Hayes seeks school shooting data to stop another Sandy Hook
Bill would define school shootings, require feds to collect annual data on gunman’s motivation to victims’ demographics
NEWTOWN — School shootings would be defined for the first time, and the government would have to collect annual data on everything from a school shooter’s motivation and the guns used to the demographics of victims under a bill co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes.
“By analyzing the history of school shootings, we can identify shooting and fatality statistics; shooter and victim demographics, shooter motivations, the firearms and ammunition acquired and used, and maintain a database, so we can attempt to get to the core of why this phenomenon continues to occur,” said Hayes, a secondterm Democrat from Connecticut’s 5th District, in a prepared statement. “The School Shooting Safety and Preparedness Act is a key prevention measure providing the framework to obtain the data needed to be proactive.”
Hayes and co-sponsors of the bill say that without a federal definition of school shootings, legislators have to rely on media reports, “which can vary widely.” Instead, the lawmakers want standardized data to identify trends in school shootings, measure the impact of school safety efforts and devise better intervention strategies.
“The more we know about the dangers that guns pose to our classrooms, the more likely we are to prevent the next Marjorie Stoneman Douglas or Sandy Hook massacre,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat who introduced the bill. “We just need the data to help identify trends and gaps, and then we can work toward solving it.”
The father of a boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting agreed.
“Congress must take a comprehensive and holistic approach to keep youth safe from gun violence,” said Mark Barden, co-founder and managing director of the homegrown nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise. “Ensuring we have the best data possible on violence in schools is necessary to save lives.”
School shootings were in the headlines Wednesday in Texas, where police said an 18-year-old student opened fire during a fight at his Dallas-area high school, injuring at least four people.
The Newtown-based trade association for the firearms industry declined to comment on the bill. Mark Oliva, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said the numbered bill had not been posted on the congressional legislative website by Wednesday.
According to a final draft of the bill provided by Hayes’ office, the legislation would define a school shooting where at least one victim was injured or killed by a firearm on a school campus, including suicide, regardless of the time, or while the victim was traveling to or from class or a school-sponsored event. The federal definition would exclude accidental shootings.
From that definition, the Hayes bill would require a deep dive into school shootings nationwide, seeking demographic data about the victims and the shooters “including any real or perceived bias based on race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or sex,” and detailing information about the number and types of firearms and ammunition used.
The bill would also require the federal education department to “produce comprehensive annual reports on school safety indicators,” and “track prevention efforts, such as building designs, and communication and response plans.”
“There is not currently a federal definition for a ‘school shooting,’ yet far too many of our young people have witnessed one firsthand,” said U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, a Georgia Democrat who co-sponsored the bill.
A school violence prevention advocate agreed.
“I will never forget the strange feeling of my first school shooter drill my senior year of high school in Pembroke Pines, Florida, and how it felt to think about preventing my own murder,” said Bella D’Alacio, policy associate with the nonprofit March for Our Lives.
“It was the day before the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting 23 miles away,” D’Alacio said. “When we talk about common sense gun violence prevention, bills like this are exactly what we mean.”