stringent on gun violence can minimize the chances of deaths and injuries as a result of gun violence.

Second, training is necessary for those who would wish to obtain a licensed firearm. With poor training, gun accidents increase, which risks the safety of people in the United States. There are incidents of gun violence that arise as a result of inappropriate skills of using the weapons. Statistics indicate that unskilled individuals are more likely to cause gun violence than those who are used to, especially in the military. Gun violence is threatening many in the streets and developmental programs in learning institutions. As such, training those who are licensed using firearms can help fix the mess related to gun violence. Untrained firearms owners should return them until they obtain the necessary knowledge on how to handle a firearm. The move can help reduce gun violence, which is claiming numerous lives.

Behavior control can help control the use of firearms in the United States. For instance, if people undergo psychological processes to determine their fitness to use firearms, then there is a likelihood that the number of violence cases reported will drop. Policies in place do not stipulate the basis for issuing an individual a gun. Equally, the set regulations do not weigh the capability of a licensed individual causing violence before issuing them with one. Children who are developing should be trained on how to become good people in the society and avoid violence. As such, learning institutions should be at the forefront of the fight against gun violence in the United States.

To sum it, gun violence is a matter that has led to many deaths in the United States for decades now. Blacks and minority groups are the most exposed communities likely to experience gun violence daily. Children are vulnerable to gun violence, as most cases have happened on the grounds of various schools. The US registers the highest number of fatalities associated with gun violence among developed countries. The gun policy in the country has contributed significantly to the increased violence of firearms. Not everybody should be allowed to have a gun in the country. Reduced exposure of the society to guns can help reduce the mass shootings that have claimed the lives of many in the United States. Policies that ensure sustainable containment of gun violence can help restore sanity in the society. Minorities groups are more vulnerable to gun violence than their white counterparts. As such, there is an urgent need to establish mechanisms of combating gun violence in the American context.

Works Cited

Alcorn, Ted. “Trends in research publications about gun violence in the United States, 1960 to 2014.”  JAMA internal medicine  177.1 (2017): 124-126.

Beland, Louis-Philippe, and Dongwoo Kim. “The effect of high school shootings on schools and student performance.”  Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis  38.1 (2016): 113-126.

Butts, Jeffrey A., et al. “Cure violence: a public health model to reduce gun violence.”  Annual review of public health  36 (2015): 39-53.

Kalesan, Bindu, et al. “Gun ownership and social gun culture.”  Injury prevention  22.3 (2016): 216-220.

Katsiyannis, Antonis, Denise K. Whitford, and Robin Parks Ennis. “Historical Examination of United States Intentional Mass School Shootings in the 20 th and 21 st Centuries: Implications for Students, Schools, and Society.”  Journal of Child and Family Studies  27.8 (2018): 2562-2573.

Malina, Debra, et al. “Rooting out gun violence.” (2016): 175-176.

McGinty, Emma E., et al. “News media framing of serious mental illness and gun violence in the United States, 1997-2012.”  American Journal of Public Health  104.3 (2014): 406-413.

Stark, David E., and Nigam H. Shah. “Funding and publication of research on gun violence and other leading causes of death.”  Jama  317.1 (2017): 84-85.

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Article Contents

Introduction, the burden of firearm violence, understanding and reducing firearm violence is complex and multi-factorial, interventions and recommendations, conclusions, research ethics.

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Firearm Violence in the United States: An Issue of the Highest Moral Order

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Chisom N Iwundu, Mary E Homan, Ami R Moore, Pierce Randall, Sajeevika S Daundasekara, Daphne C Hernandez, Firearm Violence in the United States: An Issue of the Highest Moral Order, Public Health Ethics , Volume 15, Issue 3, November 2022, Pages 301–315, https://doi.org/10.1093/phe/phac017

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Firearm violence in the United States produces over 36,000 deaths and 74,000 sustained firearm-related injuries yearly. The paper describes the burden of firearm violence with emphasis on the disproportionate burden on children, racial/ethnic minorities, women and the healthcare system. Second, this paper identifies factors that could mitigate the burden of firearm violence by applying a blend of key ethical theories to support population level interventions and recommendations that may restrict individual rights. Such recommendations can further support targeted research to inform and implement interventions, policies and laws related to firearm access and use, in order to significantly reduce the burden of firearm violence on individuals, health care systems, vulnerable populations and society-at-large. By incorporating a blended public health ethics to address firearm violence, we propose a balance between societal obligations and individual rights and privileges.

Firearm violence poses a pervasive public health burden in the United States. Firearm violence is the third leading cause of injury related deaths, and accounts for over 36,000 deaths and 74,000 firearm-related injuries each year ( Siegel et al. , 2013 ; Resnick et al. , 2017 ; Hargarten et al. , 2018 ). In the past decade, over 300,000 deaths have occurred from the use of firearms in the United States, surpassing rates reported in other industrialized nations ( Iroku-Malize and Grissom, 2019 ). For example, the United Kingdom with a population of 56 million reports about 50–60 deaths per year attributable to firearm violence, whereas the United States with a much larger population, reports more than 160 times as many firearm-related deaths ( Weller, 2018 ).

Given the pervasiveness of firearm violence, and subsequent long-term effects such as trauma, expensive treatment and other burdens to the community ( Lowe and Galea, 2017 ; Hammaker et al. , 2017 ; Jehan et al. , 2018 ), this paper seeks to examine how various evidence-based recommendations might be applied to curb firearm violence, and substantiate those recommendations using a blend of the three major ethics theories which include—rights based theories, consequentialism and common good. To be clear, ours is not a morally neutral paper wherein we weigh the merits of an ethical argument for or against a recommendation nor is it a meta-analysis of the pros and cons to each public health recommendation. We intend to promote evidence-based interventions that are ethically justifiable in the quest to ameliorate firearm violence.

It is estimated that private gun ownership in the United States is 30% and an additional 11% of Americans lived with someone who owed a gun in 2017 ( Gramlich and Schaeffer, 2019 ). Some of the reported motivations for carrying a firearm include protection against people (anticipating future victimization or past victimization experience) and hunting or sport shooting ( Schleimer et al. , 2019 ). A vast majority of firearm-related injuries and death occur from intentional harm (62% from suicides and 35% from homicides) versus 2% of firearm-related injuries and death occurring from unintentional harm or accidents (e.g. unsafe storage) ( Fowler et al. , 2015 ; Lewiecki and Miller, 2013 ; Monuteaux et al. , 2019 ; Swanson et al. , 2015 ).

Rural and urban differences have been noted regarding firearms and its related injuries and deaths. In one study, similar amount of firearm deaths were reported in urban and rural areas ( Herrin et al. , 2018 ). However, the difference was that firearm deaths from homicides were higher in urban areas, and deaths from suicide and unintentional deaths were higher in rural areas ( Herrin et al. , 2018 ). In another study, suicides accounted for about 70% of firearm deaths in both rural and urban areas ( Dresang, 2001 ). Hence, efforts to implement these recommendations have the potential to prevent most firearm deaths in both rural and urban areas.

The burden of firearm injuries on society consists of not only the human and economic costs, but also productivity loss, pain and suffering. Firearm-related injuries affect the health and welfare of all and lead to substantial burden to the healthcare industry and to individuals and families ( Corso et al. , 2006 ; Tasigiorgos et al. , 2015 ). Additionally, there are disparities in firearm injuries, whereby firearm injuries disproportionately affect young people, males and non-White Americans ( Peek-Asa et al. , 2017 ). The burden of firearm also affects the healthcare system, racial/ethnic minorities, women and children.

Burden on Healthcare System

Firearm-related fatalities and injuries are a serious public health problem. On average more than 38 lives were lost every day to gun related violence in 2018 ( The Education Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV), 2020 ). A significant proportion of Americans suffer from firearm non-fatal injuries that require hospitalization and lead to physical disabilities, mental health challenges such as post-traumatic stress disorder, in addition to substantial healthcare costs ( Rattan et al. , 2018 ). Firearm violence and related injuries cost the U.S. economy about $70 billion annually, exerting a major effect on the health care system ( Tasigiorgos et al. , 2015 ).

Victims of firearm violence are also likely to need medical attention requiring high cost of care and insurance payouts which in turn raises the cost of care for everyone else, and unavoidably becomes a financial liability and source of stress on the society ( Hammaker et al. , 2017 ). Firearm injuries also exert taxing burden on the emergency departments, especially those in big cities. Patients with firearm injuries who came to the emergency departments tend to be overwhelmingly male and younger (20–24 years old) and were injured in an assault or unintentionally ( Gani et al. , 2017 ). Also, Carter et al. , 2015 found that high-risk youth (14–24 years old) who present in urban emergency departments have higher odds of having firearm-related injuries. In fact, estimates for firearm-related hospital admission costs are exorbitant. In 2012, hospital admissions for firearm injuries varied from a low average cost of $16,975 for an unintentional firearm injury to a high average cost of $32,237 for an injury from an assault weapon ( Peek-Asa et al. , 2017 ) compared with an average cost of $10,400 for a general hospital admission ( Moore et al. , 2014 ).

Burden on Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Women and Children

Though firearm violence affects all individuals, racial disparities exist in death and injury and certain groups bear a disproportionate burden of its effects. While 77% of firearm-related deaths among whites are suicides, 82% of firearm-related deaths among blacks are homicides ( Reeves and Holmes, 2015 ). Among black men aged 15–34, firearm-related death was the leading cause of death in 2012 ( Cerdá, 2016 ). The racial disparity in the leading cause of firearm-related homicide among 20- to 29-year-old adults is observed among blacks, followed by Hispanics, then whites. Also, victims of firearms tend to be from lower socioeconomic status ( Reeves and Holmes, 2015 ). Understanding behaviors that underlie violence among young adults is important. Equally important is the fiduciary duty of public health officials in creating public health interventions and policies that would effectively decrease the burden of gun violence among all Americans regardless of social, economic and racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Another population group that bears a significant burden of firearm violence are women. The violence occurs in domestic conflicts ( Sorenson and Vittes, 2003 ; Tjaden et al. , 2000 ). Studies have shown that intimate partner violence is associated with an increased risk of homicide, with firearms as the most commonly used weapon ( Leuenberger et al. , 2021 ; Gollub and Gardner, 2019 ). However, firearm threats among women who experience domestic violence has been understudied ( Sullivan and Weiss, 2017 ; Sorenson, 2017 ). It is estimated that nearly two-thirds of women who experience intimate partner violence and live in households with firearms have been held at gunpoint by intimate partners ( Sorenson and Wiebe, 2004 ). Firearms are used to threaten, coerce and intimidate women. Also, the presence of firearms in a home increases the risk of women being murdered ( Campbell et al. , 2015 ; Bailey et al. , 1997 ). Further, having a firearm in the home is strongly associated with more severe abuse among pregnant women in a study by McFarlane et al. (1998) . About half of female intimate partner homicides are committed with firearms ( Fowler, 2018 ; Díez et al. , 2017 ). Some researchers reported that availability of firearms in areas with fewer firearms restrictions has led to higher intimate partner homicides ( Gollub and Gardner, 2019 ; Díez et al. , 2017 ).

In the United States, children are nine times more likely to die from a firearm than in most other industrialized nations ( Krueger and Mehta, 2015 ). Children here include all individuals under age 18. These statistics highlight the magnitude of firearm injuries as well as firearms as a serious pediatric concern, hence, calls for appropriate interventions to address this issue. Unfortunately, children and adolescents have a substantial level of access to firearms in their homes which contributes to firearm violence and its related injuries ( Johnson et al. , 2004 ; Kim, 2018 ). About half of all U.S. households are believed to have a firearm, making firearms one of the most pervasive products consumed in the United States ( Violano et al. , 2018 ). Consequently, most of the firearms used by children and youth to inflict harm including suicides are obtained in the home ( Johnson et al. , 2008 ). Beyond physical harm, children experience increased stress, fear and anxiety from direct or indirect exposure to firearms and its related injuries. These effects have also been reported as predictors of post-traumatic stress disorders in children and could have long-term consequences that persist from childhood to adulthood ( Holly et al. , 2019 ). Additionally, the American Psychological Association’s study on violence in the media showed that witnessing violence leads to fear and mistrust of others, less sensitivity to pain experienced by others, and increases the tendency of committing violent acts ( Branas et al. , 2009 ; Calvert et al. , 2017 ).

As evidenced from the previous sections, firearm violence is a complex issue. Some argue that poor mental health, violent video games, substance abuse, poverty, a history of violence and access to firearms are some of the reasons for firearm violence ( Iroku-Malize and Grissom, 2019 ). However, the prevalence and incidence of firearm violence supersedes discrete issues and demonstrates a complex interplay among a variety of factors. Therefore, a broader public health analysis to better understand, address and reduce firearm violence is warranted. Some important factors as listed above should be taken into consideration to more fully understand firearm violence which can consequently facilitate processes for mitigation of the frequency and severity of firearm violence.

Lack of Research Prevents Better Understanding of Problem of Firearm Violence

A major stumbling block to understanding the prevalence and incidence of firearm related violence exists from a lack of rigorous scientific study of the problem. Firearm violence research constitutes less than 0.09% of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual budget ( Rajan et al. , 2018 ). Further research on firearm violence is greatly limited by the Dickey Amendment, first passed in 1996 and annually thereafter in budget appropriations, which prohibits use of federal funds to advocate or promote firearm control ( Rostron, 2018 ). As such, the Dickey Amendment impedes future federally funded research, even as public health’s interest in firearm violence prevention increased ( Peetz and Haider, 2018 ; Rostron, 2018 ). In the absence of rigorous research, a deeper understanding and development of evidence-based prevention measures continue to be needed.

Lack of a Public Health Ethical Argument Against Firearm Use Impedes Violence Prevention

We make an argument that gun violence is a public health problem. While some might think that public health is primarily about reducing health-related externalities, it is embedded in key values such as harm reduction, social justice, prevention and protection of health and social justice and equity ( Institute of Medicine, 2003 ). Public health practice is also historically intertwined with politics, power and governance, especially with the influence of the states decision-making and policies on its citizens ( Lee and Zarowsky, 2015 ). According to the World Health Organization, health is a complete physical, mental and social well-being that is not just the absence of injury or disease ( Callahan, 1973 ). Health is fundamental for human flourishing and there is a need for public health systems to protect health and prevent injuries for individuals and communities. Public health ethics, then, is the practical decision making that supports public health’s mandate to promote health and prevent disease, disability and injury in the population. It is imperative for the public health community to ask what ought to be done/can be done to curtail firearm violence and its related burdens. Sound public health ethical reasoning must be employed to support recommendations that can be used to justify various public policy interventions.

The argument that firearm violence is a public health problem could suggest that public health methods (e.g. epidemiological methods) can be used to study gun violence. Epidemiological approaches to gun violence could be applied to study its frequency, pattern, distribution, determinants and measure the effects of interventions. Public health is also an interdisciplinary field often drawing on knowledge and input from social sciences, humanities, etc. Gun violence could be viewed as a crime-related problem rather than public health; however, there are, of course, a lot of ways to study crime, and in this case with public health relevance. One dominant paradigm in criminology is the economic model which often uses natural experiments to isolate causal mechanisms. For example, it might matter whether more stringent background checks reduce the availability of guns for crime, or whether, instead, communities that implement more stringent background checks also tend to have lower rates of gun ownership to begin with, and stronger norms against gun availability. Therefore, public health authorities and criminologists may tend to have overlapping areas of expertise aimed to lead to best practices advice for gun control.

Our paper draws on three major theories: (1) rights-based theories, (2) consequentialism and (3) the common good approach. These theories make a convergent case for firearm violence, and despite their significant divergence, strengthen our public health ethics approach to firearm. The key aspects of these three theories are briefly reviewed with respect to how one might use a theory to justify an intervention or recommendation to reduce firearm injuries.

Rights-Based Theories

The basic idea of the rights framework is that people have certain rights, and that therefore it is impermissible to treat people in certain ways even if doing so would promote the overall good. People have rights to safety, security and an environment generally free from risky pitfalls. Conversely, people also have a right to own a gun especially as emphasized in the U.S.’s second amendment. Another theory embedded within our discussion of rights-based theories is deontology. Deontological approaches to ethics hold that we have moral obligations or duties that are not reducible to the need to promote some end (such as happiness or lives saved). These duties are generally thought to specify what we owe to others as persons ( rights bearers ). There are specific considerations that define moral behaviors and specific ways in which people within different disciplines ought to behave to effectively achieve their goals.

Huemer (2003) argued that the right to own a firearm has both a fundamental (independent of other rights) and derivative justification, insofar as the right is derived from another right - the right to self-defense ( Huemer, 2003 ). Huemer gives two arguments for why we have a right to own a gun:

People place lots of importance on owning a gun. Generally, the state should not restrict things that people enjoy unless doing so imposes substantial risk of harm to others.

People have a right to defend themselves from violent attackers. This entails that they have a right to obtain the means necessary to defend themselves. In a modern society, a gun is a necessary means to defend oneself from a violent attacker. Therefore, people have a right to obtain a gun.

Huemer’s first argument could be explained that it would be permissible to violate someone’s right to own or use a firearm in order to promote some impersonal good (e.g. number of lives saved). Huemer’s second argument also justifies a fundamental right to gun ownership. According to Huemer, gun restrictions violate the right of individual gun owners to defend themselves. Gun control laws will result in coercively stopping people to defend themselves when attacked. To him, the right to self-defense does seem like it would be fundamental. It seems intuitive to argue that, at some level, if someone else attacks a person out of the blue, the person is morally required to defend themselves if they cannot escape. However, having a right to self-defense does not entail that your right to obtain the means necessary to that thing cannot be burdened at all.

While we have a right to own a gun, that right is weaker than other kinds of rights. For example, gun ownership seems in no way tied to citizenship in a democracy or being a member of the community. Also, since other nations/democracies get along fine without a gun illustrates that gun ownership is not important enough to be a fundamental right. Interestingly, the UK enshrines a basic right to self-defense, but explicitly denies any right to possess any particular means of self-defense. This leads to some interesting legal peculiarities where it can be illegal to possess a handgun, but not illegal to use a handgun against an assailant in self-defense.

In the United States, implementing gun control policies to minimize gun related violence triggers the argument that such policies are infringements on the Second Amendment, which states that the rights to bear arms shall not be infringed. The constitution might include a right to gun ownership for a variety of reasons. However, it is not clear from the text itself that the right to bear arms is supposed to be as fundamental as the right to freedom of expression. Further, one could argue, then, that any form of gun regulation is borne from the rationale to retain our autonomy. Protections from gun violence are required to treat others as autonomous agents or as bearers of dignity. We owe others certain protections and affordances at least in part because these are necessary to respect their autonomy (or dignity, etc.). We discuss potential recommendations to minimize gun violence while protecting the rights of individuals to purchase a firearm if they meet the necessary and reasonable regulatory requirements. Most of the gun control regulations discussed in this article could provide an opportunity to ensure the safety of communities without unduly infringing on the right to keep a firearm.

Consequentialism

Consequentialism is the view that we should promote the common good even if doing so infringes upon some people’s (apparent) rights. The case for gun regulation under this theory is made by showing how many lives it would save. Utilitarianism, a part of consequentialist approach proposes actions which maximize happiness and the well-being for the majority while minimizing harm. Utilitarianism is based on the idea that a consequence should be of maximum benefit ( Holland, 2014 ) and that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness as the ultimate moral norm. If one believes that the moral purpose of public health is to make decisions that will produce maximal benefits for most affected, remove or prevent harm and ensure equitable distribution of burdens and benefits ( Bernheim and Childress, 2013 ), they are engaging in a utilitarian theory. Rights, including the rights to bear arms, are protected so long as they preserve the greater good. However, such rights can be overridden or ignored when they conflict with the principle of utility; that is to say, if greater harm comes from personal possession of a firearm, utilitarianism is often the ethical theory of choice to restrict access to firearms, including interventions that slow down access to firearms such as requiring a gun locker at home. However, it is important to note that utilitarians might also argue that one has to weigh how frustrating a gun locker would be to people who like to go recreationally hunting. Or how much it would diminish the feeling of security for someone who knows that if a burglar breaks in, it might take several minutes to fumble while inputting the combination on their locker to access their gun.

Using a utilitarian approach, current social statistics show that firearm violence affects a great number of people, and firearm-related fatalities and injuries threaten the utility, or functioning of another. Therefore, certain restrictions or prohibitions on firearms can be ethically justifiable to prevent harm to others using a utilitarian approach. Similarly, the infringement of individual freedom could be warranted as it protects others from serious harm. However, one might argue that a major flaw in the utilitarian argument is that it fails to see the benefit of self-defense as a reasonable benefit. Utilitarianism as a moral theory would weigh the benefits of proposed restrictions against its costs, including its possible costs to a felt sense of security on the part of gun owners. A utilitarian argument that neglects some of the costs of regulations wouldn’t be a very good argument.

