Our schools should be safe from gun violence. Here's how to take action.

As students, the last thing we should have to worry about is gun violence in schools. America’s gun violence epidemic, in the form of mass shootings, gun homicides, non-fatal assaults, unintentional discharges, and firearm suicides, has been infecting our schools. We don’t have to live like this. We need meaningful action—not just from elected officials, but also from our schools—to keep us safe. As young people, we can be a part of the change.

How to Get Started

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Join Students Demand Action

Join our movement of students demanding action to prevent gun violence.

School Safety Issues You Care About

Preventing gun violence in schools doesn’t have one single solution—but a network of solutions that together will help us stay safe. Select an issue area to learn more about how these solutions will help keep your schools safe—and ways to take action.

Reconsider Active Shooter Drills

Even though active shooter drills are a common practice in American schooling, almost no research affirms the value of drills involving students for preventing school shootings.

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Remove School Resource Officers

School Resource Officers don’t stop school shootings but research has shown that SROs can harm students in various ways, including criminalizing typical youth and teen behavior.

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Don’t Arm Teachers

Arming teachers does not make our schools safer. In fact, putting a firearm in the classroom increases the likelihood that a student will get access to a gun, escalates the risk of shootings, and introduces new liability risks.

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Secure Gun Storage

Storing guns unloaded, locked, and separate from ammunition can save lives.

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Why Students Care About School Safety

Sari Kaufman

Students Demand Action volunteer leader and member of the Everytown Survivor Network

“After the shooting, my school, my city, and my friends were changed forever. My community will always have a wound unhealed. No one should have to face my reality of going to a school where their fellow classmates and teachers were killed. While schools are generally safe places for kids — mass shootings (including school shootings) make up less than 1% of all gun deaths in the United States — the reality is school no longer feels safe for many students.
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Ta’Kirah Jeffries

Students Demand Action volunteer in Arkansas

“Since that shooting in 2021 and another near the school in January of this year, very little has been done to improve school safety. What my school really needs to do is properly train the teachers to handle these situations based on their location on campus, to reconsider active shooter drills, and so much more.”
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Maddie Ahmadi

Member of the Students Demand Action National Advisory Board

“My generation is tired of feeling the world around us slip back into normalcy just hours after shootings that rock our communities. We are tired of always getting thoughts and prayers instead of protection. The threat of gun violence in my school scares me, but it also ignites me to action. We are standing up, speaking out, and organizing to make sure the gun violence affecting our communities is being addressed.”
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Urge Your School Board to Keep Schools Safe

It’s far past time for the people in power to address common-sense policies and programs that are proven to make schools safer. Utilize our toolkit to learn about school safety solutions and urge your school board to act on school safety.

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Students in the United States must consistently navigate the threat of gun violence in schools. It may be difficult to process feelings or reactions that can come from a threat of gun violence. If you need to cope with the trauma from the threat of gun violence, here is some information that may help.

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