The Cumulative Costs of Gun Violence on Students and Schools

Children and adolescents are dying from gun violence at alarmingly high rates in the United States, with firearms now the leading cause of death among youth ages 1 to 19 (figure 1). The threat of gun violence, the trauma it causes, and the horrific loss of these young lives to firearms all have profound consequences that extend across entire communities and our education system as a whole. In this blog, the CEA reviews these cumulative costs, focusing on the lasting damage to the academic, labor market, and mental health outcomes of youth exposed to gun violence in our classrooms and neighborhoods. Gun violence also destabilizes schools and causes them to spend billions of scarce dollars on security measures. These are resources that could be much more productively applied to academic investments. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken actions to reduce gun violence inside and outside of schools, including providing additional resources and information on evidence-based practices. It is essential that forthcoming administrations build on this progress.

Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Uvalde. Mass shootings in K-12 schools and on college campuses have become part of the American lexicon. Most recently, on December 16^th, a 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin used a handgun to kill a student and a teacher and wound six others before taking her own life. According to the Washington Post, this was the 426^th K-12 school shooting in the United States since the Columbine High School Massacre in 1999. These horrifying attacks represent only a small fraction of the gun-violence youth are exposed to in the United States. Since 1999, over 80,000 U.S. children and adolescents have died from gun-violence (figure 1).

High rates of school shootings and firearm deaths among youth are a uniquely American phenomenon. Between 2009 and 2018, there were a combined total of five recorded school shootings in G-7 member countries Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The United States averaged six school shootings every two and half months during the same ten-year period, a rate that has only increased since.[1] Furthermore, firearm mortality rates among children and adolescents are at least 10 times higher in the United States compared to other high-income nations (figure 2). This epidemic of gun violence affecting youth contributed to the U.S. Surgeon General's decision to declare firearm violence in America a public health crisis on June 25^th of last year.

Gun Violence In Schools

A broad body of research documents how school shootings have long-term, cascading negative consequences for the academic, labor market, and mental health outcomes of the more than 390,000 student survivors. For example, Cabral and colleagues (2024) use detailed longitudinal data from Texas to show that being exposed to a school shooting reduces the likelihood students graduate from high school and obtain a bachelor's degree by 3.4 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively. They find that survivors of school shootings are less likely to ever be employed, and if employed, earn $2,600 less annually, on average, amounting to a present-discounted value of over $100,000 in lost lifetime earnings. Exposure to school shootings also leads to persistent increases in youth antidepressant use. High-fatality shootings substantially elevate the rates of suicide and overdose deaths among survivors.

Gun Violence Out of School

In 2022 alone, 4,603children and adolescents lost their lives to gun violence and another 27,902 were shot by a firearm. Youth exposed to these senseless acts of violence in their communities suffer serious negative mental health consequences, attend school less regularly, and perform worse on standardized tests. Acutely violent shooting events can also have broader negative economic impacts, particular when these events receive more national media coverge. One study estimates that mass shootings cause a 2.4% decline in earnings per capita in affected counties, due in part to decreased employment driven by the deterioration of residents' mental health and negative perceptions about business conditions.

The Steep Costs of School Safety Expenditures

The ever-present threat of gun violence has contributed to states and districts spending billions of dollars annually on school safety, some of which might otherwise be used for more academically focused investments. Data from the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights show that, nationally, public schools employ more security guards and school resource officers (SRO) than counselors, nurses, psychologists, and social workers combined. In fact, estimates from 2017 put spending on security guards and SROs at $17.8 billion in 2023 dollars, on par with the entire budget of major federal education programs such as the National School Meal Program or Title I, Part A that provides funds to underserved schools. Other substantial costs to education budgets include access control infrastructure, surveillance systems, and electronic notification systems which exceeded $3.1 billion in 2021 for elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools.

The Challenge of Staffing Schools Exposed to Gun Violence

Gun violence also undercuts schools' ability to attract and retain educators, leading to inequitable educational opportunities for communities that experience high rates of firearm related crimes. Research shows that teachers and substitutes are less likely to apply to jobs in schools where more crimes occur and in schools located in neighborhoods with higher violent crime rates. School shootings also result in a rise in turnover among teachers and instructional support staff. Concerns about school shootings may also keep some prospective teachers from joining the profession given that a majority of teachers (59%) now report that they are at least somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting happening at their school. Given the primary importance of fully staffing schools with highly qualified educators, the harmful labor market effects of gun violence can have persistent negative organizational consequences for schools.

Combating The Effect of Gun Violence on Students and Schools

It doesn't have to be this way. That is why the Biden-Harris Administration has taken a broad range of actions to reduce gun violence and increase the safety and mental health of students in school settings. These efforts include signing the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which expanded background checks for firearm purchases including for individuals under age 21, funded state red flag laws, and provided over $1 billion in funding to support safer schools and expanded school mental health services. The Administration also has issued executive actions to stop the proliferation of "ghost guns" without serial numbers, to promote safe gun storage, and expand the use of evidence-based practice to make active-shooter drills more effective exercises. Additionally, the Administration opened the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and initiated a coordinated gun violence emergency response system.

It will take continued bold leadership to reduce gun violence, including passing common sense gun violence prevention and safety laws. Such efforts will benefit students, schools, communities, and the economy as a whole.

[1] These estimates include K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and vocational schools.