The public opinion certainly seems to be that school shootings have become more prevalent in recent years, that schools are more dangerous places. Studies, however, indicate something quite a bit different. The major change, I think, isn’t that school shootings have become more common; rather, its that the media cover them more and social media allows them to be more “immediate.” A study by Northeastern University puts some numbers onto the subject:

Schools are safer than they were in the 90s, and school shootings are not more common than they used to be, researchers say

Things were *not* better during the years when the Clinton “Assault Weapons Ban” was in effect. Columbine, the sort of Ur-School-Shooting, was right smack in the middle of the AWB.

A related story from Northeastern U:

How did the media get the number of school shootings so wrong?

After the Parkland school shooting, the claim hit the press that already in 2018 there had been 18 school shootings in the US. But by any rational definition of “school shooting, there had been no such number. One was a kid who committed suicide in the bathroom. Another was an adult who shot himself in the parking lot of a school that had been shut down for seven months. At least two were shootings in the parking lot hours *after* school. Only eight of the eighteen “school shootings” actually involved injuries.

The author suggests that the cause underlying this sort of bad reporting is a desire to be First with the news coupled with laziness. This is undoubtedly true… but do not discount the importance of simply not giving a damn about the facts when it comes time to promote a political narrative.