MINNEAPOLIS — Few things raise more concern for parents than the safety of their kids in school. After a number of high-profile gun cases in Minnesota schools and a fight over school resource officers, KARE 11 Investigates obtained data to understand how often guns are seized.
Schools are required to report to the Minnesota Department of Education when a weapon is found on the property. They also report the weapon type, discipline and law enforcement involvement.
KARE 11 requested data from 2017 through the 2021-22 school year – the most recent available.
The data shows a large spike in gun incidents in schools post-pandemic. KARE 11 did not include replica or BB guns in its analysis.
Across the state, 70 handgun or long guns were confiscated in schools during the 2021-22 school year. That is more than double the highest previous total and three times the 22 guns recovered during 2018-19 – the last full year before the pandemic kept many kids out of the classroom.
In Minneapolis Public Schools alone, 30 guns were recovered during 2021-22, a significant increase over the four previous years combined.
In all, 44 Minnesota schools were forced to confront a gun on campus during the 2021-22 school year.
BELOW: Search Minnesota Dept. of Education records for weapons found in schools from '17-'18 through '21-'22:
“The school is a microcosm of the community and so when gun violence is increasing in the community, we also see that gun violence increases in schools,” says Dr. James Densley, a former public school teacher and criminologist at Metropolitan State University.
Densley, one of the nation’s leading experts on school safety, says school districts across the country saw a sharp increase in guns seized in classrooms. He attributes the spike to disruptions caused by the pandemic, a large increase in both gun sales and gun violence and the fact that many students felt unsafe – even in school.
The national trend is particularly concerning, he says, because of the potential consequences.
“When firearms are present, pushing and shoving can easily escalate into a shooting,” Densley explains.
Scott Croonquist from the Association of Metropolitan School Districts says for Minnesota school leaders the safety concerns are real.
“Students were facing more mental health pressure and anxiety,” he says. The results were often more violence in the school building.
Still, Croonquist says he believes the tide is starting to turn.
“As we’ve moved into this school year, school leaders are expressing some hopeful optimism,” he said of the organization’s members.
While last year’s statewide data isn’t available yet, Minneapolis Public Schools tells KARE 11 gun reports decreased from 30 in 2021-22 to eight last year.
And schools across the metro have used an infusion of federal and state funds to invest in safety and address a youth mental health crisis, adding counselors and social workers.
“One of the top priorities is to address the safety of the buildings,” Croonquist says. “But then you also have the real human element which is making sure that you have the support the support that students and staff need.”
These changes come amid statewide controversy over school resource officers and their ability to use restraint. Many police departments pulled their SRO’s from schools this fall.
Densley says the research shows safety is a collaboration between schools and law enforcement. But one key strategy is empowering kids to speak up when they worry a classmate could have a gun and making sure kids’ needs are addressed.
“We often think of school safety as only being the purview of resource officers …and cameras and metal detectors, security measures but actually it’s about kids feel seen and connected in their schools,” Densley says.
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