Texas experienced one of the deadliest school shootings in United States history in 2022 when a gunman murdered 19 children and two educators and injured 14 others at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. A few years prior in 2018, a gunman killed 10 people and wounded 13 others, including a police officer, at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, a Houston suburb.

The Texas Legislature’s response to horrific events like these has been to implement the Texas school marshal and school guardian programs, placing unsecured guns into our most vulnerable spaces, via armed staff with varying degrees of training. Texas Gun Sense strongly supports keeping guns out of vulnerable spaces like schools.

Evidence shows that armed staff and even trained law enforcement have not prevented school shootings. In a United States Secret Service Study of 41 incidents, only 6 out of the 41 incidents were ended by law enforcement intervention. 

Nine schools across the country that experienced school shootings in 2018-2023, including in Uvalde, Santa Fe, and Covenant School in Kentucky, had armed guards on premises. 

The Robb Elementary shooting is a tragic example of the likelihood that even highly-trained officers are unable to stop a school shooter. The Texas Legislature is currently considering legislation that would expand armed personnel at schools across the state. 

Educators overwhelmingly do not support expanding guns in schools. In a survey by the Texas American Federation of Teachers, 76% of K-12 teachers reported a wish not to be armed, and 90% of respondents were fearful of gun violence in occuring in the school. Instead, respondents in the survey overwhelmingly supported stricter enforcement of gun violence prevention laws  such as red flag laws and raising the minimum age to purchase guns. 

Giffords (2023) reports that 80% of teachers, 70% of teenagers, and 70% of parents do not support arming teachers in schools.

According to the American Psychological Association, students of color are often disciplined more harshly in schools, and Giffords reported last year that there have been nearly 100 reported incidents of mishandled guns at schools in the last five years — illustrating that armed staff could do more harm than good. We know that the solution to school violence is prevention. 

Recommendations

Texas Gun Sense supports the implementation of evidence-based policies to reduce and end gun violence. Extreme Risk Protection laws keep the public safe by temporarily suspending access to guns by individuals who are making imminent threats of lethal harm. 

Additionally, we know that creating stronger vetting requirements for semi-automatic gun purchases is a necessary step for making schools safer, as we cannot ignore the fact that nearly every mass shooting is carried out with a semi-automatic rifle, and many are perpetrated by people under the age of 21.

Lastly, we can keep our schools and families safe through awareness of safe gun storage practices.