Shootings at Colleges: U.S. Statistics

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Everytown for Gun Safety estimates that between 2009 and 2020, there were 93 public mass shootings, an average of over eight shootings a year. What’s more, 11% of these incidents happened in K-12 schools or colleges.^[7]

While state legislatures continue to debate gun policy, there’s no denying the frequency of school shootings in the U.S. or the immeasurable toll they take on survivors and victims’ families and communities.

This report covers mass shootings that have happened at colleges over the past several decades. It also explores non-mass-shooting incidents involving guns to better understand the scope of gun violence on college campuses. Finally, it examines what college students say about gun policy and campus safety.

While the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s K-12 School Shooting Safety Compendium keeps a record of shootings in K-12 schools, no public government database tracks shootings at colleges. For the most part, researchers, journalists, nonprofit organizations, and volunteers track the number of college shootings.

There’s also no standard definition of a mass shooting. This list includes college shootings where at least three people were killed. We have mainly relied on data made available by The Violence Project, the nonprofit investigative news organization Mother Jones, and other news reports.

On Aug. 1, a shooter killed 15 people and injured 31 others from a tower on UT’s campus. The earliest recorded university shooting, it’s also known as the first modern mass shooting in the U.S.^{Note Reference [1], [8]}

According to Kent State, on May 4, members of the Ohio National Guard fired 61-67 shots into a crowd during a protest at the university in Kent, Ohio. Four students were killed by gunfire, and nine others were wounded.^{Note Reference [2]}

On July 12, a man shot nine people, killing seven and injuring two, on the Fullerton, California, campus. The shooter used a semi-automatic rifle he had purchased illegally.^{Note Reference [1]}

On Nov. 1, a man killed five people and wounded one other on the Iowa City campus. He died by suicide during the incident. The shooter had legally purchased the two guns used from a licensed dealer.^{Note Reference [3]}

The Virginia Tech Massacre occurred on April 16 on the university’s Blacksburg, Virginia, campus. It is the deadliest college shooting on record. Thirty-two people were killed, and at least 23 others were injured. The shooter took his own life during the incident.^{Note Reference [3]}

Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence has pointed out that despite being federally prohibited from purchasing firearms, the shooter obtained guns from two licensed dealers after background checks.^[9]

On Feb. 14, a shooter killed five people and injured 16 others in a lecture hall on the Dekalb, Illinois, campus before dying by suicide.^{Note Reference [1], [10]}

On April 2, a man shot 10 people, killing seven and wounding three others, on Oikos University’s Oakland, California, campus.^{Note Reference [1]}

On June 7, a shooter killed five people and injured three others. The shooting spree occurred throughout Santa Monica, California, ending at the Santa Monica College Campus.^{Note Reference [1], [11]}

On May 23, a man shot several people in the college town of Isla Vista, California, in Santa Barbara County, killing three and injuring at least 13 others. He died by suicide after the incident. Right before the shooting, he stabbed three people to death in his apartment.^{Note Reference [3]}

On Oct. 1, a shooter killed nine people and injured nine more on the Umpqua Community College campus in Roseburg, Oregon. He died by suicide during the incident.^{Note Reference [3]}

On Nov. 13, a shooter opened fire on a bus carrying University Students as it returned to campus in Charlottesville, Virginia. Three students were killed, and at least two more were injured.^{Note Reference [3]}

On Feb. 13, a shooter opened fire in two buildings at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. He killed three students and wounded at least five others. When confronted by police, the shooter died by suicide.^{Note Reference [3]}

On Dec. 6, a shooter killed three faculty members at UNLV and wounded another on the university’s campus. The shooter later died in a shootout with police.^{Note Reference [3]}

Mass shootings aren’t the only kinds of gun violence on college campuses. Everytown for Gun Safety documented 323 instances of gunfire on college campuses, occurring in 42 states and Washington, D.C., from 2013-2023.^{Note Reference [4]} These incidents include individual attacks, unintentional gunfire, legal interventions, self-harm, and other instances.

According to the Everytown database:^{Note Reference [4]}

College campus gun laws vary from state to state — and campus to campus. According to a BestColleges analysis: At least 16 states allow colleges to decide whether to allow guns on campus. Another 12 states generally allow guns on campus with some regulations unless the college prohibits it.

Most states generally prohibit guns on college campuses, but they may allow exceptions for safety officers, people with written approval from the institution, and/or people storing firearms in vehicles.

That said, these laws are subject to change relatively quickly. Take Montana, for example. In 2021, Montana prohibited colleges from banning guns on campus. The following year, the Montana Supreme Court decided the law was unconstitutional, so Montana schools can now decide their own gun policies.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University studied the link between state gun laws and gun violence on college campuses. They found that policies allowing guns on campus don’t reduce mass shootings. And gun access substantially increases the risk of suicide among young adults. The presence of guns could make aggressive or reckless behaviors more deadly.^{Note Reference [5]}

College students care about gun laws and their campus safety. They show it in various ways, from student activism to survey responses to how they vote in elections.

In a BestColleges survey, 65% of students said school shootings, in particular, made them concerned for their safety on campus. A majority (63%) said stricter gun laws would make them feel safer.

Additionally, gun policy and control were among the top three voting issues for college students in the recent 2022 midterm election, especially for Gen Z voters.