Purpose

This study examines the relationship between state gun ownership rates and school firearm incidents (n = 1275) and injured/killed victims (n = 2026) of these incidents over a forty-year period (1980–2019). It also investigates whether child access prevention, minimum age requirements for gun purchases, and mandatory gun safety training laws are associated with fewer school firearm incidents and injured/killed victims.

Methods

Data were linked together from the School Shootings Database, State Firearm Law Database, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the US Census Bureau. State fixed effects and interrupted time series analyses were performed.

Results

State gun ownership rates declined between 1980 and 2019 while school firearm incidents generally ranged between 20 and 40 incidents before skyrocketing to 102 incidents in 2018 and 110 incidents in 2019. Findings were mixed on the relationship between state gun ownership rates and school firearm incidents and injured/killed victims. Additionally, child access prevention, minimum age requirements for gun purchases, and mandatory gun safety training laws exhibited weak and inconsistent relationships with school firearm incidents.

Discussion

Although access to firearms plays an undeniable role in school shootings, it remains unclear what policies are needed to reduce these incidents. Future research may be needed to explore holistic approaches to addressing this problem.

中文翻译：

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枪支拥有率和法规是否与美国学校的枪支事件有关？四十年分析（1980-2019）

目的

本研究调查 了 40 年（1980-2019 年）国家枪支拥有率与学校枪支事件 ( n  = 1275) 以及这些事件的受伤/死亡受害者 ( n = 2026) 之间的关系。它还调查儿童接触预防、购买枪支的最低年龄要求和强制性枪支安全培训法律是否与减少学校枪支事件和受伤/死亡受害者有关。

方法

数据来自学校枪击事件数据库、州枪支法律数据库、国家教育统计中心和美国人口普查局。进行了状态固定效应和中断时间序列分析。

结果

1980 年至 2019 年期间，国家枪支拥有率有所下降，而学校枪支事件一般在 20 至 40 起之间，然后猛增至 2018 年的 102 起和 2019 年的 110 起。关于国家枪支拥有率与学校枪支事件和受伤者之间关系的调查结果喜忧参半/杀死受害者。此外，儿童准入预防、购买枪支的最低年龄要求和强制性枪支安全培训法律与学校枪支事件的关系很弱且不一致。

讨论

尽管获得枪支在学校枪击事件中发挥着不可否认的作用，但仍不清楚需要采取哪些政策来减少这些事件。未来的研究可能需要探索解决这个问题的整体方法。