Littleton, Colorado – 25 years have passed since the tragic massacre at Columbine High School, where two teenage gunmen took the lives of 12 students and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves on April 20, 1999.
Since then, the incident at Columbine High School has marked the beginning of the modern era of school shootings, sparking ongoing fears among parents regarding the safety of their children at school. David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, noted that at least 493 individuals have been killed with guns on school premises in the 25 years following the Columbine tragedy, with 138 of those fatalities occurring in active shooter incidents on school grounds.
The definition of “school shootings” varies depending on the parameters considered, leading to discrepancies in reported numbers. The K-12 School Shooting Database uses an inclusive definition encompassing any incident involving gun brandishing, firing, or hitting school property with bullets, regardless of the number of victims, time, day, or motive. Under this criteria, there have been at least 2,032 school shootings since Columbine, with a significant rise observed in recent years, reaching 95 incidents in 2024 and a record high of 348 incidents last year.
However, when filtering the data to only include incidents where one or more victims were shot, the number of school shootings since Columbine decreases to 1,143. Riedman’s research also highlighted that at least 133 of these incidents involved an “active shooter,” defined as a perpetrator who kills or injures victims on the school campus in a continuous episode of violence. Additionally, it was found that the Columbine shooting inspired at least 23 other school shooters.
In the category of mass shootings involving at least four individuals being shot, only 59 such incidents have occurred since Columbine, excluding approximately 97% of firearm-related incidents on school grounds post-Columbine. These rare incidents include tragedies like the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018 and the recent occurrence at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Despite the heightened fears among parents regarding school safety, experts emphasize that rampage attacks similar to Columbine remain uncommon, with the number of incidents in schools not exhibiting exponential growth. Research indicates that schools are among the safest places for children concerning gun violence, as less than 2% of youth shootings take place on school premises.
Polling data reflects the increasing concerns of parents about their children’s safety at school, though some reassurance can be found in the statistically rare nature of school shootings with mass casualties. Although school shootings involving mass deaths have seen a slight increase in frequency, the overall number of such events remains low.
Efforts to prevent school shootings include identifying warning signs and communications preceding attacks, encouraging individuals with relevant information to report it, and enhancing information-sharing mechanisms to prevent oversights. Strategies for reducing gun violence in schools may also involve investigating near-miss school shooting incidents, which have the potential for much graver outcomes if left unchecked.
While Americans express limited confidence in completely eliminating gun violence, ongoing research and collaborative efforts aim to address the complex issue of school shootings and enhance safety measures within educational environments.