As state legislatures increasingly turn their gaze to education and school policy, one intervention that is particularly concerning is the proposal to arm civilian school personnel. Under the guise of school safety, these policies suggest that allowing teachers, who often have little if any training, to carry weapons on school grounds may deter a…

We assessed college students' perceptions of safety related to concealed carry of firearms on a university campus. Explicit assessments were collected before passage, before implementation, and after implementation of the law; implicit assessments were collected before and after implementation. For comparison, we included college students from a…

Limited research has been conducted on the state-level factors that may be associated with intentional school shootings. We obtained school shooting data from the "Washington Post" that identified any act of intentional interpersonal gunfire in a K-12 school over the course of two decades. We also compiled new data on active school…

An array of federal, state, and local laws and policies come into play when situations arise that could compromise student safety. These laws and district policies combine to form an intricate and sometimes inconsistent patchwork of protocols that schools must follow. Robert Kim discusses the interplay between federal, state, and local laws…

Restraint and seclusion (R/S) are practices employed by schools to address severe student behavior. Although the use of R/S has been shown to have harmful impact for students, staff, and schools, there is no federal law that addresses its use in schools. A lack of a universal approach leaves each state to determine its own legislation and policy.…

This study examined differences in reported campus criminality on selected community college campuses in the years between 2005 and 2016 representing the years preceding and succeeding the implementation of Mississippi's 2011 concealed carry legislation. Each campus included in this study is a public-funded community college in Mississippi. Using…

The 2017 Georgia House Bill 280 states that, with limited exceptions, a properly licensed handgun owner can Concealed Carry on Georgia's public college and university campuses. Since its inception and because of the recent history of mass shootings, much controversy surrounds this law. The infancy of and controversy behind this law calls for…

Using the state of Georgia as a backdrop, this paper highlights the current state of the GFSA (Gun-Free Schools Act) in the United States of America, initially enacted in 1994, 30 years later. The progress of school-based ZTPs (Zero Tolerance Policies) in practice shows that progress remains slow a quarter of a century later. In response, this…

As campus carry policies are implemented at colleges and universities across the country, the concern for the safety of students, faculty members, and campus community members has heightened. In the state of Texas, broad sweeping campus carry policies were recently enacted by Texas State Legislature that allows individuals to conceal carry…

Campus carry laws have allowed civilians to legally bring their concealed firearms onto college and university campuses in several states in the U.S. over the past decade. Previous studies have addressed the policy's legal grounds, arguments for and against it, impacts on campus safety, and faculty and students' attitudes toward it. This paper…

This document provides recommendations of the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders (CCBD) regarding the use of seclusion in schools. It updates the CCBD's position on this topic first published in 2009 and includes (a) key definitions, (b) a summary of problems with the use of seclusion, (c) strategies to eliminate the use of seclusion,…

While there is an increased national focus on student safety and gun violence in schools, the policies for arming teachers are often vague and unclear. Additionally, policies and laws enforcing safety protocol for students differ across states. Clarity in policies are important for stakeholders in school communities who can use such information to…

Students in the present educational landscape are experiencing issues of bullying and harassment at an alarming level. A primary duty of a school administrator is to ensure the safety of all students from the repercussions of unattended to bullying and harassment issues, which has become a significant challenge with the increase in remote…

High-profile school attacks highlight the need for effective school safety solutions. School safety tip lines offer a prevention-based solution. However, little is known about their effectiveness. Using a quasi-experimental multilevel design, we examined the association between school tip-line adoption and violent threats and attacks at school…

Following the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech, policymakers have sought ways to improve safety on college and university campuses nationwide. Among the more recent proposals is to permit concealed handgun licensees to carry on campus. To date, eight states have enacted legislation implementing this measure. A limited body of research considers the…