One might legitimately argue that if an individual is buying a firearm, whether for protection or recreation, they are morally responsible to abide by the laws and regulations regarding purchasing that firearm and ensuring the safety of others in the society. Additionally, vendors and licensing/enforcement authorities would have the responsibility to ensure the safety of the rest of the society by ensuring that the firearm purchase does not compromise the safety of the community. Most people who own firearms would not argue against this position. However, arguments in support of measures that will reduce the availability of firearms center around freedom and liberty and are not as well tolerated by those who argue from a libertarian starting point. Further, this would stipulate that measures against firearm purchase or use impinge upon the rights of individuals who have the freedom to pursue what they perceive as good ( Holland, 2014 ). However, it seems as though the state has a fundamental duty to help ensure an adequate degree of safety for its citizens, and it seems that the best way to do that is to limit gun ownership.

Promoting the Common Good

A well-organized society that promotes the common good of all is to everyone’s advantage ( Ruger, 2015 ). In addition, enabling people to flourish in a society includes their ability to be healthy. The view of common good consists of ensuring the welfare of individuals considered as a group or the public. This group of people are presumed to have a common interest in protection and preservation from harms to the group ( Beauchamp, 1985 ). Health and security are shared by members of a community, and guns are an attempt to privatize public security and safety, and so is antithetical to the common good. Can one really be healthy or safe in a society where one’s neighbors are subject to gun violence? Maybe not, and so then this violence is a threat to one’s life too. If guns really are an effective means of self-defense, they help one defend only oneself while accepting that others in one’s community might be at risk. One might also argue that the more guns there are, the more that society accepts the legitimacy of gun ownership and the more that guns have a significant place in culture etc., and consequently, the more that there is likely to be a problem.

Trivigno (2018) suggests that the willingness to carry a firearm indicates an intention to use it if the need arises and Branas et al (2009) argue that perpetually carrying a firearm might affect how individuals behave ( Trivigno, 2018 ; Branas et al. , 2009 ). When all things are equal, will prudence and a commitment to the flourishing of others prevail? Trivigno (2013) wonders if such behaviors as carrying or having continual access to a firearm generates mistrust or triggers fear of an unknown armed assailant, allowing for aggression or anger to build; the exact opposite of flourishing ( Trivigno, 2013 ). One could suggest, then, that the recreational use of firearms is also commonly vicious. Many people use firearms to engage in blood sport, killing animals for their own amusement. For example, someone who kicks puppies or uses a magnifying glass to fry ants with the sun seems paradigmatically vicious; why not think the same of someone who shoots deer or rabbits for their amusement?. Firearm proponents might suggest that the fidelity (living out one’s commitments) or justice, which Aristotle holds in high regard, could justify carrying a firearm to protect one’s life, livelihood, or loved ones insofar as it would be just of a person to defend and protect the life of another or even one’s own life when under threat by one who means to do harm. Despite an argument justifying the use of a firearm against another for self-defense after the fact, the action might not have been right when evaluated through the previous rationale, or applying the doctrine of double effect as described by Aquinas’ passage in the Summa II-II, which mentions that self-defense is quite different than taking it upon one’s self to mete out justice ( Schlabach, n.d. ). The magistrate is charged with seeing that justice is done for the common good. At best, if guns really are an effective means of self-defense, they help one defend only oneself while accepting that others in one’s community might be at risk. They take a common good, the health and safety of the community, and make it a private one. For Aquinas and many other modern era ethicists, intention plays a critical part in judgment of an action. Accordingly, many who oppose any ownership of firearms do so in both a paternalistic fashion (one cannot intend harm if they don’t have access to firearms) and virtuous fashion (enabling human flourishing).

Classical formulations of the double doctrine effect include necessity and proportionality conditions. So, it’s wrong to kill in self-defense if you could simply run away (without giving up something morally important in doing so), or to use deadly force in self-defense when someone is trying to slap you. One thing the state can do, in its role of promoting the common good, is to reduce when it is necessary to use self-defense. If there were no police at all, then anyone who robs you without consequence will probably be back, so there’s a stronger reason to use deadly force against them to feel secure. That’s bad, because it seems to allow violence that truly isn’t necessary because no one is providing the good of public security. So, one role of the state is to reduce the number of cases in which the use of deadly force is necessary for our safety. Since most homicides in the United State involve a firearm, one way to reduce the frequency of cases in which deadly force is necessary for self-defense is to reduce the instances of gun crime.

We have attempted to lay the empirical and ethical groundwork necessary to support various interventions, and the recommendations aimed at curbing firearm violence that will be discussed in this next section. Specifically, by discussing the burden of the problem in its various forms (healthcare costs, disproportionate violence towards racial/ethnic minority groups, women, children, vulnerable populations and the lack of research) and the ethics theories public health finds most accessible, we can now turn our attention to well-known, evidence-based recommendations that could be supported by the blended ethics approach: rights-based theories, consequentialism and the common-good approach discussed.

Comprehensive, Universal Background Checks for Firearm Sales

Of the 17 million persons who submitted to a background check to purchase or transfer possession of a firearm in 2010, less than 0.5% were denied approval of purchase ( Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014 ). At present, a background check is required only when a transfer is made by a licensed retailer, and nearly 40% of firearm transfers in recent years were private party transfers ( Miller et al. , 2017 ). As such, close to one-fourth of individuals who acquired a firearm within the last two years obtained their firearm without a background check ( Miller et al. , 2017 ). Anestis et al. , (2017) and Siegel et al. , (2019) evaluated the relationship between the types of background information required by states prior to firearm purchases and firearm homicide and suicide deaths ( Anestis et al. , 2017 ; Siegel et al. , 2019 ). Firearm homicide deaths appear lower in states checking for restraining orders and fugitive status as opposed to only conducting criminal background checks ( Sen and Panjamapirom, 2012 ). Similarly, suicide involving firearm were lower in states checking for a history of mental illness, fugitive status and misdemeanors ( Sen and Panjamapirom, 2012 ).

Research supports the evidence that comprehensive universal background checks could limit crimes associated with firearms, and enforcement of such laws and policies could prevent firearm violence ( Wintemute, 2019 ; Lee et al. , 2017 ). Comprehensive, universal background check policies that are applicable to all firearm transactions, including private party transfers, sales by firearm dealers and sales at firearm shows are justifiable using a blend of the ethics theories we have previously discussed. With the rights-based approach, one could still honor the right to own a firearm by a competent person while also enforcing the obligation of the firearm vendor to ensure only a qualified individual purchased the firearm. To further reduce gun crime, rather than ensure only the right people own guns, we can just reduce the number of guns owned overall. Consequentialism could be employed to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable such as victims of domestic violence and allowing a firearm vendor to stop a sale to an unqualified individual if they had a history of suspected or proven domestic violence. Also, having universal background checks that go beyond the bare minimum of assessing if a person has a permit, the legally required training, etc., but delving more deeply into a person’s past, such as the inclusion of a red flag ( Honberg, 2020 ), would be promoting the common good approach by creating the conditions for persons to be good and do good while propelling community safety.

Renewable License Before Buying and After Purchase of Firearm and Training Firearm Owners

At present, federal law does not require licensing for firearm owners or purchasers. However, state licensing laws fall into four categories: (1) permits to purchase firearms, (2) licenses to own firearms, (3) firearm safety certificates and (4) registration laws that impose licensing requirements ( Anestis et al. , 2015 ; Giffords Licensing, n.d. ). A study conducted in urban U.S. counties with populations greater than 200,000 indicated that permit-to-purchase laws were associated with 14% reduction in firearm homicides ( Crifasi et al. , 2018 ). In Connecticut, enforcing a mandatory permit-to-purchase law making it illegal to sell a hand firearm to anyone who did not have an eligible certificate to purchase firearms was associated with a reduction in firearm associated homicides ( Rudolph et al. , 2015 ). This also resulted in a significant reduction in the rates of firearm suicide rates in Connecticut ( Crifasi et al. , 2015 ). Conversely, the permit-to-purchase law was repealed in Missouri in 2007, which resulted in an increase of homicides with firearms and firearm suicides ( Crifasi et al. , 2015 ; Webster et al. , 2014 ). Similarly, two large Florida counties indicated that 72% of firearm suicides involved people who were legally permitted to have a firearm ( Swanson et al. , 2016 ). According to the study findings, a majority of those who were eligible to have firearms died from firearm-related suicide, and also had records of previous short-term involuntary holds that were not reportable legal events.

In addition to comprehensive, universal background checks for firearm purchases, licensing with periodic review requires the purchaser to complete an in-person application at a law enforcement agency, which could (1) minimize fraud or inaccuracies and (2) prevent persons at risk of harming themselves or others to purchase firearms ( Crifasi et al. , 2019 ). Subsequent periodic renewal could further reduce crimes and violence associated with firearms by helping law enforcement to confirm that a firearm owner remains eligible to possess firearms. More frequent licensure checks through periodic renewals could also facilitate the removal of firearms from individuals who do not meet renewal rules.

Further, including training on gun safety and shooting with every firearm license request could also be beneficial in reducing gun violence. In Japan, if you are interested in acquiring a gun license, you need to attend a one-day gun training session in addition to mental health evaluation and background check ( Alleman, 2000 ). This training teaches future firearm owners the steps they would need to follow and the responsibilities of owning a gun. The training completes with passing a written test and achieving at least a 95% accuracy during a shooting-range test. Firearm owners need to retake the class and initial exam every three years to continue to have their guns. This training and testing have contributed to the reduction in gun related deaths in Japan. Implementing such requirements could reduce gun misuses. Even though, this is a lengthy process, it could manage and reduce the risks associated with firearm purchases and will support a well-regulated firearm market. While some may argue that other forms of weapons could be used to inflict harm, reduced access to firearms would lead to a significant decrease in the number of firearm-related injuries in the United States.

From an ethics perspective, again, all three theories could be applied to the recommendation for renewable licenses and gun training. From a rights-based perspective, renewable licensure and gun training would still allow for the right to bear arms but would ensure that the right belongs with qualified persons and again would allow the proper state agency to exercise its responsibility to its citizens. Additionally, a temporary removal of firearms or prohibiting firearm purchases by people involuntarily detained in short-term holds might be an opportunity to ensure people’s safety and does so without unduly infringing on the Second Amendment rights. Renewable licenses and gun training create opportunities for law enforcement to step in periodically to ascertain if a licensee remains competent, free from criminal behavior or mental illness, which reduces the harm to the individual and to the community—a tidy application of consequentialism. Again, by creating the conditions for people to be good, we see an exercise of the common good.

Licensing Firearm Dealers and Tracking Firearm Sales

In any firearm transfer or purchase, there are two parties involved: the firearm vendor and the individual purchaser. Federal law states that “it shall be unlawful for any person, except for a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer, to engage in the business of importing, manufacturing, or dealing in firearms, or in the course of such business to ship, transport, or receive any firearm in interstate or foreign commerce” (18 U.S.C. 1 922(a)(1)(A)(2007). All firearm sellers must obtain a federal firearm license issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). However, ATF does not have the complete authority to inspect firearm dealers for license, revoke firearm license, or take legal actions against sellers providing firearms to criminals ( Vernick and Webster, 2007 ). Depending on individual state laws, typically the firearm purchaser maintains responsibility in obtaining the proper license for each firearm purchase whereas the justice system has the responsibility to enforce laws regulating firearm sales. Firearm manufacturers typically sell their products through licensed distributors and dealers, or a primary market (such as a retail store). Generally, firearms used to conduct a crime (including homicide) or to commit suicide are the product of secondary markets ( Institute of Medicine, 2003 ) such as retail secondhand sales or private citizen transfers/sales. Such secondary firearm transfers are largely unregulated and allow for illegal firearm purchases by persons traditionally prohibited from purchasing in the primary market ( Vernick and Webster, 2007 ; Chesnut et al. , 2017 ).

According to evidence from Irvin et al. (2014) in states that require licensing for firearm dealers and/or allow inspections, the reported rates of homicides were lower ( Irvin et al. , 2014 ). Specifically, after controlling for race, urbanicity, poverty level, sex, age, education level, drug arrest rate, burglary rates and firearm ownership proxy, the states that require licensing for firearm dealers reported ~25% less risk of homicides, and the states that allow inspection reported ~35% less risk of homicides ( Irvin et al. , 2014 ). This protective effect against homicides was stronger in states that require both licensing and inspections compared to states that require either alone. The record keeping of all firearm sales is important as it facilitates police or other authorized inspectors to compare a dealer’s inventory with their records to identify any secondary market transactions or other discrepancies ( Vernick et al. , 2006 ). According to Webster et al. (2006) , a change in firearm sales policy in the firearm store that sold more than half of the firearms recovered from criminals in Milwaukee, resulted in a 96% reduction in the use of recently sold firearms in crime and 44% decrease in the flow of new trafficked firearms in Milwaukee ( Webster et al. , 2006 ).

The licensing of firearm vendors and tracking of firearm sales sits squarely as a typical public health consequentialist argument; in order to protect the community, an individual’s right is only minimally infringed upon. An additional layer, justifiable by consequentialism, includes a national repository of all firearm sales which can be employed to minimize the sale of firearms on the secondary market and dealers could be held accountable for such ‘off-label’ use ( FindLaw Attorney Writers, 2016 ). Enforcing laws, mandating record keeping, retaining the records for a reasonable time and mandating the inspection of dealers could help to control secondary market firearm transfers and minimize firearm-related crimes and injuries.

One could argue from a rights perspective that routine inspections and record keeping are the responsibility of both firearms vendors and law enforcement, and in doing so, still ensure that competent firearm owners can maintain their rights to bear arms. In Hume’s discussion of property rights, he situates his argument in justice; and that actions must be virtuous and the motive virtuous ( Hume, 1978 ). Hume proposes that feelings of benevolence don’t form our motivation to be just. We tend (perhaps rightly) to feel stronger feelings of benevolence to those who deserve praise than to those who have wronged us or who deserve the enmity of humanity. However, justice requires treating the property rights or contracts of one’s enemies, or of a truly loathsome person, as equally binding as the property rights of honest, decent people. Gun violence disproportionately impacts underserved communities, which are same communities impacted by social and economic injustice.

Standardized Policies on Safer Storage for Firearms and Mandatory Education

Results from a cross-sectional study by Johnson and colleagues showed that about 14-30% of parents who have firearms in the home keep them loaded, while about 43% reported an unlocked firearm in the home ( Johnson et al. , 2006 ; Johnson et al. , 2008 ). The risk for unintentional fatalities from firearms can be prevented when all household firearms are locked ( Monuteaux et al. , 2019 ). Negligent storage of a firearm carries various penalties based on the individual state ( RAND, 2018 ). For example, negligent storage in Massachusetts is a felony. Mississippi and Tennessee prohibit reckless or knowingly providing firearms to minors through a misdemeanor charge, whereas Missouri and Kentucky enforce a felony charge. Also, Tennessee makes it a felony for parents to recklessly or knowingly provide firearms to their children ( RAND, 2018 ).

While a competent adult may have a right to bear arms, this right does not extend to minors, even in recreational use. Many states allow for children to participate in hunting. Wisconsin allows for children as young as 12 to purchase a hunting license, and in 2017 then Governor Scott Walker signed into law a no age minimum for a child to participate in a mentored hunt and to carry a firearm in a hunt when accompanied by an adult ( Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 2020 ). The minor’s ‘right’ to use a firearm is due in part to the adult taking responsibility for the minor’s safety. As such, some have argued that children need to know how to be safe around firearms as they continue to be one of the most pervasive consumer products in the United States ( Violano et al. , 2018 ).

In addition to locking firearms, parents are also encouraged to store firearms unloaded in a safe locked box or cabinet to prevent children’s access to firearms ( Johnson et al. , 2008 ). It follows then that reducing children and youth’s access to firearm injuries involves complying with safe firearm storage practices ( McGee et al. , 2003 ). In addition to eliminating sources of threat to the child, it is also important for children to be trained on how to safely respond in case they encounter a firearm in an unsupervised environment. Education is one of the best strategies for firearm control, storage and reduction of firearm-related injuries via development of firearm safety trainings and programs ( Jones, 1993 ; Holly et al. , 2019 ). Adults also need firearm safety education and trainings; as such, inclusion of firearm safety skills and trainings in the university-based curriculum and other avenues were adults who use guns are likely to be, could also mitigate firearm safety issues ( Puttagunta et al. , 2016 ; Damari et al. , 2018 ). Peer tutoring could also be utilized to provide training in non-academic and social settings.

Parents have a duty to protect their children and therefore mandating safe firearm storage, education and training for recreational use and periodic review of those who are within the purview of the law. Given that someone in the U. S. gets shot by a toddler a little more frequently than once a week ( Ingraham, 2017 ), others might use a utilitarian argument that limiting a child’s access to firearms minimizes the possibility of accidental discharge or intentional harm to a child or another. Again, the common good approach could be employed to justify mandatory safe storage and education to create the conditions for the flourishing of all.

Firearm and Ammunition Buy-Back Programs

Firearm and ammunition buy-back programs have been implemented in several cities in the United States to reduce the number of firearms in circulation with the ultimate goal of reducing gun violence. The first launch in Baltimore, Maryland was in 1974. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has conducted a gun buy-back program for nearly eight years to remove more guns off the streets and improve security in communities. Currently there is a plan for a federal gun buy-back program in the United States. The objective of such programs is to reduce gun violence through motivating marginal criminals to sell their firearms to local governments, encourage law-abiding individuals to sell their firearms available for theft by would-be criminals, and to reduce firearm related suicide resulting from easy access to a gun at a time of high emotion ( Barber and Miller, 2014 ).

According to Kuhn et al. (2002) and Callahan et al. (1994) , gun buy-back programs are ineffective in reducing gun violence due to two main facts: 1- the frequently surrendered types of firearms are typically not involved in gun-related violence and 2- the majority of participants in gun buyback programs are typically women and older adults who are not often involved in interpersonal violence ( Kuhn et al. , 2002 ; Callahan et al. , 1994 ). However, as a result of implementation of the ‘‘good for guns’’ program in Worcester, Massachusetts, there has been a decline in firearm related injuries and mortality in Worcester county compared to other counties in Massachusetts ( Tasigiorgos et al. , 2015 ). Even though, there is limited research indicating a direct link between gun buy-back programs and reduction in gun violence in the United States, a gun buy-back program implemented in Australia in combination with other legislations to reduce household ownership of firearms, firearm licenses and licensed shooters was associated with a rapid decline in firearm related deaths in Australia ( Bartos et al. , 2020 ; Ozanne-Smith et al. , 2004 ).

The frequency of disparities in firearm-related violence, injuries and death makes it a central concern for public health. Even though much has been said about firearms and its related injuries, there continues to be an interest towards its use. Some people continue to desire guns due to fear, feeling of protection and safety, recreation and social pressure.

Further progress on reforms can be made through understanding the diversity of firearm owners, and further research is needed on ways to minimize risks while maximizing safety for all. Although studies have provided data on correlation between firearm possession and violence ( Stroebe, 2013 ), further research is needed to evaluate the interventions and policies that could effectively decrease the public health burden of firearm violence. Evidence-based solutions to mitigating firearm violence can be justified using three major public health ethics theories: rights-based theories, consequentialism and common good. The ethical theories discussed in this paper can direct implementation of research, policies, laws and interventions on firearm violence to significantly reduce the burden of firearm violence on individuals, health care systems, vulnerable populations and the society-at-large. We support five major steps to achieve those goals: 1. Universal, comprehensive background checks; 2. Renewable license before and after purchase of firearm; 3. Licensing firearm dealers and tracking firearm sales; 4. Standardized policies on safer storage for firearms and mandatory education; and 5. Firearm buy-back programs. For some of the goals we propose, there might be a substantial risk of non-compliance. However, we hope that through education and sensibilization programs, overtime, these goals are not met with resistance. By acknowledging the proverbial struggle of individual rights and privileges paired against population health, we hope our ethical reasoning can assist policymakers, firearm advocates and public health professionals in coming to shared solutions to eliminate unnecessary, and preventable, injuries and deaths due to firearms.

The conducted research is not related to either human or animal use.

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AP Photo/ Jessica Hill

Matt Bennett is Senior Vice President for Public Affairs and a co-founder of Third Way. In that capacity, he has served as an adviser on gun policy to Sandy Hook Promise. He previously served in the White House as a Deputy Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs for President Clinton, where he served as the principal White House liaison to governors and covered a wide range of issues, including disaster response, Medicaid, immigration, education and others. Prior to that, Matt served in Vice President Al Gore's office. He was Communications Director of the Clark for President Campaign in 2004, and from 2001-2004 was Director of Public Affairs for Americans for Gun Safety.

