Fact Check: How Many School Shootings Have Happened in 2023?
AllSides Summary
Sources across the spectrum report different numbers on how many school shootings have happened so far in 2023.
Misleading Quotes: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said in April that there had been "more school shootings than days in the year" to date in 2023, an apparent reference to the Violence Project's "K-12 School Shooting Database", which tracks any incident in which "a gun is brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time, or day of the week."
Fact Checks: The Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) moved to fact-check Murphy by distinguishing between shootings during school hours and violence near schools. The Examiner noted that under the K-12 database's definition, "a gang-related shooting near a school during which a bullet strikes a sidewalk on a weekend, with no students present," would count toward the number of "school shootings."
Differing Data: EducationWeek's (Center bias) tracker uses more limited criteria than that of the Violence Project. As of Aug. 31, EducationWeek had tallied 27 school shootings in 2023; the Violence Project had counted 223 incidents. Last updated Aug. 31.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
74 people have been killed or injured by guns at American schools this year
On Monday, three children and three staff members were fatally shot at the Covenant School in Nashville, which one expert describes as part of an "astronomical increase" in violence on school campuses in recent years.
There is no universal definition of a school shooting, explains Jillian Peterson, an associate professor of criminology and the president of the Violence Project, a non-profit research center.
"In my research, we focus on school mass shootings, which is a really narrow definition where somebody comes, is heavily armed, fires indiscriminately, and kills four or...
From the Center
School Shootings This Year: How Many and Where
School shootings—terrifying to students, educators, parents, and communities—always reignite polarizing debates about gun rights and school safety. To bring context to these debates, Education Week journalists began tracking shootings on K-12 school property that resulted in firearm-related injuries or deaths.
In 2023, we continue this heartbreaking, but important work. More information about this tracker and our methodology is below.
There have been 13 school shootings this year that resulted in injuries or deaths. There have been 157 such shootings since 2018. There were 51 school shootings with injuries or deaths last year, the most in...
From the Right
Democrats distort the record on guns after Nashville shooting
One week after a shooter opened fire in a Nashville, Tennessee, Christian school and killed six people, including three children, Democrats have continued to press for an assault-style weapons ban they have sought for years.
Democrats accused their Republican counterparts of blocking legislation that would protect children at school from mass shootings, while GOP lawmakers insisted that further limits on gun ownership would not have stopped the Nashville attack or others like it.
And while Democrats still don’t have the votes yet to advance an assault-style weapons ban, they have relied on occasionally misleading rhetoric to push...
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