In the lead up to the two year anniversary of the tragedy at Parkland this week, The Violence Project’s research featured in a series of articles about school shootings.

Jillian Peterson contributed to an NBC News story about the grassroots movement to pass gun safety policy through school boards and how safe storage of firearms could save lives:

“Our data tells us that if people were safely securing their guns, we wouldn’t have school shootings — students wouldn’t be able to do this,” Peterson said.

Jill then went on WNYC’s The Takeaway to discuss this story in detail. Listen to the full interview here.

At the same time, our friends at Everytown for Gun Safety, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association came together to call for an end to active shooter drills. Their report featured the work of The Violence Project, as follows:

“What little we know about active school shooters suggests student-involved drills may in fact be counter-productive, as the shooters are very often current or former students at the schools. A recent study of mass shooters from 1966 through 2019 found that nearly all mass school shooters were students and they exhibited warning signs prior to the incident. In these cases, school preparedness protocols and procedures are being shared with the very individuals most likely to perpetrate an active shooting.”

For Jill’s take on the report, see this interview with the Post Bulletin.

Jill and James will presenting data on Tuesday to the House Education Committee at the Minnesota House of Representatives in St. Paul.