Everytown, Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action Respond to New Secret Service Analysis of Averted Plots Against Schools

Secret Service Report Indicated that 96% of Plotters Intended to Use Firearms

Majority of Plotters Who Had Access to Firearms Accessed Them From the Home; in 63% of Cases, That Access was Unimpeded

NEW YORK — Everytown for Gun Safety, and Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, Everytown’s grassroots networks, released the following statements after the U.S. Secret Service released a new report – Averting Targeted School Violence: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Plots Against Schools. The report highlighted that “many of the school plotters had access to weapons, including unimpeded access to firearms.” 

“Nearly five million kids live in homes with unsecured firearms, and this report underscores just how dangerous this is for everyone,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “Students deserve to feel safe at school, and by keeping guns out of our classrooms and out of kids’ hands, we can prevent school shooting tragedies. This all starts with secure storage of guns at home.”

“Unimpeded access to firearms puts students like me in danger every day,” said Peren Tiemann, a volunteer leader with Students Demand Action in Oregon and a member of the Students Demand Action National Advisory Board. “There are clear, proactive steps officials at every level – from the executive branch all the way down to school boards – can take to keep us safe from gun violence in schools, through extreme risk laws, secure firearm storage, threat assessment programs, and more.”

Per the report’s recommendations:

“Threat assessments must explore whether a student who elicited concern has access to weapons, particularly access to firearms in the home. In 43 cases (64%), the plotters had access to firearms. In 27 cases, the student’s access to firearms was unimpeded (e.g.) they owned them or their parents allowed access).”

4.6 million children in the U.S. live in a home with at least one unlocked and loaded firearm. School boards across the country – including in large school districts like Denver Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District and the Houston Independent School District – have sent information home with students on the secure storage of firearms. 

In January, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association released a revised, comprehensive plan focused on interventions that can prevent mass shooting incidents and help end all gun violence in American schools. The report recommends 8 measures:

• Pass Extreme Risk Laws
• Encourage Secure Firearm Storage
• Raise the Age to Purchase Semiautomatic Firearms
• Require Background Checks on All Gun Sales
• Create Evidence-Based Threat Assessment Programs in Schools
• Implement Expert-Endorsed School Security Upgrades
• Initiate Effective, Trauma-Informed Emergency Planning
• Create Safe and Equitable Schools

Read Everytown’s full report here.