I t was the saddest roll call I’ve ever heard. “I’m Nelba; my daughter’s name is Ana; she was six.” “I’m Mark; my son’s name was Daniel; he was seven.” “I’m Nicole; my son’s name is Dylan; he’s six.”

And on it went, as we sat around the table of a sterile conference room at a DC law firm, the confused and confusing mix of tenses signaling the freshness of loss, the impossibility of comprehending it yet. It was late January 2013, barely a month after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and these were the families of some of the victims. Eleven of them had somehow summoned the strength to come to Washington to meet privately with Vice President Biden, members of Congress and cabinet members. But they weren’t here simply to accept high-level condolences. They had come to listen and to learn about mental health and school safety policy. And they were preparing to wade into some of the roughest waters in American politics: the gun debate.

I was there to help them navigate those waters. The families’ DC-based advisor had invited my organization, Third Way—a group deeply involved with efforts to change the gun laws—to give them a sense of what they were in for.

They were preparing to wade into some of the roughest waters in American politics: the gun debate.

Jimmy Greene, holding a photo of his daughter Ana Grace Marquez-Greene, who was killed in the shootings, listens with family members as his wife speaks during the media conference in Newtown, Connecticut on January 14, 2013. Behind him at right, Ian Hockley holds a photograph of his son Dylan, who was also killed in the media conference. One month after the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a group of Newtown citizens organized into a group called Sandy Hook Promise, to honor the lives of lost family and friends and committed to preventing similar tragedies from ever taking place again. The Group met at the Edmond Town Hall in Newtown. (Richard Messina/Hartford Courant/MCT via REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

On January 14, 2013, Sandy Hook Elementary School family members held a news conference in Newtown, Connecticut to announce the launch of Sandy Hook Promise. It was exactly one month after the shooting that claimed the lives of 20 students and six adults, and wounded 14 others. L-R: Sandy Hook parents Nelba Márquez-Green, Nicole Hockley, Mark Barden, Jackie Barden AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Don Emmert

At that moment, with teddy bears still adorning makeshift shrines all over Newtown, it seemed that progress on gun safety would be inevitable. President Obama had given a resolute speech in Connecticut vowing to fight for change, and members of Congress seemed to be reacting more like parents than politicians. Senator Joe Manchin, a gun-owning Democrat from West Virginia, said on television what many Americans were saying at their kitchen tables: “They are killing our babies; this has got to stop.”

As Joe Manchin knew, however, it was never going to be that simple. Time and again, high-profile gun crimes—from assassinations to mass shootings—had seemed to galvanize public opinion. Yet time and again, this sense of urgency had faded, as the gun lobby slowed momentum in Congress to a crawl and then, often, to a halt.

Chris McDonnell (C), father of Grace McDonnell who was killed at Sandy Hook School, speaks during a conference on gun violence as his wife Lynn McDonnell listens (R) and Matt Bennett, Third Way Senior VP of Public Affaires, listen art Western Connecticut State University on February 21, 2013 in Danbury, Connecticut. The conference, held at the school where Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza once took classes, featured panel discussions on ways to reduce gun violence, protect children and make communities safer. Before killing himself, Adam Lanza killed his mother and 26 people inside the Sandy Hook School on Dec. 14. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

I stood before the Sandy Hook families on that day in January to brief them on the basics of gun policy and politics. These are smart, educated people. They assumed that, in the wake of this horror, Congress would pass some long-overdue gun safety measures. By then, however, this much was already clear to the political classes: there wasn’t going to be a renewed ban on assault weapons or high-capacity ammunition magazines, no matter how wrenching the scene in Newtown. Congress just didn’t have the courage to take such a step. The Senate wouldn’t pass it, and the House wouldn’t even consider it.

When I broke this news to the families, one of the mothers let me know, gently but firmly, that I had screwed up. “Don’t tell us what can’t be done, because we just aren’t prepared to hear that,” she said. “Tell us that it could take time, which we can accept, because we’re in this for the long haul. And tell us what we can do now to honor the memory of our children.”

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WVA, meets with Newtown families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims in his office in the Hart Senate Office Building and talks about the gun legislation on April 10, 2013 GETTY IMAGES/Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WVA., meets with Newtown families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims in his office in the Hart Senate Office Building and talks about the gun legislation on April 10, 2013 GETTY IMAGES/Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call

The Sandy Hook Promise

N ever before had the families of the victims of a gun massacre come together with such a focused commitment to bring about legislative and social change to Washington. The group I was meeting with, Sandy Hook Promise (SHP), had gotten its start in Newtown in the days after the murders. It began as a gathering in one family’s kitchen, with grief-stricken friends and neighbors of the victims vowing to support their community and to do something good for the country in the wake of such an overwhelming tragedy. Their “promise” was to listen and to learn, to promote dialogue, and to pursue “common sense solutions” in the areas of mental health, school safety and gun responsibility.

Staffed by a sea of volunteers from Newtown and led by a few business professionals who took leave from their jobs to run it, SHP grew with astonishing speed into a sophisticated, effective organization. They enlisted a highly respected Washington consultant, Ricki Seidman, to guide them, and she quickly assembled a team of advisors. Within weeks of the funerals, the staff and volunteers from the community, along with many of the victim families themselves, were already working the corridors of power in Hartford. Eventually, they partnered with Governor Dannel Malloy on a strong new gun safety bill for Connecticut that flew through the legislature and was signed into law less than three months after the murders. At the same time, they began coming to Washington, where they were hoping to achieve a similar result in Congress.

On April 17, 2013, Sandy Hook Promise families got a bitter taste of Senate procedure and gun politics after the defeat of a bipartisan compromise to require criminal background checks for all commercial gun purchases. Mark Barden, left, who lost his son Daniel in Newtown said: "We return home for now, disappointed but not defeated. We return home with a determination that change will happen, maybe not today but soon." L-R: Mark Barden; former Rep. Gabby Giffords; Neil Heslin, father of Jesse Lewis; President Barak Obama; Vice President Joe Biden; Jackie Barden, with daughter Natalie; and Nicole Hockley, mother of Dylan. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Tim Makris, the father of a Sandy Hook Elementary fourth-grader who was not hurt in the shootings, is a co-founder of SHP and runs it day-to-day. He and the other leaders of SHP were building the ship as it sailed, putting together an office, staffing it with volunteers, raising money, hiring consultants, tending to the many needs of the Sandy Hook community, and providing a support group for families of the victims as well as for those they call the “survivors”—the 12 kids who made it out alive from the two classrooms that were under attack.

Sandy Hook as a Tipping Point Sandy Hook parent Timothy Makris - who left a successful career to head up the fledgling Sandy Hook Promise - says the Senate vote was a temporary setback that only strengthened the resolve of SHP supporters to find consensus on common ground and common sense solutions to gun safety.

At the same time, Makris and the others, including some of the victim families themselves, were getting a crash-course on Senate procedure, gun policy and, most of all, gun politics. They were beginning to appreciate the degree of moral authority they would wield in this debate—and also the severe limits on this unwanted new power.

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. White House Press Secretary James Brady, face down at right, and Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty, front, were both wounded. Reagan himself was hit by a bullet that ricocheted off the presidential limousine. AP/ Michael Evans

A Short History of Gun Laws

B efore the late 1960s, America had almost no federal or state gun laws. Buying a gun in most states was similar to buying a hammer—one went to a store, picked out a model, paid and left, gun in hand.

The 1968 Act contained a rather large practical flaw: adherence to it was based on the honor system.

After the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., Congress passed the Gun Control Act of 1968. That law established classes of people banned from buying or possessing firearms: felons, undocumented immigrants, those dishonorably discharged from the military (a category included because of Lee Harvey Oswald) and others, including the mentally ill. The mental health prohibitions were narrow, applying only to those who had been found mentally ill by a court and those involuntarily committed to a mental institution. In later years, domestic abusers were added to the list. The Act also created a federal license for the sale of firearms and a set of rules that applied only to those “in the business” of selling guns. These Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) were, for example, barred from selling handguns to anyone under age 21.

Commonsense as these provisions may have been, the 1968 Act contained a rather large practical flaw: adherence to it was based on the honor system. Because there was no verification method, those who were prohibited from gun ownership could still buy a gun as easily as they could buy beer—more easily in the case of minors, because they at least had to show ID to purchase alcohol. Not surprisingly, few gun buyers volunteered to salespeople, “Oh by the way, I’m a convicted felon.” The law was toothless. And not only was it essentially unenforceable, it didn’t apply even in theory to the many who sold guns but didn’t choose to describe themselves as being in the gun “business.”

Tragic or shocking national events have inspired much of the federal legislative action on gun issues. On October 22, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Gun Control Act of 1968 into law. The assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the five preceding years helped spur the law to passage. LBJ Library

And that was it for federal gun laws over the next 25 years. Some tried to do more. John Hinckley’s attack on President Reagan in 1981 gravely wounded White House Press Secretary James Brady. Afterward, he and his wife Sarah became important advocates for new gun safety provisions.

President Bill Clinton (Right) signs into law the Brady bill as former White House press secretary James Brady, the bill's namesake, looks on November 30, 1993 at the White House. REUTERS

It wasn’t until President Clinton came into office promising to address the crack cocaine-fueled crime epidemic, however, that the Brady Bill got traction. Clinton signed it into law in 1993, a dozen years after the Hinckley attack. For criminals and other prohibited buyers, obtaining a gun finally became a bit more complicated than buying a six-pack (but only, as we’ll see, if one was buying it from an FFL).

On the heels of the Brady Bill success, then-Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.) and then-Representative Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) muscled the Assault Weapons Ban across the finish line in 1994. Today, nearly 20 years later, those are the last significant federal gun safety bills to have become law.

In 33 states, private sellers at gun shows are not required to run background checks on buyers. This in effect creates mega-malls where buyers can connect with sellers who aren't picky about their customers. BLOOMBERG via GETTY IMAGES/George Frey

Attendees look at guns at the Rocky Mountain Gun Show in Sandy, Utah, U.S., on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. A working group led by Vice President Joe Biden is seriously considering measures that would require universal background checks for firearm buyers, track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database, strengthen mental health checks and stiffen penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving them to minors. Photographer: George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Gun Law Loopholes

T he two gun bills that Clinton signed those first years of his presidency were indeed significant. In order to make it through Congress, however, both were engineered with serious flaws built into them.

Since [NICS's] inception in 1998, nearly two million gun sales to potential buyers in the prohibited classes have been stopped by instant checks.

The main impact of the Brady Law was to add teeth to the 1968 Act by requiring that someone actually check to see if a gun buyer falls into a prohibited class. As the Brady Campaign organization now puts it, this was intended to eliminate the “lie-and-buy” practice that allowed criminals and other prohibited classes to get guns. In 1993, the law required a five-day waiting period for gun buyers, in part to allow time for the background check. But that was in the days when online technology was still in its infancy. The provision for a waiting period expired after 1998, when a new National Instant Check System (NICS) run by the FBI came online, allowing for immediate access to a database listing those prohibited from buying guns. (Some states have opted to run their own system, but the FBI maintains the centralized database.)

The Instant Check System got off to a bumpy start, but over time its performance has improved immensely. Now, when a buyer purchases a gun from a federally licensed gun dealer, the seller uses the phone or the Internet to connect to NICS for the background check. More than 90 percent of such checks are completed within five minutes, and most are even quicker. Both licensed gun dealers and law-abiding gun owners generally like the system, which is reliable and very close to “instant.”

In addition to performing reliably and quickly, NICS is achieving much—though not all—of its purpose. Since its inception in 1998, nearly two million gun sales to potential buyers in the prohibited classes have been stopped by instant checks. But 15 years into its effort to compile the necessary information, the data in the Instant Check System vary from excellent to terrible, with the result that not every prohibited class of buyers is equally well monitored.

NICS does a great job tracking felons, most of whom are in the system and effectively stopped from making gun purchases when the checks are run. The information on domestic abusers, provided mainly by the states, is good, though there remain some problems within that category that the states are working to address.

NBC News says Seung-Hui Cho sent this self-portrait to them as he paused between shootings in his rampage at Virginia Tech in 2007. Cho killed 32 people and wounded 17 others. Cho was able to purchase his guns through licensed dealers because he did not reveal that a Virginia court had ordered him to undergo outpatient treatment at a mental health facility. REUTERS/Courtesy of NBC News

The massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech might well have been avoided if Seung-Hui Cho had been in the database, as he should have been.

A major and continuing source of trouble for NICS is the mental health category. For every 10,000 background checks run, only five would-be buyers are denied on grounds of mental health. This country just isn’t that sane. Poor communications and unfounded concerns about patient privacy have meant that too few of the necessary mental health records have made it into the database—sometimes with tragic results. The massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech might well have been avoided if Seung-Hui Cho had been in the database, as he should have been.

Still, the data problem is being addressed, if slowly. Congress has provided incentives, and states are getting their acts together. Some states are now sending hundreds of thousands of previously unavailable mental health records to the database; others continue to lag far behind. Oklahoma, for example, has just three names in the mental health category of the database. The much bigger problem has nothing to do with the database, however, but with the intrinsic design of the Brady Act—the loopholes in the law that allow criminals to get guns.

While the 1968 Act applies to everyone, the Brady Act does not. Only those buying their guns from a licensed dealer must submit to a background check. Now, there are a lot of licensed dealers out there—59,000 at last count, which is almost five times the number of McDonalds franchises in America. But many buyers get their guns from unlicensed sellers, mostly at gun shows or through ads on the Internet. No one knows how many unlicensed sellers there are; their ranks vary from a guy selling off his dad’s hunting rifle to the illegal gun trafficker moving hundreds of weapons per month through online sales.

These are basically mega-malls for criminals, who can generally find all the guns they want from sellers who aren't picky about their customers.

Hard as they are to count, most of them are easy to find. For example, anyone who attends a gun show in one of the 33 states that haven’t fixed this loophole by requiring that background checks be performed by all sellers at such shows will have no trouble spotting the tables with signs that say “no questions asked.” The licensed dealers at these shows—and there are about a hundred such events every weekend, many of them involving thousands of vendors—are running background checks on their buyers; the so-called “private sellers” at the next table over are not. So if you were a felon or a domestic abuser, where would you go to buy your gun? These are basically mega-malls for criminals, who can generally find all the guns they want from sellers who aren’t picky about their customers.

Adam Gadahn, an American member of Al-Qaeda, Jan 6 2008.Gadahn actually released a video message noting how easy it is to buy guns in the U.S. and urging fellow radicals to take advantage. AFP/Getty Images

"You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?" -Adam Gadahn

Then there is the Internet, with sites like armslist.com. The New York Times recently took a look at that site and found about 170,000 guns for sale during their three-month investigation. Ninety-four percent of the ads were posted by private sellers, meaning that it’s easy pickings for prohibited buyers who do their shopping online. The Times didn’t have to look far to find felons and domestic abusers both buying and selling guns. As long as they are buying from someone in the same state, there is no need to involve a dealer and no background check is required.

The gun show and Internet loopholes are obvious not only to garden-variety criminals. In 2001 federal authorities convicted Hezbollah agent Ali Boumelhem for buying assault weapons at a Michigan gun show and attempting to ship them to his compatriots in Lebanon. Even al-Qaida has taken notice. In 2011, the group posted a video by American-born spokesman Adam Gadahn noting how easy it is to buy guns without background checks in the U.S. “You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card,” Gadahn remarks. “So what are you waiting for?”

The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004. Here, Tom Mannewitz, who runs the Target Masters Shooting Range in Garland, Texas, displays several United States-made assault-style rifles. After the Sandy Hook shootings Mannewitz was quoted as saying, "Instances like this create a knee jerk reaction. They've got to look at something to vilify. And it's easier to vilify a gun, than a system that has holes in it, that needs to be fixed." REUTERS/Jeff Mitchell JM

The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004. Here, Tom Mannewitz, who runs the Target Masters Shooting Range in Garland, Texas, displays several United States-made assault-style rifles. After the Sandy Hook shootings Mannewitz was quoted as saying, "Instances like this create a knee jerk reaction. They've got to look at something to vilify. And it's easier to vilify a gun, than a system that has holes in it, that needs to be fixed." REUTERS/Jeff Mitchell JM

The Assault Weapons Ban

The Assault Weapons Ban, which most supporters assumed—wrongly— would be renewed after its 2004 expiration date, has been off the books for almost a decade.

M ost modern firearms sold in the U. S. are semi-automatic, meaning that they fire one round with each trigger-pull and automatically eject the spent cartridge; they can be fired again on the next trigger-pull without being cocked. (Fully automatic “machine guns,” which keep firing with a single pull of the trigger, are largely banned from civilian possession.) Semi-automatics use removable magazines or “clips,” and they can be handguns or rifles.

While most guns are now semi-automatic, they vary tremendously in size, shape, range, speed and accuracy. Some firearms with enormous power are built to act and look like weapons of war, and in the 1980s they earned the moniker “assault weapons.” (The gun lobby rejects that name, preferring “modern sporting rifles”). Many of these very lethal weapons began falling into the wrong hands. The Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 was born of a complaint voiced by law enforcement that they were being outgunned in the crack wars. The police, often armed with pistols of an earlier era, were battling street gangs wielding assault weapons like TEC-9s and AK-47s.

As civilian and police casualties mounted, advocates launched a campaign to ban assault weapons, as well as magazines that could carry more than 10 rounds. The Senate debate over the ban was heated. At one point, Idaho Senator Larry Craig (R) said to then-freshman Senator Dianne Feinstein (D) that “the gentlelady from California needs to become a little bit more familiar with firearms and their deadly characteristics.” Feinstein replied icily: “I am quite familiar with firearms. I became mayor as a product of assassination. I found my assassinated colleague [Harvey Milk] and put a finger through a bullet hole trying to get a pulse. Senator, I know something about what firearms can do.”

Reacting to the Sandy Hook shootings and other recent mass shootings,Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, saying: "Mass shootings in Newtown, Aurora, and Tucson have demonstrated all too clearly the need to regulate military-style assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines. These weapons allow a gunman to fire a large number of rounds quickly and without having to reload." Feinstein is a veteran of the 1994 battles over assault weapons legislation. GETTY IMAGES/Alex Wong

The NRA-led opposition launched a fierce battle against the ban. In the end, a deal was cut to salvage it, albeit in a form that drained it of much of its effectiveness. The sponsors had to make three main concessions to get the ban through Congress. First, it would expire in 10 years. Second, it would not be retroactive, meaning assault weapons produced before the date of enactment would remain legal. There were hundreds of thousands or perhaps even millions of those (no one knows how many), so the ban left a lot of assault weapons on the street. Finally, the ban was limited to a list of 18 specific models of firearms (e.g., Uzis and MAC-10s), along with any guns that contained two or more of a list of military-style attributes. Since there is not a huge market demand for many of these features—among them bayonet mounts and grenade launchers—this constituted little hardship for either buyers or manufacturers.

As a result of these concessions, the Assault Weapons Ban, which most supporters assumed—wrongly—would be renewed after its 2004 expiration date, has been off the books for almost a decade. And its record of success during the ten years it did remain in effect is mixed. Some academics and other criminologists argue that if it had remained in place, the benefits would have begun to be realized by now. However, the ease with which gun makers were able to sidestep the ban even before it expired suggests that its effect on gun violence would have been minimal.

Friends of Chase Kowalski, one of the victims of the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, take part in the March on Washington for Gun Control on January 26, 2013 in Washington. AFP GETTY IMAGES/Yuri Gripas

Would Tougher Laws Have Prevented Sandy Hook?

They were committing themselves to the passage of gun safety laws that had no actual bearing on the crime that had torn apart their own lives.

R ecognizing the treacherous politics and questionable impact of the Assault Weapons Ban, the Sandy Hook Promise group had initially wanted to put their efforts into a bill that would limit the permissible size of magazines. This made sense to them, because when they first entered the gun debate, their focus was on the specifics of the crime that had taken the lives of their loved ones. Adam Lanza was armed with two pistols, but his main weapon that day was a Bushmaster .223 caliber AR-15 assault rifle, which he loaded—and reloaded—with ten 30-round high-capacity magazines and twenty 20-round magazines; his 700 rounds were enough to kill everyone in the school. He fired 154 rounds in about four minutes. It was in the brief intervals when he was changing magazines that several children managed to escape. Had Lanza been forced to reload 16 times rather than six (as he would have with standard 10-round magazines), the Sandy Hook parents believe that many of their children would be alive today.

"He fired 154 rounds in about four minutes. It was in the brief intervals when he was changing magazines that several children managed to escape."

