This year has seen a great deal of news dedicated to mass shootings. From nightclub shootings to those that take place on private streets in communities, mass shootings have taken center stage in our news cycle and brought up the debate around gun control and the Second Amendment. But the main story being told about mass shootings relates to school shootings that have seen an unfortunate rise lately.

According to CNN, American schools have seen an average of one mass shooting a week this year alone. And even though little information is available when it comes to school mass shooting statistics, there’s still enough to glean from to know that there is an epidemic in the United States compared to other countries.

How We Measure Up

CNN looked at where the United States stands in school shootings compared to other modern countries, such as Japan, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and France. Since January 2009, the U.S. has seen at least 288 school shootings, which is 57 times as many shootings as other G7 countries (those listed above) combined. And while, in some cases, other countries’ shootings have seen more casualties case-by-case, the United States leads in frequency of attacks by a large margin.

In February of this year, 17 students and teachers were murdered by a former student at Stoneman Douglas High School. This event sparked major discussions and political movements around gun control, creating moments of intense activism among the shooting’s survivors and the community surrounding the high school. And in May, Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, outside of Houston, saw 10 people killed at the hands of a current student, just weekdays before school was to let out for the summer.

What’s Being Done

At least a dozen states are considering red flag laws that allow authorities to seize the guns of those found by a court to be a danger to family and others. There are already six states—California, Oregon, Washington, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Indiana—that have some form of the law in place.

Florida, the state where the Parkland tragedy took place in February, is considering red flag laws as well as proposing raising the semi automatic rifle ownership age to 21.

While gun debates are at a standstill in some cases, there are efforts to outline the possibility of arming teachers in schools instead of banning guns completely. While this has not been well received, there hasn’t been major progress for any type of legislation in the United States with the goal of curbing tragedies from happening.

At PGUI, we have developed a Deadly Weapon Protection insurance program to provide educational providers with third-party liability coverage as well as Crisis Management services. Unlike other similar policies, this program has no terrorism exclusion and no named insured exclusion, making this a valuable protection for your clients in these difficult times. Contact us today if you would like a quote or more information for your clients.

About Professional Governmental Underwriters, Inc.

Professional Governmental Underwriters, Inc., is a full-service risk management company dedicated to assisting public, educational and non-profit entities in the management of their professional liability exposures. We are dedicated to providing state-of-the-art professional underwriting management and loss control advisory services on behalf of our designated carriers. For more information, call us toll-free at (800) 586-6502.