Signs are emerging that the challenges of the pandemic are worsening gun violence in American schools. Researchers studying the phenomenon worry it will only grow.
Highlights
- Signs are emerging that the stresses and challenges of the pandemic are worsening gun violence in American schools.
- Researchers who are studying the phenomenon worry it will only get worse.
- Already, campuses have been the site of 141 shootings so far during the 2021-22 school year - more than at any point in the previous decade.
- “We’re going to see a variety of different forms of gun violence and violence in general,” says Ron Avi Astor, a school violence expert at UCLA.
- He said the problem is not necessarily too little funding, but the missing human capital – teachers, specialists and staff who could help tackle the crisis of violence.
- Researchers agree the decimation of school services is a big contributor.