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, left, and Sen. Dan Coats, R-IN, wait in the Senate Radio/TV Gallery for arriving senators for a news conference on alternative gun legislation on Wednesday, April 17, 2013. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, is seen on the television monitors speaking on the Senate floor about gun control legislation. GETTY IMAGES/ Bill Clark

Firearms Training Unit Detective Barbara J. Mattson of the Connecticut State Police holds up a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the same make and model of gun used by Adam Lanza in the Sandy Hook School shooting, for a demonstration during a hearing of a legislative subcommittee reviewing gun laws, at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn., Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. The parents of children killed in the Newtown school shooting called for better enforcement of gun laws Monday at the legislative hearing. AP Photo/Jessica Hill

As I discovered, it is an awesome and terrible thing to look into the eyes of the mother of a recently murdered six-year-old who believes, perhaps correctly, that her child would be alive today if our laws had been sensible enough to have limited the number of rounds in a magazine. And it is almost as tough to have to tell such parents that Congress wasn't about to take that step even now. But after I did so, to their great credit they summoned the courage to ask what kind of gun legislation would be possible and what role they could play to help get it passed.

In asking these questions, the families of Sandy Hook Promise began their transformation from deeply sympathetic victim-advocates into a force to be reckoned with in the modern gun debate. While continuing to pursue a long-range goal of limiting magazine size, they decided to focus in the near-term on legislation that could have an immediate impact on gun violence: closing the gun show and Internet loopholes by requiring that all such sales go through FFLs, who can and must run background checks. Perhaps what is most remarkable about their decision is that they were committing themselves to the passage of gun safety laws that had no actual bearing on the crime that had torn apart their own lives. The guns Adam Lanza used in his assault had been stolen from his mother, his first victim, and Nancy Lanza had been in lawful possession of those firearms—she passed background checks for their purchase and registered them (as is required in Connecticut). The families knew that legislation regulating the sales of weapons at gun shows or over the Internet would have done nothing to save their children.

E.J. Dionne, Jr. and Matt Bennett Talk Gun Politics Politicians acting like parents, background checks, high-capacity magazines, national sentiment, terrorists, gun shows, the NRA, and what’s different after Sandy Hook.

A model for this kind of public-spirited thinking is the work of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee. In the years after their own tragedy, that group pursued a suite of legislative measures that included everything from creating the Department of Homeland Security to changing how intelligence is gathered and shared. Almost none of these ideas, had they been in place on September 11, would have played a role in stopping Mohammed Atta or the others. But they believed they were making the country safer for everyone, and that was enough. The same was true for the families of Sandy Hook Promise.

Nagel's Gun Shop opened in 1942 and calls itself one of the largest family-owned gun stores in Texas. In the days after the Sandy Hook shooting Nagel salespeople reported an unprecedented run on sales . GETTY IMAGES/Gilles Mingasson

Nagel's Gun Shop opened in 1942 and calls itself one of the largest family-owned gun stores in Texas. In the days after the Sandy Hook shooting Nagel salespeople reported an unprecedented run on sales. GETTY IMAGES/Gilles Mingasson

So Many Guns in America, So Many Ways to Get Them

T he question of how to make the country safer from the carnage of gun violence is vital, because the assassinations and mass murders that galvanize our attention every so often actually account for only a small percentage of gun-related deaths. Beyond the headlines there is a steady daily tally of violence that is mainly ignored in the press. The total number of gun deaths per year is about 31,000. This includes roughly 11,400 murders, 19,000 suicides and 600 accidental shootings—more than 10 firearms deaths per 100,000 people every year. By contrast, Japan, which has strict gun control laws, has 0.07 per 100,000, and Switzerland, where most citizens have guns in the home, has 3.84. In addition to deaths, the U.S. has about 80,000 firearms-related injuries annually and 500,000 crimes involving a firearm every year—about one per minute.

Americans have stockpiled almost half of the privately owned firearms in the world.

Because there is no national database of guns or gun owners, no one knows how many guns are in private hands in the U. S. According to polling, the rate of gun ownership (the percentage of households containing one or more firearms) has actually been falling over the last two decades, but the total number of guns in private possession has gone up sharply, from 200 million in 1994 to somewhere between 270 and 300 million today.

When we compare ourselves to other countries (using the latest data, from the 2007 Small Arms Survey ), we find that the U.S. has by far the highest rate of private gun ownership in the world: 88 guns per 100 people. (Next on the list is Yemen, at 55 guns per 100.) At the conservative estimate of 270 million guns, Americans have stockpiled almost half of the privately owned firearms in the world.

The overwhelming majority of those guns are in the possession of responsible, law-abiding adults. But that leaves plenty that are not. The question confronting lawmakers is how to stop a legal product from getting into the hands of those who would use it for illegal purposes.

The answer begins with understanding where criminals get their guns, and we actually know a lot about that. First, in 90 percent of gun crimes, the firearm has changed hands at least once since the original sale, meaning that someone other than the first dealer provided the gun to the criminal. Second, about one-third of the guns involved in crime have crossed state lines, despite the federal prohibition against moving guns interstate. Third, the most common age of those who commit crimes with guns is 19, followed by 20, followed by 18, despite the fact that licensed dealers are not permitted to sell handguns to anyone under 21 (and virtually all gun crimes are committed with handguns). Taken together, these data suggest that crime guns tend to come from an interstate network of gun traffickers that moves guns out of the legal market and into the hands of criminals and minors. The traffickers who provide these crime guns get them from dealers (often through the use of “straw” purchasers who go through the background check for others), from theft, or from unregulated “private sales” at gun shows or through the Internet.

This still image from a school security camera shows Eric Harris, left, and Dylan Klebold, carrying a TEC-9 semi-automatic pistol, stalking the cafeteria at Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colorado. The April 20, 1999 rampage left 12 students and one teacher dead. Both gunmen killed themselves. One of their guns came from an unlicensed dealer at a gun show. REUTERS

...after the [Columbine] attack she testified that she would not have gone through with the transaction had she been asked to submit to a background check.

The patterns and sources of crime gun trafficking have been well known for a long time. Then-Representative Schumer was issuing reports about the so-called “iron highway” of black-market firearms as far back as 1996. But his was a lonely voice, and few put any effort into erecting roadblocks to stem the flow of this traffic.

The massacre at Columbine High School in 1999 changed that by spotlighting a main on-ramp to this highway: gun shows. One of the guns used by those underage killers was obtained for them by a girlfriend who was unaware of their plan. She bought it from an unlicensed seller at a gun show, and after the attack she testified that she would not have gone through with the transaction had she been asked to submit to a background check.

After Columbine, the billionaire CEO of Monster.com, Andrew McKelvey, decided to get involved in the gun debate. McKelvey had never been political and had no personal connection to gun violence. But the tragedy spurred him to action. Dissatisfied with the existing gun control groups, he founded Americans for Gun Safety (AGS), which focused on closing the gun show loophole. (This was before the days of online gun sales and sites like armslist.com, so the gun show loophole was the only one that mattered.) I went to work for AGS in 2001, and in 2005, we folded AGS into a broader think tank, Third Way, the organization I work for now.

At AGS, we recruited Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) to co-sponsor a federal bill requiring that all vendors at gun shows run background checks on their buyers, and we pushed hard. After 9/11, in order to show how easily terrorists could exploit the Brady Act loopholes, we highlighted Hezbollah Agent Ali Boumelhem’s purchase of assault weapons at a gun show. However, gun safety advocacy was a tough job in the early years of George W. Bush's presidency. Conservative Republicans controlled the White House, Senate and House, and they were none too friendly to such initiatives. Even so, AGS had a few successes at the federal level, including legislation to improve the quality of the data provided to the National Instant Check System, and a temporary win in the Senate on gun shows which caught the NRA by surprise.

But in the years after Columbine, despite cascading gun crime rates and some extraordinary and high-profile massacres, Congress simply refused to move. It took Adam Lanza’s act of madness to force the issue again.

Hundreds of gun owners and enthusiasts attend a rally for gun appreciation day at the State Capitol in Hartford, Connecticut, on January 19, 2013 - just five weeks after the Sandy Hook Shootings. Rick Hartford/Hartford Courant/MCT via Getty Images

Hundreds of gun owners and enthusiasts attend a rally for gun appreciation day at the State Capitol in Hartford, Connecticut, on January 19, 2013. Many people wore green ribbons in solidarity with citizens of Newtown where 20 children and six adults were killed by a gunman Dec. 14. Rick Hartford/Hartford Courant/MCT via Getty Images

A Burning Passion for Guns

B ecause of what they have gone through, you would assume that the Sandy Hook families would be greeted with universal demonstrations of respect, kindness and sympathy, even by those who disagree with the legislative goals they are pursuing. But you would be wrong. When two of the families went to Hartford for a state legislative hearing in late January, some gun rights proponents made national news by heckling Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse was killed in the massacre. Dozens of activists in the crowd shouted “Second Amendment!” as Heslin testified.

"Some of the families received calls, emails and letters insisting that they were actors and liars, playing their part in an Obama-led scheme to abrogate gun rights."

The outbursts in the Connecticut capitol drew widespread opprobrium. Yet this was hardly the worst of what the families have suffered at the hands of some gun-rights supporters. Indeed, a full-fledged conspiracy theory was hatched in the fevered fantasies of some Second Amendment absolutists. They accused the families of creating a “hoax,” of faking the deaths of their children and adult loved ones. Facebook pages and YouTube channels were launched to “prove” this proposition. And some of the families received calls, emails and letters insisting that they were actors and liars, playing their part in an Obama-led scheme to abrogate gun rights.

Though a distinct minority, this group has come to control the terms of the gun debate, exercising a power that vastly exceeds their numbers.

This harassment of families in the midst of their deepest grief added a new level of barbarity to the debate over guns in America. And it made clear that for some, guns are a flashpoint in our politics that burns as hot as anything we have seen since the civil rights movement.

From Lee- Need source and caption

It is not clear where all of this passion comes from, because the headwaters of the American gun culture have never been discovered. It could be our frontier spirit; it could be our libertarian ethos; it could be the Second Amendment itself. Whatever the source, Americans in much of the country have developed the belief that gun ownership is somewhere on the continuum between being a legal privilege and a nearly sacred right.

Approximately 100 million adults live in a home with a gun. (The term “gun owner” can be slippery when it comes to family-owned firearms.) They break down roughly into three groups: those who own guns mainly for sport, those who own guns for protection, and those who own guns as a bulwark against government tyranny.

Numerous polls show that the overwhelming majority of people in the first two groups (sport shooters and home protectors) is comfortable with the kinds of common-sense restrictions on gun ownership advocated by the Sandy Hook parents. The third group, however, is made up of what we could call the “constitutionalists.” Though a distinct minority, this group has come to control the terms of the gun debate, exercising a power that vastly exceeds their numbers. Their principle mechanism for wielding this power is, of course, the NRA.

The National Rifle Association is nearly 150 years old and claims a membership of 4.5 million. For most of its history, the NRA was a stolid, safety-oriented group: think AAA. They handed out safe shooter patches to summer campers and worked on land conservation. At the annual NRA convention in 1977, however, the “Cincinnati Revolution” upended those traditions. Constitutionalists ousted the old leadership and installed a new, hard-line regime focused on the absolute protection of gun rights and broader conservative political activism.

Members of the North Florida Survival Group wait with their rifles before heading out to perform enemy contact drills during a field training exercise in Old Town, Florida, December 8, 2012. The group trains children and adults alike to handle weapons and survive in the wild. The group passionately supports the right of U.S. citizens to bear arms and its website states that it aims to teach "patriots to survive in order to protect and defend our Constitution against all enemy threats." Picture taken December 8, 2012. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

Members of the North Florida Survival Group listen as their leader critiques their performance during an enemy contact drill training exercise in Old Town, Florida, December 8, 2012. The group trains children and adults alike to handle weapons and survive in the wild. The group passionately supports the right of U.S. citizens to bear arms and its website states that it aims to teach "patriots to survive in order to protect and defend our Constitution against all enemy threats." REUTERS/Brian Blanco

Who these constitutionalists are and how many they number we don’t know with any certainty. Some are anti-government conspiracy theorists who believe that the “black helicopters” are coming to take their guns. In the 1990s, the most radical of these formed so-called “militias” that refused to pay taxes or honor gun laws. They were the catalyst for the sieges and shootings at Ruby Ridge and Waco, and they spawned Timothy McVeigh, the main bomber of the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995.

While most constitutionalists do not advocate violence, they are resolute about gun rights and gun ownership. They believe that gun laws actually make communities less safe by disarming the good guys. Post-Newtown, this was reflected in the NRA’s central proposal, which was to put armed guards in schools and to give teachers gun training. And they reject any gun safety measure, no matter how small, as a Second Amendment violation. When they join the NRA, the constitutionalists subscribe not to American Rifleman , the NRA’s magazine for mainstream sport-shooters; they get America’s 1st Freedom , the NRA’s hardline journal for their most committed core.

By 1991, when staff lobbyist Wayne LaPierre ascended to the post of executive vice president, the NRA had become the uncompromising political behemoth we know today. LaPierre has remained in power ever since, while the more ceremonial post of NRA president has rotated. Sometimes they have camera-ready presidents like Charlton Heston; at the moment they have James Porter, an ultra-conservative Alabama lawyer who calls the Civil War “the War of Northern Aggression.”

Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association, speaks during the National Rifle Association's 139th annual meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina May 15, 2010. REUTERS/Chris Keane

The NRA under LaPierre has never deviated from its goals, never softened its tone, no matter what the context. Only seven months after 9/11, LaPierre gave a speech at the NRA convention where he attacked Americans for Gun Safety for trying to “hijack your freedom and take a box-cutter to the Constitution.” “That’s political terrorism,” he thundered, “and it’s a far-greater threat to your freedom than any foreign force."

The NRA’s political bullying extends beyond their rhetoric. When AGS recruited John McCain to work with us on the gun show loophole legislation, the NRA turned on him. Despite his previous A-rating, the NRA attacked him publicly and threatened him with political war in private. They’ve done the same with countless other lawmakers, and they have made enemies; former President George H.W. Bush quit the group in disgust in 1995 when LaPierre called federal agents “jack-booted thugs... wearing Nazi helmets and black storm trooper uniforms.”

Similar bullying—of friends who don’t toe the line—occurs even within the gun industry. When the iconic firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson agreed to a deal with the Clinton administration on the issue of trigger locks, the NRA called for a boycott. Smith & Wesson sales dropped 40 percent, after which the company went private, fired its management and abrogated its agreement with the White House.

The gun industry’s trade association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, has followed the NRA’s lead on all things political. As a result, the NSSF has refused to endorse the Senate gun safety bill. That might not be surprising if it weren’t for one fact: the NSSF headquarters is in Newtown, Connecticut—less than three miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Tom Bittman, a Sandy Hook Promise co-founder, speaks at the January 2013 launch of the organization. In the three months that followed, the group managed to work to create a strong new gun safety law for Connecticut and inspire a bi-partisan gun safety bill in the U.S. Senate. Though the Senate bill was defeated, Sandy Hook Promise has established itself as a force to be reckoned with that's in it for the long haul. REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin

Sandy Hook Families: Still in the Arena

I n the months between the Sandy Hook shootings and the April gun bill debate in the Senate, Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer were back in the saddle again, working to cut a deal that could survive an NRA onslaught. From the White House, the vice president was corralling the gun safety groups, coaxing the lawmakers and cajoling the public. In the Senate, Schumer was running the inside game, trying to find an NRA-approved Republican to make a match with his NRA-friendly Democrat, Joe Manchin.

Valiant Efforts to Pass a Bill In a twist, Sandy Hook parents Francine and David Wheeler stood in for President Barack Obama on the April 13, 2013 Your Weekly Address from the White House. Fighting through tears, Francine shared stories of their son Ben, and asked American voters to urge their senator to vote for a bill to close the gun show and Internet loopholes. It wasn't enough.

On the eve of the Senate debate, they succeeded. Pat Toomey, a conservative Pennsylvania Republican, agreed to co-sponsor legislation with Manchin that would close the gun show and Internet loopholes. The announcement of the Manchin-Toomey amendment helped overcome a filibuster, with 16 Republicans joining most Democrats in voting to proceed to the debate.

That week, Tim Makris and a sizable group of SHP families were in town to lobby. The level of their newfound sophistication about Washington and gun policy was impressive. After they were briefed on the contents of Manchin-Toomey, they immediately began pressing target Senators to support the bill. They were told time and again that the bill would never have progressed this far without them and that they had much to be proud of.

For the first time in the modern history of the debate, a gun safety vote has had a negative impact on the approval rating of Senators voting "no"... and a positive impact on red-state senators voting "yes"

It’s often the case that some of the most effective advocates in American politics are people who have a personal stake in an issue. Those seeking funding for serious diseases, including nearly every variety of cancer, have perfected the art of cause-based lobbying. They bring people who are suffering from the illness, photos of family members lost to it, testimonials to the pain and misery endured by their loved ones, and PowerPoints replete with statistics and data. They are routinely granted audiences with congressional staff members to make their case.

Connecticut is Now a Test Tube Reacting to the Sandy Hook shootings, Connecticut passed the most comprehensive gun control measures in U.S. history. Brookings expert, John Hudak predicts how these laws will inform social science and the future of the Second Amendment.

But it is a rare thing for such advocates to be granted time with almost any senator they ask to meet—rarer still for them to be able to move even the most jaded of these lawmakers to tears by bringing out a photo of a smiling six-year-old child. Yet that keeps happening with the Sandy Hook families. Vice President Biden has remarked that it is impossible to meet with these families and not become emotional “unless you’re made of stone.” Indeed, almost every meeting they do results in senators and members of Congress weeping as they hear the stories of Newtown.

"But these families don’t want sympathy. They want a bill signed into law, and that was not to be—at least not yet."

But these families don’t want sympathy. They want a bill signed into law, and that was not to be—at least not yet. Mounting a furious lobbying campaign, the NRA held onto all but four Republicans and enough wayward Democrats (four) that the final 54-46 tally on April 17 fell six votes short of the threshold necessary to send the amendment on for a majority-rules, up-or-down vote.

Public reaction has been swift and surprising. For the first time in the modern history of the debate, a gun safety vote has had a negative impact on the approval rating of Senators voting “no” (even in red and purple states like Alaska, Arizona and New Hampshire) and a positive impact on red-state senators voting “yes” (Louisiana and North Carolina).

Further reading

Applauding Connecticut's Gun Control Legislation April 4, 2013, John Hudak

The Connecticut Shootings: Now is the Time for a Debate over Gun Control December 14, 2012, Darrell M. West

Aurora and the U.S. Obsession with Guns: Leadership Wanted to Fight Political Capture July 23, 2012, Daniel Kaufmann

What Happens If the Supreme Court Recognizes Individual Gun Rights? Not Much March 21, 2008, Benjamin Wittes

In that political shift, there is hope. Most of those who voted “no” surely know that they did the wrong thing by opposing the expansion of background checks in commercial settings. If they believe they erred not just morally and substantively but politically, they will change. Many are pushing them to do so, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which brings deep policy expertise and massive financial resources to the fight. Others, including Vice President Biden, Senators Manchin and Schumer, former Representative Gabby Giffords and her group Americans for Responsible Solutions, Third Way, the Center for American Progress, and the Brady Campaign are also pressing the case.

Still in the arena as well are the families of Sandy Hook. Despite the glare of a spotlight that has forced them to repeatedly relive their darkest hour and subjected them to a stunning level of personal vitriol, they continue to come to Washington, meet with senators and talk to the press. They accepted early on that this was a long road—that a 20-year gridlock on gun policy was not likely to change in an instant.

The motto of Sandy Hook Promise is: “Our hearts are broken; Our spirit is not.” And the extraordinary generosity of spirit that these brave people bring to this nasty, brutish political debate could, in the end, make all the difference.

Join the conversation on Twitter using #BrookingsEssay or share this on Facebook .

Like other products of the Institution, The Brookings Essay is intended to contribute to discussion and stimulate debate on important issues. The views are solely those of the author.

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College Essays Should Be Personal. For School-Shooting Survivors, the Question Is How Personal.

A generation of American students has become tragically familiar with mass shootings. Many of them describe the life-changing experiences in their college applications.

By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Patricia Mazzei

To make their college admissions essays stand out, high school students have always written about their biggest personal hardships. For those who have survived mass shootings, ducking under desks and witnessing unspeakable horror, the big question is whether to recount the bloodshed to get into college.

With school shootings now a part of the fabric of America, college admissions officers regularly find the tragedies they watched unfold on television being grappled with in the pages of the applications before them.

Students recall their terror. They describe their transformation from quiet pupil to outspoken activist. For those who are willing to relive those awful days — and not all survivors are — the tragedies are life-changing.

We Want to Hear From Students Affected by Mass Shootings

“I kind of struggled with that a little bit, because I never really knew what colleges would look for,” said Taylor Ferrante-Markham, who graduated this spring from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. But then she learned admissions officers liked to see evidence of personal growth.

“Of course, it was the first thing that popped into my head,” she said of the February 2018 massacre at her school, which left 17 people dead and another 17 wounded. She applied only to St. John’s University in New York — her dream college, she said — and edited her essay until she felt it was good enough to win her acceptance.

