Methodological Note for Gun Violence on College and University Campuses

This Note is a companion to the October 2026 “Gun Violence on College and University Campuses” report.

Data Sources

Campus shootings

Everytown Research examined patterns of gun violence on college and university campuses from August 1, 2016, through July 31, 2026, using its publicly available database, Gunfire on School Grounds in the United States. This database is compiled primarily from media reports and is revisited periodically for accuracy as more information becomes available.¹K–12 data is also provided in part by David Riedman, PhD., founder of the K–12 School Shooting Database. Data are tested quarterly for reliability and validity by comparing entries to incidents contained in the Gun Violence Archive’s database. Researchers code for incident location on campus, shooting intent and outcome, event type, conflict type, resulting injuries or deaths, and individuals’ (i.e., shooters’, victims’, or survivors’) affiliation with the college or university.  

College and university characteristics

For this particular analysis, rates by state, region, locale, and institution type per 1,000 schools were calculated using data from the US Department of Education’s College Scorecard for each school year in the analysis period.²US Department of Education, College Scorecard, accessed September 16, 2026, https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/. See “MERGED” data files. In instances where data on school locale, HBCU status, or institution type were not readily available for select years, these variables were merged in from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).³IPEDS does not provide data for satellite campuses of university systems. In the case of a satellite school shooting, the parent’s or main branch of the institution’s characteristics were used. Schools that could not be linked across the two datasets were excluded from the denominator in rate calculations. Geographical analyses are based on the US Census Bureau definitions.⁴For a list of states by Census region, see Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, “Geographic Division or Region,” accessed September 16, 2026, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/sources-definitions/geographic-region.htm. Locale analyses are based on the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) urban-centric locale classifications, which rely on standard urban and rural definitions developed by the US Census Bureau.⁵US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, “Locale Definitions,” Education Across America, accessed September 27, 2026, https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/annualreports/topical-studies/locale/definitions.

Focus group

A 90-minute Institutional Review Board–approved focus group was also conducted to gather qualitative information about students’ experiences and perceptions of campus safety and gun violence. Five student survivors⁶ Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund defines a survivor of gun violence as someone who has personally experienced gun violence, including someone who has witnessed an act of gun violence, been threatened or wounded with a gun, or had someone they know and care for wounded or killed. See “Everytown Survivor Network,” accessed September 17, 2026. participated in the session, all of whom were enrolled at HBCUs. The focus group followed a semi-structured discussion guide addressing perceptions of campus safety, individual safety behaviors, institutional preparedness for incidents of gun violence, and desired changes to campus safety practices. Questions included the following: “When you think about safety on campus, what comes to mind?”; “What actions do you take on campus to protect yourself or feel safer?”; “How does your school prepare students for an incident of gun violence?”; and “If you could change one thing about your campus’s approach to safety, what would it be?” A full discussion guide is available upon request.

The focus group was conducted and recorded via Zoom. Participants were asked to rename themselves in Zoom to help protect their anonymity. Given the sensitive nature of the discussion, mental health resources were made available to participants, and a licensed clinician employed by Everytown was on call during the session to provide emotional support if needed. Students received a $25 gift card following the session as compensation for their participation. The recording was professionally transcribed, and the transcript was analyzed by Everytown researchers to identify themes, categories, and their relationships. 

Glossary 

• “Campus shooting” includes any incident in which a firearm discharges a live round inside or into a school building or on or onto a school campus or grounds. Incidents that resulted in a person being shot and killed or wounded, and those in which a gun was discharged and no one was shot, are included in the dataset.⁷Incidents in which guns were brought into schools but not discharged are excluded. 
• “College and university” refers to a postsecondary educational institution, including public, private nonprofit, and private for-profit institutions, and both degree-granting and non-degree-granting institutions.⁸US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), accessed September 27, 2026, https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/.
• “Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)” refers to the institutions federally designated as a Historically Black College or University (HBCU), established prior to 1964 with the principal mission to educate Black Americans.⁹US Department of Education, “White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” August 31, 2026, https://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/one-hundred-and-five-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/; 20 U.S. Code, Section 1061 (2). HBCUs were extracted from the US Department of Education’s College Scorecard and supplemented with the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).¹⁰Analysis was limited to accredited colleges. During the study period, on average, there were 99 accredited HBCUs each year.
• “Shooters” includes individuals, including law enforcement, who discharged a live round from a firearm on school property or fired a gun off-campus and the bullet traveled onto the campus, regardless of whether the shooter or another person was shot. 
• “Victims or survivors” includes individuals who were shot and killed or wounded (including graze wounds) on school property. Excluded from the count of victims or survivors are shooters who either shot themselves,¹¹Intentionally (e.g., gun suicide) or unintentionally. or were shot and killed or wounded by law enforcement on campus during a planned mass shooting, a targeted attack, or an intimate-partner-related or stalking-related murder-suicide. Also excluded from the victim count are individuals who were killed or wounded off-campus before or after the on-campus shooting and shooters who were killed or wounded off-campus.¹²Everytown Research’s Gunfire on School Grounds database does not contain information on individuals killed or wounded off campus.
• “Gun homicide and assault”¹³Everytown Research’s Gunfire on School Grounds map refers to this intent as “attack on others” or “mass shooting (4+ Shot).” refers to incidents in which the shooter intended to shoot someone else (e.g., mass shooting, domestic violence incident, murder-suicide, robbery, exchanges of gunfire between two or more people). Of 389 campus shootings, 202 (52 percent) were gun homicides and assaults.
• “Shootings by police”¹⁴Everytown Research’s Gunfire on School Grounds map refers to this intent as “legal intervention.” includes incidents in which a law enforcement officer, campus police, or security personnel intentionally fired a gun during an investigation (e.g., shootouts with law enforcement, suicide by cop) and wounded or killed someone. This intent excludes incidents in which an officer unintentionally fires a gun, and incidents in which an officer shoots a civilian who is actively engaged in a gun homicide or mass shooting. Of 389 campus shootings, 15 (4 percent) were shootings by police.
• “Gun suicides and attempts”¹⁵Everytown Research’s Gunfire on School Grounds map refers to this intent as “Self-harm – no intent to hurt others.” includes incidents of self-harm causing death or injury in which the shooter did not have intentions to harm others. This intent excludes incidents in which the shooter died by or attempted suicide during the commission of a gun homicide, assault, or murder-suicide. Of 389 campus shootings, 13 (3 percent) were suicides or suicide attempts.  
• “Unintentional shootings”¹⁶Everytown Research’s Gunfire on School Grounds map refers to this intent as “unintentional discharge.” includes incidents in which the shooter did not intend to fire the gun (e.g., discharges while playing with, showing off, or carrying a gun) and the shooter shot themselves or someone else. Of 389 campus shootings, 36 (9 percent) were unintentional. 
• “Shots fired”¹⁷Everytown Research’s Gunfire on School Grounds map refers to this as “no death/injury.” intent includes incidents in which a firearm was discharged, but no one was shot. These incidents include circumstances such as shots fired into the air or buildings, attempted homicides or assaults, unintentional discharges, or police or civilians firing at someone. Of 389 campus shootings, 112 (29 percent) were shots fired. 
• “Unknown” intent includes incidents where the media did not report the shooting intent. Of 389 campus shootings, the intent of 11 (3 percent) was unknown.
• “Homecoming weeks” were identified using each school’s event calendar. This analysis counts any shooting that occurred on campus during the homecoming week regardless of whether it happened at a school-sponsored homecoming event. Homecoming weeks are generally held between late September and early November, with most schools holding it during October.