I  often hear "The government has done no studies on school shootings in over 2 decades!!!" Why wait for the government? "The government has funded studies through various universities and colleges. But when "the government" funds studies, a number of people do not like the findings, or find fault with the authors of the studies based on real or perceived political biases.  Below are a few studies, in no particular order. I added them as I located them from my files. Be sure to check the dates on the studies; some are indeed older than 2 decades. That doesn't make them worthless; it ..read more

I often hear "The government has done no studies on school shootings in over 2 decades!!!" Why wait for the government? "The government has funded studies through various universities and colleges. But when "the government" funds studies, a number of people do not like the findings, or find fault with the authors of the studies based on real or perceived political biases.  Below are quite a few studies, in no particular order. I added them as I located them from my files. Be sure to check the dates on the studies; some are indeed older than 2 decades. That doesn't make them worthless; it ..read more

I often hear "The government has done no studies on school shootings in over 2 decades!!!" Why wait for the government? "The government has funded studies through various universities and colleges. But when "the government" funds studies, a number of people do not like the findings, or find fault with the authors of the studies based on real or perceived political biases.  Below are quite a few studies, in no particular order. I added them as I located them from my files. Be sure to check the dates on the studies; some are indeed older than 2 decades. That doesn't make them worthless; it ..read more

Twenty-five years ago today, two of the youngest mass shooters--11 and 13 years old-- committed a sniper-style rampage on their school, Westside Middle School, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. They served juvenile life; each getting out at age twenty-one. Both were able to legally purchase weapons--which they did. The older boy served a prison sentence as an adult for weapons charges. The night before their rampage, they amassed an arsenal of 13 weapons and over 2,000 rounds of ammunition. They loaded the weapons and ammunition into a van belonging to a mother of one of the boys. They also packed foo ..read more

On January 14, 2014, two students were injured by a shotgun blast in the gymnasium of their middle school by a 12-year-old shooter. The photo to the left is of X-rays of the 12-year-old male victim. Sometimes we need visual reminders that after shootings happen, it isn't over for the victims. In addition to the mental scars that are invisible to the rest of us, there are physical scars. And there is often long term internal damage that will be with victims for the rest of their lives. In the X-ray, you can see over 1000 pellets left in his body. They are too numerous, and too deep, to be rem ..read more

On January 23, 2018, Preston Cope and Bailey Holt, both 15-years-old, were shot at Marshall County High school in Benton, Kentucky. Bailey died at the scene; Preston died later at the hospital. Eighteen others were injured in the shooting or the ensuing chaos. The shooter was also 15-years-old. He used his step-father’s Ruger handgun, which had been stored in a closet. People always want to know the motive, the “why.” The shooter’s response was he was interested in science and considered it a science experiment—he wanted to see how students, police, and society would respond. After the sh ..read more

  The girl in this photo was 6-year-old Kayla Rolland. Kayla was shot and killed in her elementary school in February 2000--almost 23 years ago. I keep hearing and seeing that what happened at Richneck Elementary school in Newport News is "unprecedented." And hearing it from those who should know better. 6-year-old used mother's gun to shoot 'hero' Newport News teacher, police say Some are saying the world is traumatized right now because of what happened at Richneck Elementary school. But they'll forget. Just like everyone has forgotten Kayla. The 6-year-old who shot Kayla had told her ..read more

I have several drafts of blog posts but haven't felt like finishing them to publish. It all seems so futile. Parents don't listen, those in charge of school safety don't listen. So much has been learned about school safety in the last 2 decades.  I often think of this quote by Mary Ellen O'Toole (a former FBI agent, she consulted on the Columbine High School shooting as well as the shooting at Red Lake Minnesota and the mass school killings in Finland. Dr. O'Toole was the lead researcher and author of the FBI's seminal work in school violence, The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Persp ..read more

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