Teachers And Schools Can Lead In Responding To The Gun Violence Epidemic

By Abbey Clements, Minnesota Reformer

September 4, 2025

When I began my career as an elementary school teacher, back-to-school time was filled with anxieties about busy school schedules, homework policies and how to make learning fun and effective. But now teachers are kept up at night worrying about how they’d keep a class full of kids safe if a gunman comes to their school. As a human shield, they can only cover a few small children.

This year, two mass shootings in two days — at Annunciation School and near Cristo Rey Jesuit High School — have left the Twin Cities reeling from horrific acts of violence and wondering how we can protect our children and families from this public health crisis.

It will take law enforcement time to learn the details and lessons of these shootings. What we already know is that this problem is something we must tackle. There is not one simple fix. As Minneapolis Mayor Frey said, we cannot meet this overwhelming problem with a shrug. Every sector of our society can commit to a solution in their wheelhouse and here’s ours, as educators: School districts can lead the task of educating families on how to save lives.

We need to treat gun violence like the public health problem it is and communicate to our school communities and loved ones about the importance of identifying warning signs, intervention and the life-saving act of secure storage of firearms. As a country, we’ve solved big public health challenges before. In the early 1980s, less than 20% of drivers wore seat belts – now that number is over 90%. Seat belt use is up and traffic fatalities are down.

In a nation with more guns than people, anyone and everyone who owns a firearm can commit to secure storage of that weapon. Incidents in schools are far too common.

Virginia parents were charged after their six-year-old son took an unsecured firearm to school in his backpack. It was discharged in the classroom. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

Teachers do not have a seat at the table when it comes to gun violence prevention and protocols on the national, local and district level. But they should. Teachers are trusted messengers and experts on kids: 61% of Americans view teachers as “highly” trusted and credible – the 2nd-highest rating among all professions, according to a 2025 Gallup survey.

As a survivor of the tragic Sandy Hook school shooting that took the lives of 20 students and six adults, I know just how tragic and enduring these tragedies are and the challenging aftermath ahead for the families, survivors and educators impacted. We live in a country where there are an average of 57 incidents of gun violence every day in America in or near schools, and where firearms remain the leading cause of death for children and teens.

Teachers and staff are on the frontlines of community and school gun violence and they wear many hats as first responders. They’re counselors when gun violence impacts neighborhoods, nurses when kids are sick from the fear and stress when shootings unfold near and afar, clergy when students need reminders of resiliency and safety.

More than 397,000 kids have been impacted by gun violence since Columbine. As teachers, we lack a playbook for how to care when one of them ends up in your classroom, nor how to teach kids who are unavailable for learning due to trauma, how to restore routine when the entire school has been impacted, how to prepare the class for an injured student’s return, or how to explain a child will never come back to class.

In 2023, Minnesota legislators passed a “red flag” law and universal background checks, but even states with the best gun laws on the books need robust education to the community, especially when it comes to safe firearm storage.

Minnesota school districts can prioritize communicating to parents about tips for safe firearms storage and empower teachers to be part of these messages. And they can do so multiple times throughout the year.

We have a choice: We can continue on, like normal where nothing ever changes, and our students, teachers, parents and communities continue to live with the pain of horrific violence. Or we can get to work.

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell..