On Monday, a second-grade teacher at Abundant Life Christian School, in Madison, Wisconsin, called 911 to report that the campus had been attacked. A 15-year-old girl who attended the private academy, which serves around 400 grade-school kids, had allegedly opened fire inside the building. A fellow student and a teacher were killed, and six others injured. As of early Wednesday morning, two wounded students remained in critical condition. According to CNN, it was at least the 83rd school shooting in 2024, a year in which gun violence has declined in most parts of the country.
Police have not announced a motive for the alleged shooter, who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, nor how she obtained her weapon. It is notable that the suspect was a girl: Women are rarely perpetrators of gun homicide, The Trace’s Jennifer Mascia reported earlier this year, and they are even less likely to carry out a mass shooting. A Washington Post analysis shows similar findings: Of suspected school shooters with known ages since the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School, only nine have been female.
Since Columbine, guns have become ubiquitous in the U.S., and in schools. Although attacks like the one in Madison remain relatively rare, shootings in the immediate vicinity of schools are disturbingly common, and firearms have become fixtures on campuses: The number of students who bring guns to school jumped more than 300 percent between the 2015-2016 and 2022-2023 school years. A majority of schools now have security cameras, at least one armed security staffer, an electronic notification system for campuswide emergencies, and an anonymous threat reporting system. (A representative for Abundant Life said that the school uses cameras but not metal detectors, and students aren’t allowed to pretend to shoot finger guns on the playground.) In the 2019-2020 school year, 96 percent of schools had a written plan “that describes procedures to be performed” in the event of an active shooter.
“This is not OK,” said parent Mireille Jean-Charles, whose sons attend Abundant Life. “If your kids are at school, they are not OK. If they are at church, they are not OK. If they are outside elsewhere, they are not OK. Where, where are they going to be safe?”
From The Trace
- When Pregnancy Makes You a Target: Pregnant people are more likely to die by homicide than any obstetric-related cause — particularly if they are young or Black. These three women are seeking justice for their daughters.
- Listen to ‘Roots and Realities,’ a Series on Gun Violence in Philadelphia: Mensah M. Dean worked with The Philadelphia Citizen to record podcast editions of his stories about the causes and consequences of gunfire in Black America.
- Navigating the Justice System Is Daunting — Especially If You’re Grieving: In the aftermath of a sudden loss, gun violence survivors say they need empathy and guidance from law enforcement.
What to Know Today
In their 2025 legislative session, Wyoming lawmakers will consider a proposal to create an “enhanced” concealed carry permit for public school and college campuses, zones where permitholders are currently barred from carrying with few exceptions. The bill, apparently inspired by a parent who wanted to carry when he dropped his child off at school, would require “enhanced” permit applicants to complete eight hours of firearms training. [WyoFile]
Under President Joe Biden, the ATF adopted an aggressive policy agenda to reduce gun violence, including efforts to crack down on ghost guns and step up policing of lawbreaking gun dealers. President-elect Donald Trump is likely to roll those policies back, and the agency — whose power the gun lobby and its congressional allies have worked to diminish — itself faces a deeply uncertain future. ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, the Biden appointee whom Trump has promised to fire, has said he plans to quit before the president-elect takes power. [The New York Times]
As sightings of suspected drones over the East Coast have increased, some government officials, including President-elect Donald Trump and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, have called for them to be shot down. Shooting at drones, however, is illegal and dangerous, and many of the flying objects could be manned aircraft that people have misidentified. [CNN]
More than a year has passed since the massacre in Lewiston, Maine, but many businesses in the working-class city are still feeling the economic effects of the state’s deadliest mass shooting. Tourism cratered after the attack, and many establishments have only recently reported revenues close to preshooting levels. Research shows that yearslong economic downturns can follow mass shootings. [The Boston Globe]
Shootings in Philadelphia are down to pre-pandemic levels, but a spate of gun violence across the city last weekend — at least 24 people were shot, four killed — prompted Mayor Cherelle Parker to reiterate her commitment to reducing gunfire. In November, Parker and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said they’re optimistic that they can maintain the momentum, even under a second Trump administration. [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, spent a fair amount of time last year calling for a national constitutional convention on gun safety. Legal experts criticized his proposal over concerns that it could open a door for changes to the Constitution beyond firearm reform, and his idea made little progress outside his own state. Now, Democratic lawmakers across the country, including in California, are moving to rescind such requests, out of fear that Republicans emboldened by their new federal power could call a convention that remakes the Constitution in a right-wing image. [The New York Times]
There’s a simple, straightforward way to prevent accidental shootings of children: secure gun storage. But when these shootings do happen, the aftermath raises complicated questions about who should be held accountable, and how. In Wisconsin, a new analysis shows these cases are handled differently depending on where the shooting happened. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Data Point
491 — the number of mass shootings, defined as four or more victims injured or killed, in the United States so far this year, as of December 17. At the same time last year, there had been 643. [Gun Violence Archive]
Non Sequitur
America’s Oldest Rodeo Is Back
Boley, Oklahoma, rides again. [The Atlantic]
