Gun Violence Across America and In Our Own Communities
An overview of firearm-related violence, an interview with an expert in the field, and discussion on students’ perception of safety on-campus
Alessandra Benetiz and Joshua Kloss
We are almost done with 2024, and while much has changed from last year, much remains the same. Unfortunately, gun violence is just as prevalent as ever in the United States. There are many ways to count cases of gun violence, so let’s consider three different types: school shootings, mass shootings, and incidents involving gun-related deaths.
Unfortunately, shootings occurring in schools are nothing new to our country’s history. The first one to make national headlines was in 1999 at Columbine High School in Colorado. Since then, school shootings have only grown more common. A study published in the scientific journal Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders in 2022 described school shootings as being “at their highest recorded levels” at the time the research was published. Despite school shootings facing a sharp decline in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, results indicated that rates of school shootings “rose again sharply in 2021,” as that is when students were returning to in-person classroom instruction. One could argue, then, that the pandemic has done more to reduce school shootings than any currently standing political representative. The researchers described school shootings as “relatively commonplace,” in the U.S., as “there were more in 2021 than in any year since 1999.” CNN reported, as of Sept. 19, there had been at least 50 school shootings in the U.S., thirteen of which occurred on college campuses and an alarming 37 occurred on K-12 school grounds. At the same time of year in 2022, there had been 47 school shootings, and at the same time of year in 2022, there had been 37. Evidently, the trends seem to change directions often. Nonetheless, these rates are higher than any other country on the planet.
Mass shootings in the U.S. have seen an upward trend for a while now; according to the same report from Adv. in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, mass shootings numbered 269 in 2013, while 2020 saw 611 total mass shootings. The term “mass shooting” is defined by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive as “incidents in which four or more people are injured.” Further analysis of the Gun Violence Archive’s statistics shows that, from 2020-2024, mass shootings numbered over 600. Per. Each. Year. While mass shootings declined from 2021 to 2022, they rose again in 2023. And regardless of small changes in the direction of mass shooting trends, there has been approximately 2 per day for every single day for the last four years, a rather alarming way of interpreting the statistics.
Looking at incidents of gun violence alone, there were over 19,000 gun murders in the year 2020 alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Yet, in 2023, the number of firearm deaths was at just below 19,000, indicating a decline from earlier years. 2021 saw the most gun deaths on record, which includes murders, accidental shootings, and homicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive. This number dropped in 2022 and again in 2023.
When we take into account all the instances in which “small” or accidental shootings occur in the U.S., the numbers become almost too much to conceptualize. Minnesota has suffered through multiple mass shootings, like the Red Lake shootings of 2005 in which Jeff Weise killed his grandfather and then drove to Red Lake Senior High School where he shot and killed seven people. Yet, there are constant instances of gun violence in the state that go unnoticed and fail to make national headlines. For example, just a few weeks ago a shooting downtown left two dead and three injured. Despite the U being in Minneapolis, there seems to be a disconnect between the students and their knowledge of the issues that plague the Twin Cities community on a daily basis, a big one being gun violence.
An Interview with Babarba Frey
To learn more about gun violence, its roots, and how to best combat it, I had a conversation with Barbara Frey, who has worked in multiple organizations that defend human rights around the globe. In 2006 she served as a special rapporteur to the U.N. sub-commission on the issue of preventing human rights abuses committed with small arms and light weapons.
While discussing gun violence around the nation and Minneapolis specifically, Frey emphasized the U.S. is behind most countries regarding gun regulations. There are also different levels of safety when it comes to access to firearms. A lot of the focus tends to be on school shootings and mass shootings, yet many more people die from gun violence in underprivileged neighborhoods. Frey also discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic developed opportunities for people to take out their frustrations and impotence with guns and violence. In fact, violent crime rates rose sharply from 2019 to 2022 in Minnesota, and although this rate has gone down it has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
While conversing with Frey about what regulations she thinks could help reduce instances of gun violence in the U.S., she emphasized it must be a mix of cultural and legislative changes. Essentially, it is important that communities come together to implement common-sense registration policies, especially safe storage requirements, which means locking up guns and ammunition separately. Furthermore, making it a requirement to register with a proven reason for purchasing such guns would help reduce the percentage of irresponsible gun owners, according to Frey.
How Do Students Feel?
Unlike high schools, colleges generally don’t have monthly shooting drills, so how do students act if this kind of violence occurs on campus? Students want to know they’ll be safe on their own campuses, something that becomes increasingly hard when school shootings seem to happen every month.
Now, I’ve read and seen many social media posts about Dr. Rebecca Cunningham, the new president of this University, but what I have not heard are her plans for making our campus safer.
According to the 2024 crime statistics report released by the U, aggravated assaults and robberies maintained a steady rate from 2022 to 2023 while vehicle thefts went up. No statistics have been released for 2024, but the UMPD keeps a daily log of any criminal activity around campus which is 60 pages long… so far. I’ll say that lately, it feels as though I get more and more SAFE-U alerts every weekend. Not to mention the ‘mysterious package’ left at Walter at the beginning of this semester.
A poll conducted by The Wake found that while most students describe feeling “moderately safe” while on campus, the general consensus drops in the face of news of shootings at other college campuses. Not to mention that while firearms are mostly banned on campus, there are some exceptions, like attaining presidential approval. To read more about firearms on campus, take a look at the Board of Regents policy on possession and carrying of weapons.
While gun violence remains a threat in our communities and to our campus, students seem to have other worries at the forefront of their mind when it comes to security on and off-campus; the biggest of which is an increase in robberies in recent years. A majority of poll-takers, about 84%, indicated they live off-campus; as such, concerns ranged from walking alone at night to getting mugged or having something stolen from their car.
The University has taken some proactive steps in regard to general campus safety. For example, most university-owned buildings are now locked at certain times of the day and require a U-card to open. Yet, with the statistics of mass shootings being what they are, it is evident that there is a long way to go when tackling gun violence and making Gophers feel safe on-campus or on streets off-campus. From gaining student engagement to actively informing the public about how to stay safe, we all have a responsibility to strive for a stronger and safer community.
If gun violence is an issue that you’re personally concerned about and would like to take action, might I suggest interacting with Everytown for Gun Safety or March For Our Lives on their social media accounts. They frequently circulate petitions for legal and policy action, statistics regarding gun violence, and information on where political candidates (like Tim Walz vs. JD Vance, and Kamala Harris vs. Donald Trump) stand on gun control.
And when it comes to stepping up in our own communities, it could be helpful to consider fighting for proactive community policing and support, which work to address community problems and tackle them before the need for retroactive, traditional policing, which merely responds to crimes after they occur. It has been said before that the communities with the least amount of resources see the most amount of crime, a result consistent with several studies, ranging from one published by the CDC to a study from the University of California-Davis. While we might be scared of certain crimes in our own communities, it is important to remember we are in fact a part of our communities, which is both a simple fact easy to overlook and also a reminder to support one another. Safety can start with us, so consider how you might get involved if that is an issue near to your heart.