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17 Facts About Gun Violence And School Shootings

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Gun violence and school shootings are a uniquely american epidemic. sandy hook promise is shining a light on these vital facts and statistics.  .

Every number you see stands for a person, often a child , with hopes, dreams, and loved ones who cherished them. Children and families in the U.S. are facing a vast problem, but you can help. Share these facts,  learn the warning signs , and act to protect them before it’s too late. 

Child-related Gun Violence and School Shooting Facts

1.  Each day 12 children die from gun violence in America. Another 32 are shot and injured. 1

2.  Guns are the leading cause of death among American children and teens. 1 out of 10 gun deaths are age 19 or younger. 2  

3. In fact, firearm deaths occur at a rate more than 5 times higher than drownings. 3

4. Since the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, more than 338,000 students in the U.S. have experienced gun violence at school. 4  

5. There were more school shootings in 2022 – 46 – than in any year since Columbine. This mirrored America’s broader rise in gun violence as it emerged from the pandemic. 4   However, U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security research shows that if we “know the signs” of gun violence, we can prevent it and reverse the trend. 5

6. In 2022, 34 students and adults died while more than 43,000 children were exposed to gunfire at school. 4  There is help for victims and survivors of gun violence .  

Facts About How to Stop School Shootings and Other Violence

7.  An estimated 4.6 million American children live in a home where at least one gun is kept loaded and unlocked.  These improperly stored weapons have contributed to school shootings, suicides and the deaths of family members, including infants and toddlers. 6  

8.  Nearly half of all parents with a weapon in the home wrongly believe their children don’t know where a gun is stored. 7 Secure storage of firearms prevents tragedies.

9. In 4 out of 5 school shootings, at least one other person had knowledge of the attacker’s plan but failed to report it. 5

10. In a comprehensive school shooting study, the Secret Service and Department of Education found that 93% of school shooters planned the attack in advance. 5   When people see the warning signs and get help, we can end school shootings.

11. Almost all mass school shooters shared  threatening or concerning messages or images. More than 75% raised concern from others prior to the attacks. Bystanders saw warning signs in most documented active shooter cases. 8 Truly, you can prevent school shootings when you know the signs .

Facts about How Gun Violence Impacts America’s Most Vulnerable

Disparately and disproportionately impacted children and adults face higher risk of being victimized by gun violence. Despite economic factors, gender, racial, mental health conditions or sexual orientation, everyone has the right to be safe in their classrooms and communities.

12. Children living in poverty – urban and rural – are more likely to die due to gun violence than their more affluent peers. 9  

13. About 1 out of 5 gay and lesbian youth have been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property. 10

14. Black youth are four times more likely to be killed with guns than their white peers. 11

15. Children of color are far more likely to experience campus gun violence. It’s more than twice as much for Hispanic students and over three times as much for Black students. 5

16.  The majority of individuals with diagnosed mental illness do not engage in violence against others. 12

17.  Lastly, it must be remembered that 90% of teenagers killed in an act of dating violence were girls. 13

You Can Help Stop School Shootings

Real change in how America approaches gun reform and school safety isn’t possible without people like you. Because of our supporters and volunteers, we’ve helped prevent at least 281 incidents involving weapons at schools across the country, including 16 school shooting plots.

1. New England Journal of Medicine

2. U.S. Centers for Disease Control

3. New England Journal of Medicine

4. Washington Post

5. U.S. Department of Education and Secret Service

6. Journal of Urban Health

7. American Academy of Pediatrics

8. U.S. Secret Service

9. Contemporary Pediatrics and The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics

10. U.S. Centers for Disease Control

11. The State of America’s Children

12. National Council for Mental Wellbeing, Medical Director Institute

13. U.S. Centers for Disease Control

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I Think of People Who Died at Sandy Hook Every Day

By Mary Ann Jacob

Art by Jenny Holzer

I remember touring the Sandy Hook Elementary School as a new parent, and being so thrilled that my kids would get to go there. As we walked down the halls, the secretary called kids by name, and asked about siblings and neighbors. I knew it was the right place for my family. What’s better than a neighborhood school?

My two boys learned to ride bikes there, played baseball on its field, went to the playground on weekends, and took their first turns behind the wheel of a car in the parking lot. Like many moms, I volunteered at the school. In 2005, I took a job in the library.

On December 14, 2012, the librarian had just welcomed our first class—19 fourth-graders—when I began to hear strange sounds, like crying or yelling, coming over the loudspeaker. It was a Dance Party Friday, and I thought maybe the girls in the office were having a little too much fun and hit the intercom button by mistake. I called down to warn them that we all could hear them. The secretary, from under her desk, answered the phone and told me, “There’s a shooter!” I then realized the popping sounds I heard were gunfire.

I yelled “Lockdown!” to our librarian and ran into the hallway to warn the class across the hall. I yelled “Lockdown!” to that teacher, too, slammed her door shut, and returned to the library. The librarian had gathered the kids and two other adults into a spot along the wall where we had practiced drills.

We sat, huddled together, and listened to gunshot after gunshot. Bambambam. Bam. Bambam. Bambambam. We tried to keep the kids calm and quiet, but we were scared to death. After a few minutes, one of the doors opened, and the barrel of a long gun appeared. I thought we were going to die, but the face that followed was that of a Newtown police officer. He motioned to be quiet, then turned and left. The door had not locked behind him, so we crawled across the floor to a closet.

We ended up in the server room, among supplies, file cabinets, and computer equipment. One of the adults was trying to text people on the outside, but the reception was terrible. I couldn’t remember anyone’s phone number. Finally, I recalled a friend’s number, and we texted her to let her know that, for the moment, we were safe.

My own kids, watching the news on their phones at their high school, were texting me: “Mom! Mom, where are you?” I’d left my phone sitting on my desk. They had no idea if I was alive or not.

The rescue was scary. We didn’t know the shooter was dead. Cops in military-style gear ran us through the building, guns drawn. When we got outside, it was total chaos. Helicopters, sirens, ambulances, and hundreds of parents, frantically looking for their kids.

We started to line up kids by class and saw immediately that almost two whole classrooms were missing. The magnitude of what had happened began to sink in. Even listening to all the gunfire hadn’t prepared us for the realization that was beginning to take hold: Some of the missing kids had escaped, but most were dead.

Somehow, I got home. My car, my phone, and my purse were still in the school. Media descended immediately, calling our homes, knocking on our doors, following our families around. My kids could not leave the house without encountering reporters. It was a godsend when, the following week, other schools opened up again, and my kids could be with their friends.

The true heroes of that day—the ones who ran toward the danger and tried to take down the shooter—were three of my colleagues. Two of them lost their lives in that selfless act of bravery: our principal, Dawn Hochsprung, and the school psychologist, Mary Sherlach. The third, our lead teacher, was shot multiple times, but survived. There is no doubt in my mind that their actions slowed the shooter and saved the lives of countless children.

After Christmas, Sandy Hook reopened in a borrowed school in the next town over, and the staff was forced to put aside our grief and trauma to help the kids who survived. We turned our attention inward to protect them, and ourselves. It was the best way we knew how to honor those we lost. Dawn would have expected that of us.

Sixteen months later came the shootings in Isla Vista. I heard Richard Martinez speak about his son, Christopher, just days after he was killed: “ Not one more ” life should be taken by gun violence, he said. His words were the tipping point. I hadn’t lost a child or a parent or a sibling to gun violence, like so many others had, but I knew it was time to stand up and be heard. The following Monday morning, I went to my colleague’s classroom and asked if she was ready to do something.

With 40 of our colleagues, we slowly began to take action, and Sandy Hook School Educators for Gun Sense was born. We wrote letters, worked with the teachers’ union, registered voters, appeared on CBS Sunday Morning , and marched across the Brooklyn Bridge.

I’ve since learned a lot about gun laws: Background checks should be required for every gun sale, and parents should always ask other parents if there are guns in their homes and whether they’re responsibly stored. Dangerous people should not have easy access to guns, and openly carrying guns in public spaces, such as grocery stores, should not be allowed. My husband and sons are sportsmen. We have guns in our home. But they are locked up and not accessible to my teenagers.

We know that in states with sensible laws and background checks, such as Connecticut, there are lower rates of gun violence. Opponents of stricter gun laws contend that criminals don’t follow laws; I say that’s an excuse for inaction. We know that using seat belts leads to fewer vehicular deaths, and that disclosing the dangers of tobacco has reduced smoking-related deaths. We didn’t give up on these public safety issues just because some people don’t wear seat belts and some people continue to smoke. Other countries don’t have the gun problem we have, and we didn’t, either, when I was growing up. We can do better.

Every day—every single day—I think of those who died, those who were left behind to deal with their grief, and the person I used to be. Some days, the images slide by like a movie in my mind. Other days, the images stop me in my tracks and bring me to my knees. I am grateful to be alive, but my life will never be the same.

Gun Safety is a series about gun violence in America, with a new essay appearing each day until National Gun Violence Awareness Day, on June 2. To learn more about what you can do to prevent gun violence, and to participate in the Wear Orange campaign, go to WearOrange.org .

Animations by Paul Kamuf

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McAbee is a poet, essayist, and theologian, whose work has appeared in TIME, The New York Times, The Hudson Review, The Sun (US), and a variety of other publications. He has spoken widely in university and congregational settings throughout the US and the UK. He works as Professor of Religion and the Arts at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

O n Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023 Jillian Ludwig’s family returned home to New Jersey from Nashville. They’d traveled to Tennessee two days earlier, after Jillian, a freshman music business major, was found unconscious from a bullet wound , around 3:30pm at the Edgehill Community Garden, less than half a mile from the university and only two blocks from Nashville’s famed Music Row.

In my 12 and a half years as a professor at Belmont, our community, like so many others, has been wounded time and again by our nation’s and our state’s gun violence crisis. The Covenant School shooting in March 2023 impacted us deeply. Some in our community are members of the Covenant Presbyterian congregation, at least one faculty member had a child at the school on the day of the shooting, and many, like myself, are close friends with Covenant School families, whose lives have been irreparably changed.

Gun violence has impacted the Belmont student body before. In 2018, for instance, 21-year-old Belmont student DeEbony Groves was killed in the racially motivated Waffle House Shooting, which claimed four lives. And while our campus has largely been spared direct violence over the years, it is not uncommon for Campus Security to send email messages regarding armed robberies or gunfire that have occurred on the outskirts of campus.

Like so many universities across the country, we’ve also lost students to suicide, part of our country’s mental health crisis and epidemic of loneliness. A number of those have involved guns—both on and off campus.

In Jillian’s case, she was shot in the head by a stray bullet, approximately an hour before she was discovered by a passerby. Once found, she was rushed to nearby Vanderbilt Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries the following night. Shaquille Taylor, a 29-year-old Nashville resident, has been charged in the incident. Taylor was apparently firing at a car on the same block as the Community Garden, where Jillian was walking.

As my classes met the day after Jillian’s death, I asked students how they were processing this trauma. Many spoke about their fear. Some already worried about going out at night in Nashville, and now, since this tragedy occurred in broad daylight, even the daytime seems scary. One spoke of a deep grief, as their friend group included students who knew Jillian.

A number of students shared feeling dismay at their initial reaction of not having a reaction. They spoke of feeling that gun violence is such a part of our culture that even the death of someone a couple of blocks from their own campus did not feel shocking. This apathy unnerved them.

Read More: How Do We Respond to this Hell. In Nashville After the Shooting

One student spoke poignantly of having a feeling of failure. They said, “I feel like Nashville failed Jillian, failed her family. This family entrusted our city with their child, and we failed her. We failed them.”

For years, my own reaction to the gun violence in our culture was much like the students who came to fear their own apathy. It’s not that my heart wasn’t moved at hearing of the victims of gun violence, it’s that I couldn’t bring myself to find a way to act, a way to move forward.

The children and teachers at Sandy Hook, at Uvalde , the students and professors at Virginia Tech , the day-to-day violence of our culture, domestic abuse victims, robberies gone wrong—the overwhelming number of deaths from gun violence anesthetizes many of us and keeps us from turning our apathy into grief, our grief into action.

I continue to be struck by the words of the student who felt like we’d failed Jillian and her family. I asked that student, “Shouldn’t you feel safe here too? Haven’t we failed you? Haven’t we failed you all?”

As these students’ professor and the middle-aged parent of two small children, I can’t help but ask, how many ways have we failed the young people in our communities?

In the case of Jillian Ludwig and her family, our city, state, and country have failed on so many fronts. Taylor, the accused assailant, has a history of violent crime . In 2021, he shot into a vehicle which held a Mom and her two small children. Having been arrested for this crime, he was determined by three court-appointed doctors to be incompetent to stand trial, due to an intellectual disability and language impairment . By federal law, someone who cannot understand their crime cannot be tried, and based on Tennessee state law, there is an unreasonably high bar for someone to meet the standard of involuntary commitment to an institution. So, Taylor walked free for a crime eerily like the scenario that led to Jillian’s death.

As recently as September 2023, Taylor was arrested for being in possession of a stolen truck, one which had been carjacked at gun point by two assailants wearing ski masks. While there had not been sufficient evidence to link Taylor directly to the carjacking, he was arrested and released for possessing the stolen vehicle and missed his November 3rd court appearance.

Tennessee failed the Ludwig family—and Taylor, himself—by not providing adequate care for Taylor’s disability. Additionally, despite Taylor’s intellectual disability and criminal background, he is still legally allowed to possess a gun in the state of Tennessee, as we have no Extreme Risk Protection Order, or “red flag law” on the books.

In the weeks after the Covenant School shooting earlier this year, thousands upon thousands of Tennesseans marched and held vigils at our Capitol and across our state. A Fox News poll at the time showed that overwhelmingly, over 80% of US voters , across the political spectrum, support common sense gun safety measures aimed at curbing gun violence.

Despite pleas for change, our state legislature failed to take any action on gun safety measures during its regular session. In August 2023, Gov. Bill Lee called a special session of the legislature in order to address the gun safety crisis. This too was a debacle. Many of the mothers from the Covenant School were treated with contempt by Republican legislators. The Senate attempted to adjourn almost immediately. The House attempted to curb the free speech of protestors within the Capitol, and Gov. Lee failed to push through any effectual change.

Despite the claim by many religious people that this is a nation built on Christian values, we operate as a society without a meaningful social ethos. The fabric of our culture is being torn in myriad directions, and the job of mending it must be the responsibility of us all, particularly in areas where we have such broad popular consensus as gun safety reform.

So far, my university’s response has been primarily pastoral and rightly so. Our community is wounded. Our University President Rev. Dr. Greg Jones and his wife, Rev. Susan Pendleton Jones, have publicly attempted to create space for mourning and belonging for Belmont staff and students.

We have been told that Campus Security is liaising with Metro Police regarding the neighborhoods in our vicinity, but certainly this type of coordination was already occurring before Jillian lost her life to a bullet in the shadow of our university.

In the midst of this mourning, there are signs of hope and moral courage from my university’s leadership. One Belmont Board member, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, has been an outspoken advocate for gun safety reform, participating in a vigil with Covenant moms and publicly advocating for gun safety legislation. Another, Rev. Dr. Clay Stauffer , serves as Chair of the Advisory Board of Voices for a Safer Tennessee, a conservative-leaning, nonpartisan gun safety advocacy group, formed in the wake of the Covenant shooting. In addition to these, Belmont’s Board Chair, Milton Johnson has himself become an Advisory Board member at Voices for a Safer Tennessee. His active support of Voices for a Safer Tennessee holds much weight in our community and our region. These members’ leadership on this issue serves a sign of hope that our university will act with moral courage in the best interests of our staff and students in advocating for meaningful gun safety reform.

The needle for gun safety reform is moving slowly in Tennessee and throughout much of the country. But it is moving. With overwhelming electoral support across the political spectrum, I believe that we can see significant gun safety reform in our communities, but it will take active engagement from the overwhelming majority of Americans.

We must continue to pressure our elected officials to make common sense gun safety reform a reality. Continuing to fail has already been too costly for far too many families.

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Safety in Numbers is a monthly newsletter highlighting the latest research at Everytown

Part One: Gun Violence Prevention

Reducing the risk.

Learn More:

• Child & Teen Gun Safety
• Extreme Risk Laws
• Guns in Schools
• Mass Shootings
• Reconsider Active Shooter Drills
• Secure Gun Storage
• Stop Arming Teachers

Executive Summary

The prevention section of the NEA School Gun Violence Prevention and Response Guide highlights recommended strategies to reduce the risk and prevent the occurrence of gun violence incidents in education settings and communities. It includes taking actions to foster a positive and safe climate and limit access to firearms that could be used in acts of violence. For broader context and related recommendations, consult the other sections of this guide: Introduction , Part Two—Preparation , Part Three—Response , and Part Four—Recovery .

Key Takeaways

• Across all education settings, prevention efforts should be geared toward creating an environment that fosters trust-building, connection, and a sense of belonging for students. These efforts should include the use of trauma-informed and restorative practices.
• Educators can play a pivotal role in breaking the cycle of trauma and fostering a positive school climate, but their efforts must be supported with adequate funding and sufficient staffing.
• Promoting the adoption of gun violence-related bargaining language and administrative policy, including the creation or enhancement of health and safety committees, is another effective way to prevent gun violence.

Trauma-informed and restorative practices play a crucial role in maintaining strong connections between students, their peers, and educators within the school community. Across all education settings, prevention efforts are geared toward creating an environment that fosters trust-building and a sense of belonging for students. 

Combating feelings of isolation and alienation among students relates directly to preventing gun violence because the majority of Pre-K–12 and higher education shooters maintained some level of affiliation with their educational institutions. Individuals who carried out a mass shooting in a Pre-K–12 school often exhibited behaviors of concern in advance, and 75 percent of the time at least one person, often a peer, was aware of the plan. 1 National Threat Assessment Center. (2019). Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from  https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf ; Violence Prevention Project. (n.d.). Key Findings. Retrieved February 18, 2024, from Violence Prevention Project:  https://www.theviolenceproject.org/key-findings/ .

Educators can play a pivotal role in breaking the cycle of trauma and fostering a positive school climate. Recognizing warning signs, having resources to address students’ mental health and emotional needs, and ensuring that racial profiling does not take place in the process are crucial to preventing gun violence in education settings. To achieve these goals, adequate funding and sufficient staffing must be available. Recognizing the warning signs is only a part of the solution; reducing access to guns is also critical.

This section also includes recommendations for the broader community. Anonymous reporting systems have demonstrated effectiveness, providing students and other community members with a trusted avenue to raise concerns related to student wellness and safety. These systems also serve as alerts for mental health professionals regarding interpersonal violence and suicide risks.

Considering that 4.6 million children under the age of 18 live in homes with guns, secure storage interventions play a critical role in overall school safety. 2 Miller, M., & Azrael, D. (2022, February 22). Firearm Storage in US Households with Children: Findings from the 2021 National Firearm Survey. JAMA Network Open, 5(2), e2148823. doi:doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.48823 Additionally, community-based intervention programs offer services to students off school grounds and while traveling to and from school.

The evidence indicates that arming educators does not enhance student safety. In fact, it compromises the safe and trusting environment necessary to thwart gun violence, introducing new liability risks and complicating law enforcement responses in the event of an active shooter incident. 3 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (2024). Stop Arming Teachers. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/solution/arming-teachers .  In contrast, commonsense gun laws are essential for saving lives. Effective measures include:

• Require background checks on all gun sales, an approach proven to reduce gun violence;
• Pass Extreme Risk/red flag laws to provide a way for family members and law enforcement to petition a court to remove firearms from a person at risk of causing harm without a criminal proceeding;
• Pass secure firearm storage laws to prevent unauthorized access by children by requiring gun owners to lock up their firearms, which has been shown to prevent unintentional shootings and firearm suicides; 
• Raise the age to purchase semi-automatic firearms to 21 to prevent potential younger shooters from easily obtaining such firearms; 
• Prohibit guns on college campuses where legally viable to do so ; and 
• Prohibit assault weapons and high-capacity magazines , which allow shooters to fire more rounds over a short period of time and inflict more gunshot wounds during an attack.    

Promoting the adoption of gun violence-related collective bargaining language and administrative policy, including the creation or enhancement of health and safety committees, is another effective way to combat gun violence. Bargaining language and administrative policy also offer important opportunities to enhance mental health supports and professional development on topics including trauma-informed crisis intervention and restorative practices. 

Prevention Checklists for State and Local Affiliates

These checklists can be downloaded and used to help guide state and local affiliates as they develop their own gun violence prevention and response plans.

