Headline Roundup • December 14th, 2025
Fact Check: How Many School Shootings Happened in 2025?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Different definitions of "school shootings" fuel public confusion about school safety and violent crime in the U.S.
Different Data: There are multiple commonly cited sources tracking U.S. "school shootings." The K-12 Violence Project, run by data scientist David Riedman, has a "K-12 School Shooting Database" counting any incident "when 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." This tracker has counted 229 school shootings in 2025. EducationWeek (Center bias), a news organization, uses more limited criteria and has counted 17 school shootings in 2025. The K-12 Violence Project counted 330 school shootings in 2024, versus 39 counted by EducationWeek. CNN (Lean Left bias) conducted its own analysis of the data, and concluded that 83 school shootings happened in 2024 as of Dec. 16.
How the Media Covers It: Many sources, especially on the left and center but also some on the right, cite the K-12 Violence Project data when reporting on the "number of school shootings" in a given timeframe. The Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) is among the sources that use the EducationWeek data. The Daily Mail (Right bias) cited CNN's data.
Why the Difference: People on the left are generally in favor of gun restrictions and may gravitate toward data sources that emphasize problems with guns. People on the right are generally less supportive of gun restrictions and may gravitate toward data sources that make gun problems seem less severe. This summary will be updated throughout 2025. Last updated 12/16/25 at 8:01am ET.
Featured Coverage of this Story
CNN Digital
There have been at least 83 school shootings in the United States so far this year, as of December 16. Twenty-seven were on college campuses, and 56 were on K-12 school grounds. The incidents left 38 people dead and at least 116 other victims injured, according to CNN’s analysis of events reported by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week and Everytown for Gun Safety.
Different definitions of “school shooting” are contributing to misinformation about the issue.
The number of children killed by guns in America has risen by 85 per cent in the last decade as school shootings rose year-on-year, data shows.
