TL;DR: “There’s nothing we can do, says only nation where this happens.”

The prevalence of armed attacks at American educational institutions points to a potentially systemic problem; between 2009 and 2018, the United States recorded 57 times as many school shootings compared to other high-income nations and as of 2019, became the only major industrialized country in which firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens.

https://www.statista.com/topics/12276/school-shootings-in-the-united-states/#topicOverview

In recent years, school shootings surpassed their highest recorded levels, although figures may differ depending upon the source. Since there is no federal database – or definition – for school shootings, data is compiled by independent sources using varying factors to determine what constitutes a school shooting. According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, there were 348 school shootings, defined as every time a gun is brandished, fired, or a bullet hits school property, regardless of the time, day, reason, or number of victims (including zero), in 2023. Since 1966, school shootings transpired most often at the time of morning classes, a time which also accounted for the most casualties. However, not all incidents were located in the classroom; the highest victim count was recorded by shootings taking place in school parking lots, followed by hallways and at the front of schools.

All the money poured into crap like metal detectors and armed guards is security theater, but it’s a very real problem with a simple solution: keeping guns out of the hands of kids. Especially white boys. Kids in the US are as likely to be shot and killed as kids in active war zones.

Despite public support for hiring armed guards to reduce the severity of school shootings, there is little evidence of this effect; out of all school shooting incidents identified by the K-12 School Shooting Database, only around two percent resulted in the shooter being apprehended by an SRO.

While it is impossible to predict the profile of a future school shooter, long term studies show that shooter demographics differ by school type. Research on mass public shootings, where four or more people are murdered by firearms in public, reveals that most mass shooters at K-12 schools between 1966 and January 2024 were White, while less than 20 percent were Native American or Latinx. In comparison, almost half of mass shooters at colleges or universities were Asian, followed by 33 percent who were White and 11 percent who were either Black or Middle Eastern. However, there was an equally high likelihood that mass shooters at K-12 schools and on college campuses were ‘location insiders’, meaning they had an existing relationship to the shooting site. Typically, students are the most likely perpetrators of school shootings.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, almost all active shooters in education settings from 2000 to 2022 were male. However, while most active shooters at postsecondary schools were at least 25 years old, active shooters at elementary schools and secondary schools were usually between the ages of 12 to 18 years, suggesting that most K-12 shooters obtained a firearm illegally. The use of rifles and shotguns was also more prevalent in active shooter incidents in K-12 schools, weapons often used to commit indiscriminate shootings, where the shooter targets random victims with the intent to harm as many as possible.

Studies show that indiscriminate shootings occur more frequently in majority-White schools, while shootings at schools which primarily serve students of color are most often dispute or grievance related, such as an escalation of an argument or in retaliation against bullying. However, even though most dispute or grievance related shootings occur outside the school building, teachers in high-minority schools are more likely to report metal detectors or other screening at school entrances. In contrast, majority-White schools rarely reported such equipment, despite having a greater likelihood of experiencing a shooting inside the school.