According to the American Psychological Association, “A complex and variable constellation of risk and protective factors makes persons more or less likely to use a firearm against themselves or others. For this reason, there is no single profile that can reliably predict who will use a gun in a violent act. Instead, gun violence is associated with a confluence of individual, family, school, peer, community, and sociocultural risk factors that interact over time during childhood and adolescence.” 4 American Psychological Association. (2013). Gun Violence: Prediction, Prevention, and Policy. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/gun-violence-prevention .

Given this complexity, taking meaningful actions to keep our students, educators, and surrounding communities safe must begin from an understanding of four key facts about gun violence in education settings.

Four Key Facts About Gun Violence in Education Settings

Shooters often have a connection to the pre-k–12 school or institution of higher education.

In the Everytown for Gun Safety’s Gunfire on School Grounds database, 60 percent of school-age shooters were current or former students of the Pre-K–12 school, including all shooters involved in mass shootings and nearly all in self-harm incidents (96 percent) and unintentional discharges of a gun (91 percent). 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2022). How to Stop Shootings and Gun Violence in Schools. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/how-to-stop-shootings-and-gun-violence-in-schools/ . For example, Everytown analyzed the New York City Police Department’s review of active shooter incidents in K–12 schools over the five-decade period from 1966 to 2016, finding that in 3 out of 4 of these incidents, the shooter or shooters were school-age and were current or former students. 2 New York City Police Department. (2016). Active Shooter: Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/counterterrorism/active-shooter-analysis2016.pdf . Similarly, the Violence Prevention Project found 89 percent of shooters at colleges and universities had a connection to the institution. 3 Violence Prevention Project. (n.d.). Key Findings. Retrieved February 18, 2024, from Violence Prevention Project:  https://www.theviolenceproject.org/key-findings/ . These data suggest the need for comprehensive strategies that combine prevention, mental health support, and crisis response to effectively tackle school gun violence.

Guns Discharged in Pre-K–12 Schools Generally Come from the Home of a Parent or Close Relative

School-age shooters generally do not purchase the weapon or weapons used. In a study of targeted K–12 school violence from 2008 to 2017, the U.S. Secret Service noted that 3 out of 4 shooters acquired their firearm from the home of a parent or close relative. 1 National Threat Assessment Center. (2019). Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from  https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf . This was the case, for example, with the Oxford High School shooting on November 30, 2021, in Michigan. 2 Albeck-Ripka, L., & Kasakove, S. (2021, December 19). What We Know About the Michigan High School Shooting. The New York Times. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from  https://www.nytimes.com/article/oxford-school-shooting-michigan.html .

There Are Nearly Always Warning Signs

Warning signs of school shootings, if appropriately identified, can offer an opportunity for intervention beforehand. However—as discussed in more detail in the sections that follow on trauma-informed intervention practices and restorative disciplinary practices—identifying and intervening based on advanced indicators is essential but must be done without perpetuating adverse racial stereotypes, targeting those that demonstrate behavioral concerns, or compromising the trust and emotional safety of a school environment.

The U.S. Secret Service study of targeted school violence from 2008 to 2017 found that 100 percent of the perpetrators showed behaviors of concern and 77 percent of the time at least one person—most often a peer—knew about their plan. 1 National Threat Assessment Center. (2019). Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from  https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf . In the higher education context, about 44 percent of people who perpetrated mass shootings had communicated their intent in advance. 2 Peterson, J., & et al. (2021). Community of Intent to Do Harm Preceding Mass Public Shootings in the United States, 1966-2019. JAMA Network Open, 4(11). doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.33073.

These data suggest that fostering a trusting and emotionally safe climate where students are willing to ask adults for help and report any statements and behaviors of concern, such as gun threats on social media or weapons carrying, can be effective tools for prevention. Addressing warning signs and taking immediate action while also ensuring that racial profiling is never supported or permitted is essential.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012, in Connecticut, underscores the importance of intervening when possible to stop violence before it happens. The official investigation revealed that there were several instances of the shooter’s prior behavior that were concerning. For example, when the shooter was in seventh grade, a teacher reported that “his writing assignments obsessed about battles, destruction and war, far more than others his age. The level of violence in the writing was disturbing.” 3 Sedensky, S. J. (2013). Report of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Danbury on the Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and 36 Yogananda Street, Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/Official_Sandy_Hook_Report.pdf .

Gun Violence in U.S. Schools Disproportionately Affects Students of Color

In the shooting incidents where the Everytown Support Fund was able to identify the racial makeup of the student body, 2 out of 3 incidents occurred in majority-minority schools. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2022). How to Stop Shootings and Gun Violence in Schools. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/how-to-stop-shootings-and-gun-violence-in-schools/ . Although Black students represent approximately 15 percent of the total K–12 school population in the United States, 2 National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. (2020, September). State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary and Secondary Education, 1998-99 Through 2018-19; National Elementary and Secondary Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Project Model,1972 Through 2029, Common Core Data (CCD). Retrieved February 17, 2024, from National Center for Education Statistics: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d20/tables/dt20_203.60.asp?current=yes . they make up 30 percent of the average population at schools that have been affected by a fatal shooting. 3 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2022). How to Stop Shootings and Gun Violence in Schools. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/how-to-stop-shootings-and-gun-violence-in-schools/ . While perpetrators of mass shootings in schools have tended to be White, and mass shootings are often portrayed in media coverage as occurring predominantly in schools with a majority of White students, gunfire on school grounds disproportionately affects students of color. 

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Childhood Trauma, Grief, and Toxic Stress

Gun violence—in a community, a home environment, or an education setting—can be a factor that produces trauma and stress for children and adults. A 2021 analysis of mass shooting data showed that a majority of mass shooters experienced early childhood trauma and exposure to violence at a young age and had an identifiable grievance or crisis event. 5 Shahid, S., & Duzor, M. (2021, June 1). VOA Special Report: History of Mass Shooters. Voice of America News. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from  https://projects.voanews.com/mass-shootings/ . NEA’s website provides additional information on toxic stress and trauma . Therefore, it is important to understand the potential impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress when addressing an incident of gun violence. Educators can play a pivotal role in breaking the cycle of trauma through early detection and focused support. To achieve this goal, state legislatures must fully fund and staff schools so that educators have the time and attention to recognize early warning signs and take action to address students’ needs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 64 percent of adults in the United States reported having at least one type of adverse childhood experience (ACE) before the age of 18. The CDC also noted that ACE events are typically the result of violence, abuse, neglect, and environmental factors that expose children to substance use, mental health-related issues, and parental separation. 6 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Fast Facts: Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:  https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/fastfact.html .

Trauma occurs when someone feels threatened by serious harm, whether it is physical, mental, or emotional. While not all ACEs lead to childhood trauma, people who suffer from one or more such adversities may experience a negative impact on their overall well-being, education, and career. Researchers have found that trauma can change the brain and the body’s makeup, which can lead to diseases like obesity, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and mental health disorders. 7 Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. (2014). Chapter 3. Understanding the Impact of Trauma. In Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services (Vols. Treatment Improvement Protocol, No. 57). Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207191/ . Neuropsychologists have found that traumatic experiences can, in fact, alter a child’s brain, activating its “fight, flight, or freeze” responses and reducing the areas where learning, especially in regard to language, occurs. When this shift happens repeatedly, it fundamentally changes the brain, particularly for children under the age of 5, to adapt and survive under the worst conditions. 8 Flannery, Mary Ellen. (2016, May 17). How Trauma Is Changing Children’s Brains. NEA Today. Retrieved February 18, 2024, from NEA Today:  https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/how-trauma-changing-childrens-brains .

The ongoing presence of ACEs may also contribute to toxic stress. The American Academy of Pediatrics defines “toxic stress” as prolonged or significant adversity in the absence of mitigating social-emotional buffers, such as a supportive adult. This kind of persistent activation of the stress response systems can result in a wide array of biological changes that occur at the molecular, cellular, and behavioral levels; disrupt the development of brain architecture; and increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into adulthood. 9 Garner, A., & Yogman, M. (2021, August). Preventing Childhood Toxic Stress: Partnering with Families and Communities to Promote Relationship Health. Pediatrics, 148(2), e2021052582. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/148/2/e2021052582/179805/Preventing-Childhood-Toxic-Stress-Partnering-With?autologincheck=redirected .

Experiencing adversity, including trauma and toxic stress, can significantly shape an individual’s health and life outcomes. Childhood trauma can also negatively affect the mental health of and educational outcomes for higher education students. 10 Lecy, N., & Osteen, P. (2022). The Effects of Childhood Trauma on College Completion. 63, 1058-1072. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-022-09677-9 ; Assari, S., & Landarani, M. M. (2018). Violence Exposure and Mental Health of College Students in the United States. Behavioral Sciences, 8(6), 53. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/bs8060053 .

Many other factors have been proven to cause toxic stress, including poverty, racism, bullying, community violence, and generational (historical) trauma. 11 Cronholm, P., & et al. (2015, September). Adverse Childhood Experiences Expanding the Concept of Adversity. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 49(3), 354-361. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.02.001 ; Garner, A., & Yogman, M. (2021, August). Preventing Childhood Toxic Stress: Partnering with Families and Communities to Promote Relationship Health. Pediatrics, 148(2), e2021052582. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/148/2/e2021052582/179805/Preventing-Childhood-Toxic-Stress-Partnering-With?autologincheck=redirected . According to researchers at the Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University, ACEs-generated trauma includes community and systemic threats from inside or outside the home environment because the brain recognizes a present threat and goes on high alert. 12 Center on the Developing Child. (2020, October 30). ACEs and Toxic Stress: Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University:  https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/aces-and-toxic-stress-frequently-asked-questions/ .

Childhood bereavement can also have a significant impact on children’s health and well-being. “The death of someone close to a child has a profound and lifelong effect on the child and may result in a range of both and short and long-term reactions.” 13 Schonfeld, D. J., & Demaria, T. (2016). Supporting the Griefing Child and Family. Pediatrics. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from  https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-2147 . Schools can learn more about the impact of bereavement and becoming grief-sensitive schools to better support student learning and development. Organizations, such as The Coalition to Support Grieving Students , provide resources to assist schools in becoming grief-sensitive. 

Debunking Myths and Misconceptions About Gun Violence

The only way to stop a “bad guy” with a gun is a “good guy” with a gun.

If more guns everywhere made us safer, the United States would be the safest country in the world. Instead, we have a gun homicide rate 26 times that of other high-income countries. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023). Gun Violence in America. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from https://everytownresearch.org/report/gun-violence-in-america/ .

Myth & Fact

I don’t own a gun, so I don’t need to worry about my kids getting ahold of one.

More than 60 percent of unintentional gun deaths among children involve a gun belonging to a family member of the shooter. 1 Wilson, R. F. (2023). Unintentional Firearm Injury Deaths Among Children and Adolescents Aged 0–17 Years — National Violent Death Reporting System, United States, 2003–2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 72(50), 1338-1345. In the United States, 4.6 million children under the age of 18 live in a household with at least one loaded, unsecured gun, 2 Miller, M., & Azrael, D. (2022, February 22). Firearm Storage in US Households with Children: Findings from the 2021 National Firearm Survey. JAMA Network Open, 5(2), e2148823. doi:doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.48823 but research also suggests that school shooters under the age of 18 predominantly obtain their guns from family, relatives, or friends. 3 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2022). How to Stop Shootings and Gun Violence in Schools. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/how-to-stop-shootings-and-gun-violence-in-schools/ . As a result, children may be able to get ahold of a gun even if no one in their household owns one.

Arming educators will keep our kids safer.

Research suggests that the presence of a gun may potentially increase the risks posed to children. Many school safety experts and law enforcement groups oppose arming teachers, as does the NEA. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024-d). Stop Arming Teachers. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/solution/arming-teachers . Law enforcement officers receive hundreds of hours of training in areas including firearm proficiency and active shooter response. Training requirements for educators are often a fraction of the training hours required by police officers.

Criminals will always find a way to get their hands on a gun.

Laws like background checks stop gun sales to people legally prohibited from buying guns. This includes people with felony convictions, domestic abuse restraining orders, and others. Since 1994, these laws have blocked more than 4 million gun sales to people who could not legally own guns. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024-h). Background Checks on All Gun Sales. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety:  https://www.everytown.org/solutions/background-checks/ ; Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2021-c). Undeniable: How Long-Standing Loopholes in the Background Check System Have Been Exacerbated by COVID-19. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/background-check-loopholes/ .

Prevention Strategies

Education settings at all levels must establish safe, supportive, nurturing environments where students can thrive. Strategies including trauma-informed crisis intervention programs and active engagement with students and their families are essential to gun violence prevention. In addition, community violence intervention programs that integrate mental health and emotional supports help address the systemic and underlying factors that can lead to gun violence.

Foster Safe and Supportive School Climates

When schools are adaptable to the needs of their students, educators, families, and community, they can provide students with care and compassion and create conditions that prevent shootings and other violence. For example, a community school that has high levels of violence inside or outside the school building may fund programs that create safe walking and transportation routes to and from school, often referred to as safe passage; grant alternatives to out-of-school suspensions that offer meaningful educational opportunities for students; provide family counseling; increase access to mentoring, both inside and outside of school; and incorporate restorative justice into disciplinary policies. NEA’s website includes additional information on community schools . 

Students are often the first to notice signs that a peer is in crisis, has brought a weapon to school, or has shared plans to commit a violent act; however, they are sometimes reluctant to share these observations—or their own personal struggles and needs—with adults they do not trust. Students may be reluctant to relay information that might help avert a gun violence incident because of fear of getting in trouble, being labeled a “tattletale,” or not being believed or taken seriously. A pre-established relationship of trust with at least one educator increases students’ willingness to report potential incidents or identify bullying or violence they experience or witness. 14 Volungis, A. M., & Goodman, K. (2017). School Violence Prevention: Teachers Establishing Relationships with Students Using Counseling Strategies. Sage Open, 7(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017700460 .

Many education support professionals (ESPs) live in the same community as their students and are often trusted confidants; they play a key role in the preventative and intervention actions. ESPs—including, but not limited to, custodial and maintenance, food service, clerical, security, and transportation professionals—are often the first to confront a shooter. Indeed, almost half of NEA ESP members—48 percent—spend a great deal of their time promoting school safety. The job responsibilities of another 28 percent are somewhat related to promoting such work.

To build trust, educators must have cultural competency to counteract unconscious bias and reduce the risk of biased decision-making that can impede a student’s ability to trust them. 

An all-staff activity called Know Me, Know My Name is an example of an effective way to identify students who may need support but go unseen. 15 Illinois Education Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from Know Me, Know My Name:  https://ieanea.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Know-me-know-my-name-plan-1.pdf . Low-cost and relatively simple, the activity helps educators identify children who may need adult intervention via outreach and relationship-building, encompassing the ideals of safe, stable, and nurturing relationships (SSNR). SSNRs help interrupt cycles of violence and reduce the impact of students’ exposure to abuse and neglect. The Harvard School of Education also developed relationship mapping , which is another example of this type of activity. 16 Harvard Graduate School of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from Relationship Mapping Strategy:  https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/resources-for-educators/relationship-mapping-strategy .

The Importance of Connections in Higher Education

Compelling evidence indicates that students at institutions of higher education who felt connected to individual staff and/or faculty experienced multiple positive outcomes, including those related to emotional well-being. Students are also less likely to experience substance and alcohol use and have better health outcomes. Connectedness is especially crucial for first-year students; perceived decreases (from high school) in social connectedness can lead to heightened feelings of loneliness and anxiety. These positive connections had little to do with an educator’s teaching style or pedagogy but with their ability to care about their students as people. 1 Morgan, E., & et al. (2014). The School Discipline Consensus Report: Strategies from the Field to Keep Students Engaged in School and Out of the Juvenile Justice System. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from  https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/school-discipline-consensus-report-strategies-field-keep-students-engaged .

Implement Trauma-Informed and Grief-Sensitive Crisis Intervention and Restorative Disciplinary Practices

Students who commit acts of gun-related violence in schools almost always have shown warning signs that concerned other people around them. 17 National Threat Assessment Center. (2019). p. 58, Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from  https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf . Therefore, identifying students who may need support to prevent a crisis from becoming violent while ensuring that racial profiling and other biased actions are neither supported nor permitted is key to preventing gun violence in schools.

To respond to signs of distress in a manner that serves students and protects the community, schools can convene a multidisciplinary team that uses trauma-informed and grief-sensitive crisis intervention practices in collaboration with other community partners. A School Improvement Team, Resilience Team, Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Team, or other such entities that may already exist could potentially serve this function. Whatever its name, such a team would receive information about a student who may be in crisis, evaluate the situation, design interventions to prevent violence, and provide appropriate in-school engagement, support, and resources. Every team that addresses crisis intervention should include ESPs; however, ESP membership must be voluntary. Every school community is different, so team structures and functions must be designed and implemented based on the unique needs of the student body and the broader school community.

Behavioral threat assessments are frequently used to identify students who are at risk of committing violence and get them the help they need. These programs generally consist of multidisciplinary teams that are specifically trained to intervene at the earliest warning signs of potential violence and divert those who would do harm to themselves or others to appropriate treatment. NEA opposes “behavioral threat assessment programs and approaches that disproportionately target Native students and students of color.” 18 NEA. (2023). Legislative Program. Reference I.E.41. Retrieved from  https://www.nea.org/about-nea/governance-policies/nea-legislative-program . The Association urges all school community members to be prepared to ensure that if they use behavioral threat assessments, they achieve their desired outcomes without adverse racial impact. If such assessments are in use, they must be properly resourced, including with release time for the counselors, nurses, or other educators who serve on a team conducting behavioral threat assessments.

NEA does not believe that the criminalization and over-policing of students is the right approach to addressing gun violence in education settings. Research shows that exclusionary discipline programs, including zero-tolerance policies, disproportionately impact students of color and contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline, including through their subjective application toward students of color. 19 Ford, S. (2021). Learning While Black: How “Zero Tolerance” Policies Disproportionately Affect Black Students. University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy, 32(1), 49-70. Retrieved February 22, 2024. Zero-tolerance policies and harsh disciplinary practices result in negative academic outcomes for students given that school suspensions are a stronger predictor of dropping out of school than grade-point average and socioeconomic status. 20 Suh, S., & Suh, J. (2007). Risk Factors and Levels of Risk for High School Dropouts. Professional School Counseling, 10(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X0701000312 . Furthermore, a longitudinal study done with children ages 9 and 10 found that “enforcing these kinds of disciplinary actions can impair typical childhood development, leading to academic failure, student dropout, and emotional and psychological distress, disproportionately affecting Black children, multiracial Black children, and children from single-parent homes. 21 Fadus, M., & et al. (2021, August). Racial Disparities in Elementary School Disciplinary Actions: Findings from the ABCD Study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychology, 60(8), 998-1009. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2020.11.017 .  

By contrast, NEA emphasizes the use of behavioral practices centered in restorative justice and the elimination of inequitable policies, practices, and systems that disproportionately harm Native People and People of Color—including those who are LGBTQ+, have disabilities, and/or are multilingual learners—and deprive many students of future opportunities. Trauma-informed prevention strategies should include restorative-based practices.

Investing in Restorative Practices

Restorative practices are based on values that holistically prevent and repair harm, build community and relationships, and result in a positive, supportive school climate. Schools that increased the use of restorative practices saw a decrease in schoolwide misbehavior, substance use, and student mental health challenges as well as improved school climate and student achievement. A key recommendation from the Learning Policy Institute is to invest in ongoing education and support for all educators to develop knowledge of and expand access to restorative practices among all students. 1 Darling-Hammond, S. (2023, May 24). Fostering belonging, transforming schools: The impact of restorative practices. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from Learning Policy Institute:  https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/impact-restorative-practices-brief .

Engage School Communities in Gun Violence Prevention Efforts

School safety requires all stakeholders—students, families, educators, educators’ unions, mental health professionals, law enforcement professionals, organizations promoting racial and social justice, and community members—to collaborate and work together. 

