Top 10 States With The Most School Mass Shootings In America

Top 10 States With The Most School Mass Shootings In America. Photo: knowinsiders.

List of Top 10 States with the Most School Mass Shooting in America

Mass shootings in the United States are disturbingly common. In comparison with other Western countries, there are significantly more shootings in the U.S., which some theorize is due to the relatively lax gun control laws. Gun control laws in the U.S. are dependent on the state, and the right to own a firearm is enshrined in the United States Constitution.

As of June 2022, California had the most mass shootings in the United States, with 23 total shootings since 1982. The source defines a mass shooting as a shooting where four or more people were killed.

The United States has a very high rate of mass shootings. Between 2013 and 2019, there were 2,100 mass shootings in the U.S., killing over 2,400 people and injuring over 9,000. Recent incidents have made even going to school a nightmare for students, teachers, and parents across the nation. Those incidents have been school shootings.

According to statistics of worldpopulationreview.com and US News, we listed here top 10 States With the Most School Shootings, with at least one victim killed or wounded, since 1970:

1.California: 164

2.Texas: 135

3.Florida: 90

4.Illinois: 84

5.Michigan: 66

6.Ohio: 57

7.Pennsylvania: 56

8.New York: 53

9.Maryland: 49

10.Georgia: 46

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What are top states with the most school mass shooting in America?

1.California: 164

According to nbclosangeles.com, it's the latest mass shooting to take the lives of innocent children at a school in the United States. NBC4 gathered a list of California's deadliest school shootings on campuses in the state. They date back to 1976. Here are some deadliest ones happened:

Oikos University

A man killed six students and an employee and injured three others at the Christian vocational college in Oakland on April 2, 2012. Four of the victims were East Bay residents, Lydia Sim, 21, of Hayward; Sonam Choedon, 33, of El Cerrito; Grace Eunhea Kim, 23, of Union City; and Doris Chibuko, 40, of San Leandro. Two other victims were identified as San Jose resident Judith Seymour, 53, and San Francisco resident Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, 38. The seventh victim was identified in the complaint as Katleen Ping. She was the receptionist. The gunman, One Goh, died at age 50 in prison in 2019 while serving a life sentence. Police said Goh was angry with school administrators for expelling him and refusing to refund his tuition.

Photo: Getty.

California State University, Fullerton

Seven people were gunned down on the campus of Cal State Fullerton on July 12, 1976. Graphic artist Frank Teplansky, library assistant Stephen L. Becker, Prof. Seth Fessenden, photographer Paul Herzberg, audio technician Bruce Jacobsen, and custodians Donald Karges and Deborah Paulsen were killed in the massacre. Edward Charles Allaway, found guilty of the shooting by reason of insanity, fired 23 rounds during the attack and remains at Patton State Hospital. The attack, which lasted about five minutes, left two others wounded.

Santa Monica College

A gunman went on a shooting rampage on June 7, 2013 in Santa Monica, killing four people and injuring several others before police killed him in a gun battle at Santa Monica College. Among those killed were the gunman's father, Samir Zawahri, 55 the gunman's brother, Christopher Zawahri, 25, Carlos Navarro Franco, 68, Marcela Dia Franco, 26, Margarita Gomez, 68. The gunman was John Zawahri, 23.

Cleveland Elementary School

On January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer fired several rounds at students and staff on campus at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Carlos from her bedroom window across the street. Two adults died and eight students were injured.

Santana High School

On March 5, 2001, 15-year-old Charles Andy Williams opened fire on campus and killed two people and wounded 13 others. The gunman is serving life in state prison and is eligible for parole in 2051.

2.Texas: 135

In May, 2022, an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The alleged shooter was killed, local police confirmed. He has been identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. It is believed that the shooter acted alone.

From 1970 to today, there have been 135 school shootings in Texas, based on data tracked by the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

This is the second-most in the country, behind only California, which has had 164.

Esmeralda Bravo, 63, sheds tears while holding a photo of her granddaughter, Nevaeh, one of the Robb Elementary School shooting victims, during a prayer vigil in Uvalde, Texas. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

The Uvalde school shooting is now the deadliest school shooting in Texas' history, bypassing the 1966 University of Texas Tower shooting which killed 18. In terms of mass shootings, which can be defined as an incident that involves several victims of gun violence, Texas has had 129 from 2013 through August 2019, based on data from the Gun Violence Archive.

In 2019, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a series of bills focused on school safety, in wake of the Santa Fe High School shooting. The bill instructed school districts to implement emergency operation plans that included requiring certain training for school resource officers and ensuring school district employees were trained to respond to emergencies, as wfaa.com reported.

