Death by Guns on School Grounds Increase Nationwide; Not in Connecticut Since Sandy Hook

The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012 spurred the establishment of numerous organizations dedicated to urging legislative action at the state and federal level in the months that followed, many honoring the memory of students killed on that day.

Connecticut is among the handful of states that enacted what has been described as common sense gun safety laws in succeeding years; and gun safety advocates point to tragedies elsewhere, most recently in Texas – but not in Connecticut – in the decade since to support their position that laws can and do work to lessen the chances of such horrific acts of violence reoccurring.

Nationally, since 2013 there have been at least 925 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 295 deaths and 621 injuries, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a research and policy organizations which supports gun safety legislation and tracks publicly reported incidents of gun violence on school grounds nationwide. In 2022, prior to Uvalde, Texas, there have been at least 77 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 14 deaths and 45 injuries nationally.

Data released earlier this year noted that gun violence has replaced car accidents as the leading cause of death among children in the United States. Overall, 4,368 children and adolescents up to the age of 19 died from firearms in 2020, a rate of 5.4 per 100,000 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  By comparison, there were 4,036 deaths linked to motor vehicles, the previous leading cause of death among this age group.

In Connecticut, since Sandy Hook and the new laws that followed, violent acts involving guns on school grounds in Connecticut have been few and far between.  The Everytown organization ranks Connecticut among the national leaders in gun safety laws, ranking 5th.  No students have been killed at school by gun violence since Sandy Hook, according to their data.  The reported incidents are:

·         In 2021, Everytown for Gun Safety reports shots were fired in the baseball field at Holy Cross High School in Waterbury.  There were no injuries. Two men have been charged with breach of peace in the 2nd degree, unlawful discharge of a firearm, reckless endangerment in the first degree, weapons in a motor vehicle, illegal sale or transfer of a firearm, possession of a pistol without a permit, and possession of a high capacity magazine in connection with the incident.

·         In December 2019, according to the organization, a man was targeted and shot multiple times and injured after dropping off a child at the Catholic Academy of New Haven. One shot went through a window into a preschool classroom where 11 children were present. No one else was injured.

·         In October 2018, a man, 18, became upset with his mother's boyfriend and fired a gun at him. The bullet struck a window at nearby Dunbar Elementary School in Bridgeport as students were arriving for class that morning. No one was injured. The shooter was charged with attempted first-degree assault, unlawful discharge, carrying a pistol without a permit, reckless endangerment, and risk of injury to a child.

·         Hundreds of people were attending a basketball tournament at Rawson Elementary School in Hartford in June 2015 when a man, 34, got into a dispute with another man that escalated into gunfire, hitting innocent bystanders. The shooter, who was on probation for a 2011 conviction for carrying a pistol without a permit, drew a pistol and opened fire, killing a man and injuring two others. The shooter was also injured in the leg by an unknown shooter. The shooter was arrested and convicted of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm.

Everytown for Gun Safety started tracking incidents of gunfire on school grounds in 2013 to gain a better understanding of how often children and teens are affected by gun violence at their schools and colleges, and in response to a lack of research and data on the issue.

Over several years of tracking, this data has shown that gunfire on school grounds takes many forms and mirrors the problem of gun violence in the U.S. Gunfire on school grounds occurs most often at schools with a high proportion of students of color—disproportionately affecting Black students, according to data compiled by the organization.

When it comes to how American children are exposed to gun violence, gunfire at schools is just the tip of the iceberg, they point out– every year, more than 3,500 children and teens are shot and killed and 15,000 more are shot and injured. An estimated 3 million children in the US are exposed to shootings per year.

Cities around the country, including in Connecticut, will mark National Gun Safety Day and Wear Orange Weekend, June 3-5.  In Connecticut, events will be held in New Haven on June 2, in Guilford on June 4, and in Bridgeport on June 5.