Here are examples of how to engage students and families in gun violence prevention:

• Create a safety reporting program. These programs should ensure all students, families, educators, and community members are aware of the reporting system so that they have a trusted avenue to raise concerns when issues of student wellness or safety arise. In a four-year study of the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System (SS-ARS) in a school district in the southeastern United States, more than half of firearm-related tips were deemed “life safety” events, requiring an immediate response from the school team and emergency services. The SS-ARS also identified tips related to interpersonal violence and suicide concerns, which both have implications for firearm violence. Research suggests that adolescent firearm injuries often stem from interpersonal violence, and firearm use significantly escalates the risk for self-inflicted injury and suicide completion. It is imperative that awareness of such reporting systems is amplified to increase use by the community, particularly students; however, it likely requires additional investment in supports and services for adolescents to help mitigate the burden on those who respond to these tips. 22 Thulin, E. J., & et al. (2024). Firearm-Related Tips in a Statewide School Anonymous Reporting System. Pediatrics, 153(2), e2023063861. doi: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2023-063861 . State initiatives—like Utah’s SafeUT crisis chat and tip line , which is used in almost all K–12 schools and some institutions of higher education in the state, by the Utah National Guard, and with first responders and their families—can also serve this function. 23 SafeUT. (n.d.). Retrieved from SafeUT:  https://safeut.org/ . In higher education contexts, there are greater restrictions on how schools can communicate with parents and families than in elementary, middle, and high schools.
• Help families start conversations with their school community. When families communicate openly, honestly, and directly with school officials, educators, and administrators, they can help prevent gun violence. Stand with Parkland developed the resource “ 5 Questions Every Family Should Ask as the School Year Begins ” to assist families in ensuring their children’s safety and better understand how prepared a school is to address safety issues. 24 Stand with Parkland. (n.d.). Retrieved from 5 Questions Every Family Should Ask as the School Year Begins:  https://standwithparkland.org/5-questions/ .  
• Use strategies that encourage effective communication on difficult topics. The NEA Health and Safety Program partnered with the Right Question Institute and the Brown School of Public Health to provide a training module to help support families, educators, and students effectively communicate around health and safety issues. The Association also produced a training module— Pathways for Effective School-Family Partnerships: A Strategy for Productive School Health and Safety Dialogue . This training is based on the Right Question Institute’s Question Formulation Technique (QFT), a structured method for generating and improving questions that can be used by individuals or groups. 

Promote Secure Storage Practices to Keep School Communities Safe

Evidence strongly suggests that secure firearm storage—storing guns unloaded, locked, and separated from the ammunition—is essential to any effective strategy to keep students, educators, schools, and communities safe. 25 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023, May 26). Preventable Tragedies: Unintentional Shootings by Children. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/report/notanaccident/ . One study showed that the majority of children are aware of where their parents store their guns. More than one-third of those children reported handling their parents’ guns, many doing so without the knowledge of their parents. 26 Baxley, F., & Miller, M. (2006). Parental Misperceptions About Children and Firearms. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 160(5), 542-547. doi:doi:10.1001/archpedi.160.5.542.

Secure storage not only decreases the likelihood of gun violence on school grounds, but it also reduces firearm suicide rates. A recent study of two decades of suicide prevention laws showed that the rate of gun suicide among young people ages 10 to 24 years old was lower in 2022 than in 1999 in states with the most protective secure gun storage laws, which hold gun owners accountable for failing to store their firearms securely. In states with no secure storage laws or only reckless access storage laws, the gun suicide rate among young people ages 10 to 24 years old increased by 36 percent from 1999 to 2022. 27 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023-h). Two Decades of Suicide Prevention Laws: Lessons from National Leaders in Gun Safety Policy. Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. Retrieved from  https://everytownresearch.org/two-decades-of-suicide-prevention-laws-lessons-from-national-leaders-in-gun-safety-policy/ .

In states where colleges and universities are required to allow firearms on campus, schools should encourage students to securely store their firearms.

The Value of Trauma-Informed Practices

Researchers have defined trauma-informed practices (TIP) as a set of approaches that address the impact of trauma by creating a safe and caring environment. TIP includes restorative practices and a focus on creating a safe school culture, building relationships, and supporting students’ self-efficacy. When effectively implemented, these practices can reduce instances of bullying and aggression, improve achievement, increase self-esteem for students, improve connections between students and educators as well as among students, and strengthen social and emotional skills. By doing so, schools can create school climates where gun violence is less likely. 1 Lodi, E., & et al. (2021, December 23). Use of Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices at School: A Systematic Literature Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(1), 96. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010096 .

The entire school community must receive training to successfully implement a restorative practices discipline model. Ineffective training and partial implementation can contribute to frustration and skepticism about such initiatives.

NEA’s guidance on trauma-informed practices provides a list of common actions that educators can take to implement across education settings, which include the following:

• Support students from the bus stop to the classroom (and beyond!);
• Be aware of what may upset a student;
• Show compassion, not judgment;
• Give students a safe space to share and express their feelings;
• Help students develop a growth mindset;
• Use restorative practices that minimize punitive discipline outcomes;
• Build relationships;
• Meet students where they are;
• Don’t ignore possible “warning signs”;
• Take care of yourself; and
• Encourage all educators to be trained on trauma-informed practices.

Educators can encourage a culture of secure gun storage by increasing awareness of secure storage practices . One example of an effective awareness campaign is the Everytown Support Fund’s Be SMART program, which focuses on fostering conversations with other adults about secure gun storage. Although educators may be familiar with the SMART acronym for goal-setting purposes, in this context, the acronym stands for:

• S ecure guns in homes and vehicles,
• M odel responsible behavior,
• A sk about unsecured guns in homes,
• R ecognize the role of guns in suicide, and
• T ell your peers to be SMART .

The program’s purpose is to facilitate behavior change for adults and help parents and adults prevent child gun deaths and injuries. 28 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023, May 26). Preventable Tragedies: Unintentional Shootings by Children. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/report/notanaccident/ .  

Schools can partner with Be SMART and pass resolutions requiring that all student households receive Be SMART information, which is already happening in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Denver, among other locations. 29 Sawchuk, S. (2021, December 8). More Schools Are Reminding Parents to Secure Their Guns. Education Week. Retrieved from  https://www.edweek.org/leadership/more-schools-are-reminding-parents-to-secure-their-guns/2021/12 . School districts across the country have taken this vital action, impacting more than 10 million students, 30 Everytown for Gun Safety. (2023, August 25). Press Release: As Kids Head Back to School Nationwide, What to Know about Keeping Communities Safe From Gun Violence This Upcoming School Year. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety:  https://www.everytown.org/press/as-kids-head-back-to-school-nationwide-what-to-know-about-keeping-communities-safe-from-gun-violence-this-upcoming-school-year/ . and some institutions of higher education have partnered with the program. Be SMART’s Secure Storage Toolkit provides all the information and resources you need to encourage your school to pass a secure storage resolution. 

Governors, federal and state departments of health and education, legislatures, nonprofit organizations, and local officials can also work together to develop and fund programs that increase awareness of the need to store firearms securely. 31 For example, see the City Gun Violence Reduction Insight Portal (CityGRIP), available at https://citygrip.org/ .   

Increase Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Support

Firearms are the leading cause of death among youth in the United States, and firearm suicides account for more than 4 out of 10 of these deaths. The rate of firearm suicide among young people ages 10 to 24 years old increased by 30 percent from 1999 to 2022. 32 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023-h). Two Decades of Suicide Prevention Laws: Lessons from National Leaders in Gun Safety Policy. Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. Retrieved from https://everytownresearch.org/two-decades-of-suicide-prevention-laws-lessons-from-national-leaders-in-gun-safety-policy/ Experts are sounding the alarm about young people’s mental health. A recent survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, overall, 42 percent of teens experienced a persistent feeling of sadness or hopelessness, while 57 percent of female and 29 percent of male respondents felt that way. The same survey found that, overall, 22 percent of teens seriously considered attempting suicide, while 30 percent of female respondents and 14 percent of male respondents did. 33 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). p. 63, Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Data Summary and Trends Report, 2011-2021. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from  https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf . For many reasons—including the prevalence of guns in our society—the elevated risk for youth gun suicide crisis continues to rise. Furthermore, a large proportion of perpetrators of mass shootings expressed suicidal intentions, suggesting suicide prevention through crisis intervention could be a meaningful mitigating factor for mass shooting incidents. 34 Violence Prevention Project. (2021, November 17). Suicidality of Perpetrators. Retrieved from Violence Prevention Project; Remnick, D. (2022, May 31). What Makes a Mass Shooter? The New Yorker. Retrieved from  https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/politics-and-more/what-makes-a-mass-shooter .

School-employed health professionals, who navigate the education system and the challenges of emotional and social development, serve as a critical resource for students. These professionals may be among the first to know when students are experiencing difficulties or when they are at risk of turning to violence. Unfortunately, the current national shortage of specialized school-based counselors, psychologists, sociologists, and nurses means that meeting the needs of students can be a challenge, and this challenge is often exacerbated in under-resourced communities. NEA determined in the report “ Elevating the Education Professions: Solving Educator Shortages by Making Public Education an Attractive and Competitive Career Path ” that solving educator shortages requires evidence-based, long-term strategies to address both recruitment and retention. The report noted that mental health positions were among the most understaffed in schools. 35 NEA. (2022, 10). Elevating the Education Professions: Solving Educator Shortages by Making Public Education an Attractive and Competitive Career Path. Retrieved 02 23, 2024, from  https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2022-10/29302-solving-educator-shortage-report-final-oct-11-2022.pdf .

School-based health services, including behavioral health, provide crucial support to students. School-based Medicaid services, for example, play an essential role in the health of children and adolescents, including those related to behavioral health. With more than 41 million kids covered by Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the school setting offers a unique opportunity to meet children where they are. 36 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2023, May 18). Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Help Schools Deliver Critical Health Care Services to Millions of Students. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:  https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/18/biden-harris-administration-takes-action-help-schools-deliver-critical-health-care-services-millions-students.html#:~:text=Medicaid%20and%20CHIP%20cover%20more%20than%20half%20of,weekly%20in%20school%20during%20mo . Schools, early childhood settings, and local education agencies help support children and their families, providing children and youth with access to important healthcare services on-site. For information on how to utilize the historic investment into school-based services by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, see NEA’s Your Guide to the BSCA . NEA’s website also includes guidance on bargaining and advocacy tactics to support educators’ mental health .

School-based health centers (SBHCs) can also help make quality primary care more accessible for children and adolescents. 37 Kjolhede, C., & et al. (2021, October 1). School-Based Health Centers and Pediatric Practice. Pediatrics, 148(4), e2021053758. doi: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-053758 . “School-based health care advances health equity for children and adolescents who experience barriers to accessing care because of systemic inequities, their family income, or where they live,” according to the School-Based Health Alliance. “School-based health centers, the most comprehensive type of school-based health care, do this by providing primary, behavioral, oral, and vision care where youth spend most of their time—at school.” 38 School-Based Health Alliance. (2024). What Is School-Based Health Care? Retrieved from  https://www.sbh4all.org/what-we-do/ . These organizations can collaborate with schools to support student well-being by contributing clinical expertise to supplement existing services at the school. 39 National Council for Mental Wellbeing. (2023). Partnering with Schools to Improve Youth Mental Health: A Resource for Community Mental Health and Substance Use Care Organizations. Retrieved from  https://sbh4all.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/ParterningwithSchoolstoImproveYouthMentalHealth_2023-final.pdf .

The trauma that comes from the threat of gun violence is deeply affecting the mental health and well-being of not only students but also educators. The needs of educators are too often overlooked when resources are being offered in schools to address trauma from gun violence. There must be an increase in support and mental health resources for educators to sustain the workforce as they continue to face the threat of gun violence in schools. 

Through NEA Member Benefits, NEA members receive access to the NEA Mental Health Program , powered by AbleTo, which provides 24/7 access to “evidence-backed tools for stress, anxiety, depression, or whatever you’re going through.”

The federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Disaster Distress Helpline offers free, 24/7 crisis counseling for people experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster, including shootings. Dial or text 1-800-985-5990 to connect with counselors in more than 100 languages via third-party interpretation services. 

Programs that help educators recognize the warning signs of mental health issues include Emotional CPR and Mental Health First Aid .

Help is also available for individuals who are struggling or in crisis by calling or texting 988 or chatting at 988lifeline.org . State initiatives, like SafeUT described earlier in this section, on anonymous reporting for school safety can also provide mental health support for Pre-K–12 and higher education students. 

Integrate Community Violence Intervention Programs Into Schools

Community violence occurring in and around schools significantly affects students and educators. An assessment of the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey 40 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Data Summary and Trends Report, 2011-2021. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from  https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf . showed that witnessing community violence was linked to elevated odds of gun carrying, substance use, and suicide risk among Black, Hispanic, and White students, regardless of gender. 41 Harper, C., & et al. (2023, April 28). Witnessing Community Violence, Gun Carrying, and Associations with Substance Use and Suicide Risk Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Supplements, 72(1), 22-28. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7201a3 .  

In neighborhoods that experience community violence, schools can support Community Violence Intervention (CVI) strategies to mitigate its impact on youth. 42 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024). Community-Led Public Safety Strategies. Retrieved 3 12, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/community-led-public-safety-strategies/ . Examples of these programs include the following:

• Safe passage programs provide safe routes to and from schools to reduce student exposure to gun violence. To achieve this goal, educators, law enforcement groups, and communities collaboratively implement protocols and procedures to ensure student safety. 43 Everytown For Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, May 24). The Impact of Gun Violence on Children and Teens. Retrieved May 24, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-impact-of-gun-violence-on-children-and-teens/ . A longitudinal study analyzing data from 2005–2016 found that following the program’s implementation, incidents of crime along these routes dropped an average of 28 percent for simple assault and battery; there was a 32 percent reduction in aggravated assault and battery. Furthermore, overall weekday criminal incidents on school grounds decreased by an average of 39 percent per year where safe passage programs were implemented. 44 Sanfelice, V. (2019, August). Are safe routes effective? Assessing the effects of Chicago’s Safe Passage program on local crimes. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 164, 357-373. Retrieved from  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167268119302033?via%3Dihub .
• School-based violence prevention programs provide students and educators with information about violence, change how youth think and feel about violence, and enhance interpersonal and emotional skills. Chicago’s Becoming a Man (BAM) program —one example of a school-based violence prevention program—has reduced juvenile justice system readmission by 80 percent. 45 Heller et al., S. B. (2016, August). Thinking, Fast and Slow? Some Field Experiments to Reduce Crime and Dropout in Chicago. Retrieved from National Bureau of Economic Research:  https://www.nber.org/papers/w21178 .
• Youth engagement and employment programs support students outside of schools. 46 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023, May 12). Summer Youth Employment Programs for Violence Prevention: A Guide to Implementation and Costing. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety and Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/report/summer-youth-employment-programs/ . These programs often center on healing or personal development. For example, The TraRon Center helps youth gun violence survivors in Washington, D.C., heal through after-school art therapy. Programs focusing on youth employment also show success. For example, a researcher found that participation in Boston’s Summer Youth Engagement Program led to a decrease in participants’ violent crime arraignments by 35 percent in the 17 months after program completion. 47 Modestino, A. S. (2019, Summer). How Do Summer Youth Employment Programs Improve Criminal Justice Outcomes, and for Whom? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 38(3), 600-628. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22138 .  
• Crime prevention through environmental design involves deliberate efforts to change the built environment of neighborhoods, buildings, and grounds to reduce crime and increase community safety. 48 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2021). Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Retrieved from  https://everytownsupportfund.org/report/crime-prevention-through-environmental-design/ ; CityGRIP. (n.d.). Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Retrieved January 9, 2024, from CityGRIP: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. https://citygrip.org/  . Programs encompass a wide variety of approaches and efforts to rehabilitate areas and discourage violence through visible signs that a community is cared for and watched over. Because gun violence is so costly and these simple fixes are not, communities save hundreds of dollars for every dollar that is invested. 49 Branas, Charles C., et al.. (2016, December). Urban Blight Remediation as a Cost-Beneficial Solution to Firearm Violence. American Journal of Public Health, 106(12), 2158-2164. doi: https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2016.303434 .  

Together, these programs offer services to students going to and from school and students on and off school and building grounds.

Do Not Arm Teachers or Other Educators

Arming teachers and other educators does not make schools safer; to the contrary, it escalates the risk of shootings and introduces new liability risks. 50 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024-d). Stop Arming Teachers. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/solution/arming-teachers . As noted earlier in this guide, many educators, parents, and school safety experts, including several law enforcement groups, are opposed to arming teachers. 

Research strongly indicates that children will access guns when guns are present, including on school grounds. There have been numerous incidents of misplaced guns in schools that were left in bathrooms, 51 Metrick, B. (2016, September 13). Ex-teacher charged for leaving gun in school bathroom, police say. USA Today. Retrieved from  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/09/13/ex-teacher-charged-leaving-gun-school-bathroom-police-say/90314614/ in locker rooms, 52 Associated Press. (2018, April 3). No charges after Isabella Co. sheriff accidentally leaves gun at school. Detroit Free Press . Retrieved from https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/04/03/isabella-county-sheriff-gun-school/481486002/ and at sporting events. 53 Laine, C. (2019, January 24). Woman finds gun in bleachers at basketball tournament. WNEM . https://web.archive.org/web/20190710221102/https://www.wnem.com/news/woman-finds-gun-in-bleachers-at-basketball-tournament/article_193ee078-1ff4-11e9-841f-8f08f82a75ca.html .

For more on school resource officers and policing in school, see this guide’s section on school policing. Everytown’s Students Demand Action website includes additional information on strategies to oppose arming teachers .

Advocacy-Based Prevention Strategies

Advocate for measures that limit access to guns.

Gun safety policies save lives. The Everytown Support Fund’s Gun Law Rankings , which compare the gun violence prevention policies of all 50 states, show a strong correlation between a state’s gun laws and its rate of gun deaths. States with strong gun safety regulations, such as the policies outlined below, have lower rates of gun violence. States with weaker gun laws, such as no-permit carry and Shoot First laws (also known as Stand Your Ground laws), have higher rates of gun violence. 54 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, January 4). Gun Safety Policies Save Lives. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/ . The following gun violence prevention policies save lives and reduce the toll of gun violence on communities:

Requiring background checks on all gun sales

Background checks are proven to reduce gun violence. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia already require a background check on all handgun sales. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, January 4). Which states require background checks and/or permits to purchase handguns? Retrieved January 9, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/law/background-check-and-or-purchase-permit/ . An Everytown Support Fund investigation showed that as many as 1-in-9 people looking to buy a firearm on this country’s largest online gun marketplace cannot legally purchase firearms—including those under the age of 18. 2 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2021, February 1). Unchecked: An Investigation of the Online Firearm Marketplace. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/report/unchecked-an-investigation-of-the-online-firearm-marketplace/ . As part of a comprehensive plan to prevent gun violence in education settings, states and the federal government must pass laws that require background checks on all gun sales so that adolescents and people prohibited from possessing firearms cannot easily purchase them from unlicensed sellers.

Enacting Extreme Risk/Red Flag Laws

Prior to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018, nearly 30 people knew about the shooter’s previous violent behavior, and law enforcement groups had been called to incidents involving the shooter on dozens of occasions. 1 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. (2019). p. 264, Initial Report Submitted to the Governor, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate President. Retrieved from https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/MSDHS/CommissionReport.pdf . This is just one of many examples where a school shooter displayed warning signs of potential violence. States must enact Extreme Risk laws to create a legal process by which law enforcement, family members, and possibly educators can petition a court to temporarily prevent an individual from accessing firearms when there is evidence that they are at serious risk of harming themselves or others. These Extreme Risk protection orders, sometimes also called red flag orders or gun violence restraining orders, provide a way for concerned bystanders to intervene without a criminal proceeding against a potentially dangerous individual. Extreme Risk protection orders include robust due process protections. The court issues final orders after a hearing.

Enacting Secure Firearm Storage

Studies show that secure firearm storage laws save lives, particularly by preventing unintentional shootings and firearm suicides. For example, one study found that households that locked both firearms and ammunition had a 78 percent lower risk of self-inflicted firearm injuries and an 85 percent lower risk of unintentional firearm injuries among children and teenagers, compared to those households that left firearms and/or ammunition unlocked. 1 Grossman, D., & et al. (2005). Gun Storage Practices and Risk of Youth Suicide and Unintentional Firearm Injuries. JAMA, 293(6), 707-714. doi: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.293.6.707 . To protect kids in and out of schools, states must enact and enforce secure firearm storage laws. More than half of states and the District of Columbia currently have some form of secure storage law. 2 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, January 4). Which states have child-access and/or secure storage laws? Retrieved January 9, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/law/secure-storage-or-child-access-prevention-required/ . In addition, several cities, including New York City and San Francisco, have passed secure storage laws. 

Raising the Age to Purchase Semi-Automatic Firearms

Under federal law, a person must be 21 years old to purchase a handgun from a licensed gun dealer. 1 18 U.S.C.§ 922(b)(1). However, a person only needs to be 18 years old to purchase that same handgun through an unlicensed sale (such as unlicensed sellers offering guns for sale online or at gun shows) or purchase a rifle or shotgun from a licensed dealer. 2 18 U.S.C.§ 922(b)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 922(x)(2). Research shows that 18- to 20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 and over. 3 Everytown Research analysis using FBI Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) and U.S. Census American Community Survey data 2016–2020. Despite evidence that most perpetrators of school shootings are school-age and have a connection to the school, many states have failed to step in to close these gaps that easily allow firearm access for 18- to 20-year olds. 4 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, January 4). Has the state raised the minimum age for purchasing firearms? Retrieved January 9, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/law/minimum-age-to-purchase/ ; Only six states and DC require a person to be 21 to possess a handgun: DC, DE (beginning in July 2025), IL, MA, MD, NJ, and NY. Only IL and DC require a person to be 21 to possess a rifle or shotgun, and eight states require a person to be 21 to purchase a rifle or shotgun: CA, CO, DE, DC, FL, HI, IL, VT, and WA. At a minimum, states and the federal government must raise the minimum age to 21 years old to purchase or possess handguns and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns to prevent younger shooters from easily obtaining firearms.

