Ryan Gainer, a 15-year-old African-American youth on the Autism-spectrum, was shot and killed by police officers in March 2024. The authors reflect on the tragedy of this incident and the harms that such police actions inflict on people living with disabilities and/or mental illnesses, as well as on their families, loved ones, and communities.…

Gun violence is a significant public health issue. The U.S. has more than one mass shooting a day in which four or more people are injured or killed. However, mass shootings are only the tip of the iceberg of gun violence. Among developed nations, the U.S. is an outlier in both gun possession and gun deaths. Gun deaths affect not only the victim…

Despite the fact that schools remain incredibly safe spaces for children and youth to spend time, the occurrence of mass school shootings, although rare, is a pressing issue for our society. In this paper we discuss the importance of action, advocacy, and research related to mass school shootings. Specifically, we discuss research-based actions…

Background: Although less than 2% of all homicides among young people are school-associated, since 1970 1373 K-12 school gun violence incidents have injured 1403 people and killed another 728. These incidents have changed the education landscape. Informed stakeholders must work together to prevent school gun violence. Methods: We reviewed the…

Douglas Kellner's "Re-Visioning Education: Cultural Studies, Critical Media and Digital Literacies, and Democracy" provides a comprehensive account of his critical theory of education that combines his work in philosophy of education, cultural studies, and media and digital literacies aimed at a critical theory of education and radical…

School violence, and particularly, school shootings, remain a serious concern among parents, community members, educators, and governmental leadership at the local, state, and national levels. While school shootings periodically dominate media coverage of school safety issues, schools are among the safest places for students in the community. This…

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…

In this essay, Drew Chambers argues that the implementation of modern security technology in American schools (also known as target hardening) may do more harm than good, especially when such technologies represent the primary mode of risk responsiveness. In using technological measures to reduce risk, schools may inadvertently undermine both…

In "Hood Feminism," Mikki Kendall critiques mainstream feminism arguing that the feminist movement does not focus on the basic needs of all women. Kendall defines feminism as "the work that you do, and the people you do it for who matter more than anything else" (Kendall, 2020, p.xiii). She focuses on the experiences of…

The increased publicity of mass shootings and the COVID-19 pandemic have fueled American demand for firearm purchases. Firearm violence has largely been blamed on people with mental illnesses instead of firearm accessibility, despite the lack of population-level evidence associating mental illness with firearm violence perpetration. We support…

This paper conceptualises one possible antidote to the conditions that produce public mass gun violence (PMGV) in the United States. I begin by illuminating how PMGV is a backlash to the nation's 'founding' on the violent divisions of colonisation and coloniality. I then inquire: If PMGV is a reflection of a deep societal wound, what methodologies…

A major teacher shortage exists in the United States. As teachers leave the classroom in droves, administrators are forced to hire unlicensed educators in order to fill vacant positions. Teachers have decided to change professions due to a lack of competitive salaries, fear of personal safety, and a lack of support from education stakeholders.…

This article focuses on gun violence in the school setting and the role of the counselor in helping to reduce gun violence. Gun violence in schools has become pervasive for many reasons, including lack of adequate support staff, undiagnosed mental health issues, students who experience isolation, anger, depression, bullying, as well as access to…

This paper examines student exposure to school shootings in the United States since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School. We analyze shootings that occurred during school hours on a school day and resulted in a death. These shootings are likely to be uniformly reported and have a greater potential to cause harm -- either directly or…

Using data from the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), this report presents findings both on crime and violence in U.S. public schools and on the practices and programs schools have used to promote school safety. SSOCS is managed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of…