NEA School Gun Violence Prevention and Response Guide

1. Gun violence shapes the lives of millions of people in this country who witness it, who know the victims, or who live in fear of the next shooting.
2. Students exposed to the trauma of violence are more likely to suffer from substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress; struggle in school; and engage in criminal activity.
3. This four-part guide is intended to help association leaders, staff, and worksite leaders plan and advocate for gun violence safety measures that should already be taking place in schools at all levels.

On April 20, 1999, I had been a middle-school science teacher in Pennsylvania for 23 years. None of my two decades of experience and training had prepared me to answer the questions my frightened students had about the shooting happening at Columbine High School that day. Along with my fellow educators, I shared the country’s profound shock and grief that a school building—a place that should always be safe—had become the site of a massacre. The only thing that comforted us was the belief that this—then the deadliest mass shooting at a K–12 school in U.S. history—was a terrible anomaly. We believed our country would learn from the tragedy and take every measure to ensure it never happened again.

But the Columbine death toll was surpassed at Sandy Hook Elementary School…and Parkland High School…and Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School. Each time, we thought, “They have to do something now.” But close to 400 school shootings later, the biggest change seemed to be in 2020, when firearms finally surpassed car accidents and disease to become the No. 1 killer of children in America.

We must put a stop to the gun violence that continues to terrorize our students, our educators, families, and communities. As President Biden, who finally passed the most comprehensive gun safety legislation in 30 years, said, “We all want our kids to have the freedom to learn to read and to write instead of learning how to duck and cover in a classroom.”

Gun violence in schools affects all students and educators, and its ripple effects spread out to the entire community. There is the constant fear that your school, your children, will be the next victims. According to the American Psychological Association’s report, “Stress in America 2023: A Nation Recovering from Collective Trauma,” 56 percent of U.S. adults report mass shootings as a significant source of stress. And we know that the long-term effects of toxic stress can change the brain and body’s makeup, particularly for children, severely affecting both physical and mental health.

According to the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, with whom NEA partnered to create this guide, 107 incidents of gun violence on school grounds have already caused 29 deaths and injured 61 people—and this is just during the first five months of 2024.

This is unacceptable. No matter how many school shootings we have seen happen, they are just as unacceptable today as they were in 1999. We cannot, we must not, accept the lie that there’s nothing we can do to stop them.

While we are grateful for the strides President Biden has made, it is clear that more still needs to be done, which is why NEA set out to issue a call to action to end gun violence in our schools and communities. The result is this guide—a collection of hundreds of calls to action for educators; for school district, college, and university boards and administrators; for politicians; and for students, parents, and families. We look to the day when this guide will be unnecessary and obsolete, but for now we—the members of this nation’s largest labor union—must focus our attention on how to end gun violence in our schools and our communities.

And we must take a hard look at what that violence really looks like. While the picture most people have in their minds about schools and guns involves young White male shooters and White victims, the truth is that our students of color are disproportionately affected by gun violence. According to Everytown, “2 in 3 incidents of gunfire on school grounds from 2013 to 2021 occurred in schools where one or more racial and/or ethnic minorities constituted a majority of the student population.”

The good news is that gun violence is preventable. Not by absurd and impossible measures like arming teachers or putting armed security officers in every school, but through commonsense gun laws and trauma-informed schools that create safe environments and that have the staffing and mental health resources necessary to do it right.

The guide focuses on the roles of state and local education association leaders, staff, building representatives, faculty liaisons, and more. But it is meant to serve as a bridge between what NEA affiliates can do to facilitate gun violence prevention, preparation, response, and recovery and the crucial work of so many others in the broader school community. We know that each community varies with respect to their approach to guns and their experiences with gun violence. This guide is designed to help educators of all types and all levels of experience join with others to end gun violence in our schools.

NEA, we must find a way forward together. We must stop our children—our hope for the future—from continuing to fall prey to this country’s epidemic of gun violence. And we must help the survivors recover and succeed despite their trauma.

Thank you for picking up this guide and committing to being part of the solution!

Rebecca S. Pringle

President, National Education Association

Gun violence is the number one killer of children in America. 

This is a statistic I say often, but it never becomes less jarring. And while this fact encompasses more than just school shootings, it is undeniable that our classrooms are not the safe havens that they should be.

Students deserve the freedom to live, learn, and play without the constant threat of gun violence. But this is our current reality, caused by a reckless gun industry, a corrupt gun lobby, and extremist lawmakers who refuse to take decisive action.

I know that with an issue this large and complex, a safer future can often feel out of reach. The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to preventing gun violence—but we do have the solutions to this crisis. We need to create powerful, informed networks in our communities that know how to keep our children safe. It will take all of us—educators, administrators, parents, students, law enforcement, mental health professionals, advocates, and policymakers—working together to create change. 

To address this urgent need, we are proud to partner with the National Education Association to introduce a comprehensive guide that equips Pre-K–12 schools and higher education institutions with resources, recommendations, and evidence-based solutions for gun violence prevention. This new tool is intentionally organized into four parts: Prevention of, Preparation for, Response to, and Recovery from gun-related incidents on school grounds—because we’ve seen how important it is not only to prevent gun violence but also to heal from the trauma when it does occur.

As a mother of four children myself, I’ve seen up close how our gun violence crisis shapes the educational experiences and well-being of our students. But we cannot—and will not—normalize the fact that our children live in fear of being shot in their classrooms. This guide serves not just as a collection of strategies, but as a call to action for protecting young people in America. 

I am hopeful that with dedication, collaboration, and the right tools, we will save lives. This is a necessary step in that direction, and our movement is here to support you every step of the way.

Thank you for your commitment. Together, I know that a safer future is possible.

In solidarity,

Angela Ferrell-Zabala

Executive Director of Moms Demand Action