Keeping Guns Off College Campuses

The vast majority of colleges and universities prohibit guns from being carried on campus , either by state law or school policy. Institutions of higher education have unique risk factors, such as high rates of student mental health challenges and increased use of alcohol and drugs, which make the presence of guns potentially deadly. By contrast, some states require colleges and universities to permit guns to be carried on campus under some circumstances. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, January 4). Which states don’t force colleges and universities to allow concealed guns on campus? Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/law/no-guns-mandate-on-college-campuses/ .  

Supporting the enactment by federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments of statutes, rules, and regulations that would prohibit people other than law enforcement agents from possessing firearms on the property of institutions of higher education, the American Bar Association (ABA) noted evidence suggesting that “permissive concealed gun carrying generally will increase crime and place students at risk.” Despite state laws allowing firearms in institutions of higher education, those institutions may still have independent authority to prohibit guns. 2 American Bar Association. (2023). Report on Resolution 603. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from  https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/directories/policy/midyear-2023/603-midyear-2023.pdf ; The American Bar Association (ABA)—citing recent authority holding that new bans on guns on campus should be permitted—highlighted that “a unanimous Montana Supreme Court ruled that state legislators infringed on authority granted to higher education officials by the state constitution by passing a law that permitted open and concealed firearm carrying on university and college campuses. The court declared that ‘maintaining a safe and secure education environment’ fell within the Board of Regents’ purview (and implicitly, that the Board could determine it was necessary to maintain that environment by prohibiting firearms on campus), and recognized that ‘Montana is not immune from the catastrophic loss that follows the use of firearms on school campuses.’” The ABA also called for “states that do not make it unlawful for any person, other than law enforcement, to possess firearms on property owned, operated, or controlled by any public institute of higher education, authorize such institutions of higher education to restrict or regulate the concealed or open carry of firearms on their campuses.”

Prohibiting Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines

Assault weapons are generally high-powered semi-automatic rifles specifically designed to allow shooters to wound and kill many people quickly. When combined with high-capacity magazines —commonly defined as magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition—a shooter is able to fire more rounds over a short period without pausing to reload. The more rounds a shooter can fire consecutively, the more gunshot wounds they can inflict during an attack. From 2015 to 2022, incidents where individuals used an assault weapon to kill four or more people resulted in 23 times as many people wounded on average compared to those who did not use an assault weapon. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023, May 24). Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/report/assault-weapons-and-high-capacity-magazines/ . Numerous mass shooters in schools, including those responsible for two of the deadliest shootings since 2016, have used assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. 2 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023, May 24). Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/report/assault-weapons-and-high-capacity-magazines/ . NEA and Everytown recommend that states prohibit the possession and sale of assault weapons and magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

For more on strategies to advocate for measures that limit access to guns, see NEA’s Legislative Program and Everytown’s Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action .

Promote Strong Bargaining Language and Administrative Policies

NEA provides guidance on how to secure language regarding aspects of working conditions surrounding gun violence in administrative policies, employee handbooks, and collective bargaining agreements. This bargaining support includes language on:

• Prohibition against arming educators;
• Violence/abuse and threats against educators;
• Support after an assault;
• Broad health and safety provisions for overall safe work environments; and
• Joint health and safety committees.

Promoting Strong Union-Backed Language on School Safety

The San Diego Education Association bargained language on school safety plans that ensures the association is involved in the process of keeping schools safe. The language includes “rules and procedures to be followed by site personnel for their protection, including a method of emergency communication and rules and regulations governing the entering and leaving of school sites.” The language requires that school safety plans explicitly address weapons. 1 Board of Education of the San Diego Unified School District and the San Diego Education Association. (2022). Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Board of Education, San Diego Unified School District and the San Diego Education Association. Section 11.6.2. Retrieved from  https://www.sandiegounified.org/common/pages/DownloadFileByUrl.aspx?key=mIE9NGWW%2b2qmICXsIXIbpHKGrnZf0UAyqh1mqCx7ErAKKj9%2bqmreFSNN4sI84nlgB%2bjcNeICiXuRO6MqgCQkFbLzvlekl8W3c4Po2uQJ7yfkaO7J2tI3DJsoBK%2bz9sx7dCRo9RB8KOEMuabW%2bND0mptkTnI4CKbKnq5Djz9WLHC3S .

In another example, Racine Educators United (REU), in Wisconsin, has aggressively organized around safety concerns in the district, leading, in part, to the creation of the School Safety Committee, an advisory group including five representatives selected by REU and five chosen by the Racine Unified School District (RUSD). Together, REU and RUSD will select parent, student, and community representatives to serve on the committee. The district superintendent also appoints a building services representative. The committee was a settlement of REU grievances and an REU lawsuit against the district.

According to the agreement between REU and RUSD , the School Safety Committee’s review of district policies and procedures will be informed by trauma-sensitive and restorative justice practices and will cover topics including weapons policies, responding to weapons, and gun violence and active shooter response. 2 Racine Unified School District and Racine Educators United. (2024). Settlement Agreement. Retrieved from  https://weac.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/FINAL-CLEAN-Workplace-Safety-Grievances-Settlement-Agreement_.pdf .

Build Strong Partnerships

Addressing gun violence in education settings requires strong, meaningful relationships with partners to deepen association understanding, build relationships, strengthen the processes and policies of Pre-K–12 schools and institutions of higher education, and ensure that approaches developed to keep students, educators, and communities safe are culturally and racially appropriate.

From state to state and within states, potential partners may vary. An important place to start is with other unions representing workers in the Pre-K–12 schools and institutions of higher education where association members work, gun violence-focused organizations, racial and social justice organizations, after-school programs, mental and physical health providers and organizations, associations representing principals or other administrators, and local colleges and universities with programs that identify or address violence in communities or, more specifically, in education settings. 

The following list includes several national-level organizations—with links to their websites—that may have state or local counterparts. Identifying local groups working on similar topics may also serve the same purpose.

Click to expand this list of national-level organizations

• AAPI Victory Alliance
• AASA—The School Superintendents Association
• Alliance to Reclaim our Schools
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American Psychological Association
• American School Counselor Association
• Color of Change
• Community Justice Action Fund
• Hope and Heal Fund
• League of United Latin American Citizens
• March for Our Lives
• National Association of Elementary School Principals
• National Association of School Nurses
• National Association of School Psychologists
• National Association of Secondary School Principals
• National Association of Social Workers
• National PTA
• National School Boards Association
• Parents Together
• Sandy Hook Promise
• The Trevor Project

Engage State Occupational Safety and Health Agencies

State and local associations in any of the 29 states that have created state occupational safety and health agencies can look to the state agency for advocacy and organizing opportunities related to gun violence in Pre-K-12 public schools and public institutions of higher education. 55 The federal government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) serves to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for the private sector. Federal OSHA does not have jurisdiction over state and local public sector workers. Where established, state agencies are required by federal law to be at least as effective as OSHA in protecting workers and in preventing work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths.  

In states with a safety and health agency covering public employees but without a workplace violence standard, the association or an individual member can file a complaint if workplace conditions are unsafe. Workplace violence standards allow for the association and members to be involved in the development and review of worksite violence plans. The state of New York has established a workplace violence prevention standard applicable to public schools, 56 New York State. (2024). Retrieved from Workplace Violence Prevention Information:  https://dol.ny.gov/workplace-safety . and California is developing one. 

Promote Professional Development, Capacity-Building, and Staffing

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education have awarded $1.5 billion in short-term grants for school safety, improved access to mental health services, and support for young people to address trauma and grief from gun violence. The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded an additional $60 million in short-term grants. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) commits to expanding the pipeline by designating $500 million for training to increase the pool of skilled professionals providing mental health services in schools. 

In early 2024, Vice President Harris announced an additional $285 million in funding for schools to hire and train mental health counselors. 57 Psychiatrist.com. (2024, January 15). “Vice President Harris Announces New Funding for Mental Health Professionals in Schools. Psychiatrist.com. Retrieved from  https://www.psychiatrist.com/news/vice-president-harris-announces-new-funding-for-mental-health-professionals-in-schools/ . Grants are not meant to be the long-term solution, but they can assist school districts with infrastructure needs and the ability to hire and train counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health professionals. To identify funding opportunities for mental health support in education settings, see NEA’s webpage on school-based mental health services grants . In addition, explore whether state-mandated professional development for educators includes trainings on suicide prevention, trauma-informed crisis intervention, de-escalation techniques, restorative practices, and trauma-informed strategies.

Get Involved in Local Government

Educators play an essential role in the communities in which they work. The experience they’ve gained while working with students gives them a unique perspective when it comes to making public education policy, negotiating collective bargaining agreements, and setting budget priorities for their communities. 

Gun Violence Prevention Resources

National education association resources.

• National Education Association : The National Education Association is the nation’s largest union, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, specialized instructional support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become educators.
• NEA Health and Safety Program : NEA School Health and Safety provides information and solutions related to student and educator mental health, violence prevention and response, infection control, and environmental and occupational safety and health, among other topics.
• Bargaining and Advocacy Tactics to End Gun Violence : NEA provides advocates in bargaining and non-bargaining statute states with sample language to secure in board policies, employee handbooks, and collective bargaining agreements regarding aspects of working conditions surrounding gun violence.
• Gun Violence Prevention Measures Using the Hierarchy of Controls : To help address this worsening public health crisis, employers and educators can implement the hierarchy of controls —a proven approach to minimize or eliminate exposure to workplace hazards—to sensibly prevent gun violence in education contexts.
• NEA School Crisis Guide : Produced in 2018, the guide provides detailed content on how to effectively prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from school crises.
• Responding to Gun Violence : This portion of the NEA Health and Safety Program website provides content on taking action, helping students cope, resources for school leaders, fostering mental health, and preventing hate and bias, as well as resources for school leaders.  
• We Can Change This: Educators Take on Gun Violence : Educators across the country are working to end the era of school shootings that has defined students’ lives.
• NEA Legislative Program : The National Education Association’s Legislative Program encapsulates NEA’s priorities for advocating in Congress for federal laws that support public K-12 schools and postsecondary institutions, student learning, and educators

Mental Health Supports:

• Bargaining and Advocacy Tactics to Support Educators’ Mental Health : This resource compiles strategies to improve mental health support for educators using collective bargaining or advocacy.
• The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act : The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act unlocks more than $1 billion additional funding for mental health and other services.
• NEA Member Benefits Mental Health Program : Through NEA Member Benefits, in partnership with AbleTo, NEA members receive no-cost access to evidence-backed tools for stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health needs.
• School-Based Mental Health Services Grants : NEA provides a summary of federal grant programs that support efforts to increase school-based mental health services and programs.

Safe and Supportive Schools:

• Addressing the Epidemic of Trauma in Schools : This report builds a framework to advance trauma awareness and trauma-informed approaches, including some currently being implemented by NEA state affiliates. It includes key recommendations for ways in which NEA may address the trauma crisis through policy, programs, and practices. It also includes a list of selected resources developed or suggested as references by affiliates to address student and educator trauma.
• Cultural Competence Training : Through NEA’s Cultural Competence Training Program, NEA members learn how to become culturally competent educators.
• How Restorative Practices Work for Students and Educators : This NEA Today article explores what happens in public schools where educators care more about creating a community built upon kindness, not consequences.
• How to Be an Advocate for Students Who Are Bullied : These recommendations support educators in helping students who are bullied.
• How to Identify Bullying : This article provides tips for addressing bullying.
• NEA Micro-Credential Courses on Restorative Practices : Each of the five micro-credentials in this stack can stand alone or be completed sequentially: Exploring Restorative Practices; Building a Positive Classroom Community with Affective Language; Restorative Circles—Building Relationships in the Classroom; Restorative Conferencing; and Implementing Restorative Practices.
• NEA Micro-Credential Course on Trauma-Informed Pedagogy : This course addresses child trauma, how trauma affects the brain, trauma-informed pedagogy, leveled intervention strategies, behavioral support plans, replacement behaviors, and teaching students to self-advocate.
• Restorative Practices: Fostering Healthy Relationships and Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools—A Guide for Educators : This guide helps educators better understand what restorative practices are and how they can foster safe learning environments through community building and constructive conflict resolution.
• Supporting the Advocacy, Communication, and Implementation of Life Skills in Public Schools: A Toolkit : Social-emotional learning (SEL)—also known as positive youth development or life skills—is widely supported by families, students, and educators and provides valuable skills and lessons that contribute to students’ success throughout their lives.
• Tools and Tips for Trauma-Informed Practices : Educators in every school community can use these practices to create safe and supportive learning environments for their students.
• Trauma-Informed Schools : Supporting students who suffer from childhood trauma requires whole-school involvement and transformation. The NEA and its affiliates are actively engaged in finding ways for schools and educators to address the issue of trauma and its implications for learning, behavior, and school safety.

Community Engagement and Dialogue:

• Community Schools : Community schools are public schools that provide services and support that fit each neighborhood’s needs, created and run by the people who know our children best.
• Strategies for Effective Health and Safety Dialogue : This NEA training module will help support families, educators, and students effectively communicate around health and safety issues.

Everytown Resources

• Everytown for Gun Safety : Everytown for Gun Safety is the largest gun violence prevention organization in America. The organization is a movement of more than 10 million supporters working to end gun violence.
• Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund : The Everytown Support Fund is the education, research, and litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety. It seeks to improve our understanding of the causes of gun violence and help to reduce it by conducting ground-breaking original research, developing evidence-based policies, communicating this knowledge to the American public, and advancing gun safety and gun violence prevention in communities and the courts.
• Be SMART : The Be SMART program focuses on fostering conversations with other adults about secure gun storage. In this context, the acronym stands for S ecure guns in homes and vehicles, M odel responsible behavior, A sk about unsecured guns in homes, R ecognize the role of guns in suicide, and T ell your peers to be SMART. The program’s purpose is to facilitate behavior change for adults and help parents and adults prevent child gun deaths and injuries.
• City Dashboard: Gun Homicide : The FBI is the leading source of city gun violence data across the country, covering more than 94 percent of the U.S. population in 2022. Everytown’s City Gun Homicide dashboard allows users to explore gun homicide trends across more than 500 cities with populations of 65,000+ that reported data to the FBI from 2018 to 2022.
• CityGRIP—Safe Passage : Safe passage programs provide safe routes to and from schools to reduce student exposure to gun violence. To achieve this goal, educators, law enforcement groups, and communities collaboratively implement protocols and procedures to ensure student safety.
• Community-Led Public Safety Strategies : For decades, community-based organizations have successfully reduced violence by implementing alternative public safety measures that are locally driven and informed by data. Often referred to as violence intervention programs, these strategies have expanded greatly over the years and include street outreach, group violence intervention, crime prevention through environmental design, hospital-based violence intervention programs, safe passage programs, and cognitive behavioral therapy.
• EveryStat : EveryStat is a one-stop source for gun violence in your state and county, including breakdowns by intent, race and ethnicity, gender, economic cost, and more.
• Everytown Gun Law Rankings :  Everytown compares gun policy across the country and scores every state on the strength of its gun law and compares it with its rate of gun violence.
• Everytown Law Fund : Everytown Law Fund provides support for impact litigation to advance the right of every person to be free from gun violence and to speak, work, learn, pray, assemble, protest, and vote without fear or intimidation.
• Everytown Survivor Network : The Everytown Survivor Network is a nationwide community of survivors working together to end gun violence. The network amplifies the power of survivor voices, offers trauma-informed programs, provides information on direct services, and supports survivors in their advocacy.
• Extreme Risk/Red Flag Laws : Extreme Risk laws, sometimes referred to as “red flag” laws, allow loved ones or law enforcement to intervene by petitioning a court for an order to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing guns.
• Gunfire on School Grounds : The database details the myriad ways in which gun violence manifests in U.S. schools.
• Mayors Against Illegal Guns : Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a coalition of mayors fighting to end gun violence by working to fight for gun safety laws and enact gun violence prevention strategies.
• Moms Demand Action : Moms Demand Action, a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, is the nation’s largest grassroots volunteer network that is working to end gun violence. The organization campaigns for new and stronger solutions to lax gun laws and loopholes that jeopardize the safety of families, educates policymakers and parents about the importance of secure firearm storage, and works to create a culture of gun safety through partnerships with businesses, community organizations, and influencers. There is a Moms Demand Action chapter in every state and more than 700 local groups throughout the country.
• One Thing You Can Do : This database includes information about extreme risk orders by state. An extreme risk order is a way to intervene when there is reason to believe a loved one is at serious risk of harming themselves or others.
• Students Demand Action : Students Demand Action is the largest grassroots, youth-led gun violence prevention group in the country, with more than 800 groups and active volunteers in every state and the District of Columbia. The movement, created by and for teens and young adults, aims to channel the energy and passion of high school and college-age students into the fight against gun violence.

Other Resources

Safe and supportive school climates.

• Bullying Prevention : From the National Association of School Psychologists, this site provides resources to prevent bullying.
• Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design : From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) focuses on principles to create safer schools by developing environments that promote positive behavior and reduce opportunities for violence to occur.
• Guiding Principles for Creating Safe, Inclusive, Supportive, and Fair School Climates : From the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, this document recommends evidence-based practices that schools and school districts can take to implement fair student discipline approaches, which keep students safely in learning environments and help to address disproportionality in discipline and exclusion.
• National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments : From the National Center on Safe and Supportive Schools, this site offers information and technical assistance to states, districts, schools, institutions of higher education, and communities focused on improving school climate and conditions for learning.
• The National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports : The center provides information, tools, and technical assistance for implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a tiered framework for supporting students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health. These resources include guides, lesson plans, assessment surveys, and examples of how to integrate trauma-informed practices into PBIS.
• Resources for Educators : From Sandy Hook Promise, this site provides resources on multiple topics.
• Schoolsafety.gov : This interagency website created by the federal government provides a broad range of information, resources, and guidance to create safe and supportive learning environments for students and educators.

Mental Health Supports

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline : The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States.
• Emotional CPR : Emotional CPR (eCPR) is an educational program designed to teach people to assist others through an emotional crisis by implementing three simple steps: C = Connecting; P = emPowering; and R = Revitalizing.
• Mental Health First Aid : Mental Health First Aid is an evidence-based, early intervention course that teaches participants about mental health and substance use challenges.
• The Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network : Funded by SAMHSA, the center develops resources, disseminates information, and provides training and technical assistance to mental health work, including a free online course for educators on mental health literacy .
• Project Aware : Through SAMHSA, Project Aware (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) promotes a sustainable infrastructure for school-based mental health programs and services. AWARE grantees build collaborative partnerships with the state education agency, local education agency, tribal education agency, the state mental health agency, community-based providers of behavioral health care services, school personnel, community organizations, families, and school-age youth.
• Screen4Success : Screen4Success is a screening tool to identify areas where someone may benefit from more support on personal health, wellness, and well-being. It also provides local and national resources to help address those concerns. You can use the tool for self-screening, or you can send it to someone you are concerned about. You can also help that person fill out the screener—this provides opportunities for discussion in the moment—or they can complete it on their own if that’s not possible.
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline : SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service), or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year information service, available in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. The site also includes additional resources.

Navigate to Other Sections of the Guide

Introduction, part two: gun violence preparation, part three: gun violence response, part four: gun violence recovery.

Everytown Research & Policy is a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to understanding and reducing gun violence. Everytown Research & Policy works to do so by conducting methodologically rigorous research, supporting evidence-based policies, and communicating this knowledge to the American public.

In partnership with

The National Education Association (NEA) is more than 3 million people—educators, students, activists, workers, parents, neighbors, and friends—who believe in the opportunity for all students and the power of public education to transform lives and create a more just and inclusive society. NEA has affiliate organizations in every state and more than 14,000 communities across the United States. NEA’s vision for safe, just, and equitable schools consists of thriving spaces that are safe and welcoming for all students; are discriminatory toward none; integrate the social, emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual needs of the whole student; and equitably and fully fund the community school model with wraparound services and resources. The resources in this guide can help make this vision a reality.

Navigating the VOCA Funding Process

Crime victim compensation: financial assistance after a crime.

Did you know?

Every day, more than 120 people in the United States are killed with guns, twice as many are shot and wounded, and countless others are impacted by acts of gun violence.

Everytown Research analysis of CDC, WONDER, Underlying Cause of Death , 2018–2022; Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) nonfatal firearm injury data, 2020; and SurveyUSA Market Research Study #26602 , 2022.

Last updated: 5.7.2024

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