Friday, Dec. 20, 2024

Has research found that armed officers deter school shootings?

Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch

A 2024 RAND report and four experts in mass shootings said they know of no research concluding that the presence of armed officers deters school shootings.

The armed officers claim was made Dec. 19 by school safety advocate Ryan Petty in an interview about a mass shooting Dec. 16 at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin.

That school didn’t employ an officer.

Petty’s daughter was killed in the 2018 mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, school, which did.

Petty said the connection is “proven.” He didn’t cite research to Wisconsin Watch.

Whether arming school resource officers “leads to net harms or benefits … could be addressed with strong scientific research designs or observational studies,” RAND said.

A 2023 University at Albany-RAND study found school resource officers reduce some violence and increase weapon detection, “but do not prevent gun-related incidents.”

A 2021 U.S. DOJ-funded study said “data suggest no association” between armed officers and deterring mass shootings.

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

RAND: The Effects of Laws Allowing Armed Staff in K-12 Schools
Metro State University professor James Densley: Email, 12/19/24
University of Alabama professor Adam Lankford: Email, 12/19/24
Armed American Radio: Ryan Petty interview, 12/19/24
University at Albany-RAND: The Thin Blue Line in Schools: New Evidence on School-Based Policing Across the U.S.
U.S. Justice Department: Presence of Armed School Officials and Fatal and Nonfatal Gunshot Injuries During Mass School Shootings, United States, 1980-2019
Colubmia University Scientific Union for the Reduction of Gun Violence Email, 12/20/24
Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium Email, 12/20/24

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

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