The incident makes it the second-deadliest shooting at an elementary, middle or high school in U.S. history -- behind the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 -- and the seventh-deadliest shooting in the country since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.

Austin, TX: The University of Texas, 1966 — 16 dead, 31 injured

On a hot summer day in 1966, a military-trained sniper shot dozens of people from the observation deck of the University of Texas's main building, known as the Tower.

The shooting lasted more than 90 minutes, as officers responding to the attack were forced to move slowly and take cover often. Police got assistance from Texas students, who attempted to pick off the shooter from the ground with hunting rifles, restricting him to shoot through drain spouts for much of the attack.

Local police officers stormed the Tower and fatally shot the gunman. The incident spurred the creation of SWAT teams and has drawn comparisons to the Las Vegas shooting because of the gunman's high vantage point.

3.Florida: 90

After a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida — where 17 people were killed and 17 others were injured — Florida lawmakers passed their version of a red flag law, called the “Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act,” which allows police officers to petition for someone to have their guns removed for a period of time.

It’s something Rubio also brought forward on the national level in 2018, and has continued to reintroduce since.

“I think among the things that we can do after Parkland, one of the most effective is a gun violence restraining order,” Rubio said in 2018. “We’re putting out there a law to try to get all the other states in the country to do the same thing so you can find these people and you can take away their guns before they kill anybody.”

According to our NBC affiliate in Florida, that Florida red flag law has been used roughly 6,000 times since being implemented in 2018.

According to kxan.com, Texas also experienced a mass shooting at a high school in 2018. That was the year a teenager shot and killed 10 people at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas.

Afterwards, Abbott released a nearly 50-page report containing dozens of recommendations on how to make schools safer: from funding prevention resources to requiring new preparedness programs.

16 of the 17 fatal victims of the Parkland school shooting. Photo: nbcnews.com.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida - Feb. 14, 2018

17 deaths

Fourteen children and three staff members were killed after a gunman brought an AR-15 into the high school. The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, 23, a former student at the school, has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder. His death penalty trial is ongoing, as ABC News reported.

4.Illinois: 84

Mass shootings in Illinois increased to 69 in 2020 from 41 the year before, while nationally mass shootings jumped nearly 50% during a pandemic with crippling unemployment, violent protests and idle youth.

In 2020, Illinois' reported 69 mass shootings killed 42 and injured 301. A year earlier, the state's 41 mass shootings killed 28 and injured 182, as pjstar.com reported.

Among Illinois' deadliest shootings last year was one on July 4 in Chicago that killed four and injured four. The state's bloodiest shootings included one July 21 in Chicago that injured 15.

Thirteen people were shot during an incident on Peoria's riverfront last July.

Northern Illinois University shooting, February 14, 2008

27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak, shot multiple people with a shotgun in a classroom of Northern Illinois University, killing five and injuring 21, before taking his own life. Kazmierczak was not enrolled at the university, but had attended in the years prior to the attack.

Five NIU students were killed after a former NIU grad student opened fire inside a lecture hall in the building. Catalina Garcia, 20, Daniel Parmenter, 20, Ryanne Mace, 19, Julianna Gehant, 32, and Gayle Dubowski, 20 were killed in the shooting, which injured nearly two dozen others.

In the years since the shooting, which has shaped the character of NIU’s community, the university has set up several Forward, Together Forward scholarships to help honor those who died.

5.Michigan: 66

If you're at least 18 years old it is legal to buy a pistol with a purchase license from a private seller. At age 21 it is legal to buy a firearm from a federally licensed (FFL) dealer. No purchase license is required to purchase a long gun -- a firearm that is more than 26 inches long -- in Michigan.

According to state law, a long gun may be purchased by anyone aged 18 or older who is not subject to restrictions based on criminal history, mental health history, or other disqualifying factor. A person must be at least 18 years old to purchase a long gun from a federal dealer or a private seller under Michigan law, as clickondetroit.com reported.

Oxford High School shooting, 2021

A sophomore student is accused of killing four people and wounding others at his school in Oxford, Michigan, near Detroit. His trial is set for September. His parents are charged with involuntary manslaughter; authorities say they ignored warning signs.

On November 30, 2021, a mass shooting occurred at Oxford High School in the Detroit exurb of Oxford Township, Michigan, United States. Four students were killed and seven people were injured, including a teacher. Authorities arrested and charged 15-year-old sophomore Ethan Crumbley as an adult for 24 crimes, including murder and terrorism.

Crumbley's parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, were charged on December 3 with involuntary manslaughter for failing to secure the handgun used in the shooting. After failing to appear for their arraignment, the parents were the subjects of a manhunt by the U.S. Marshals; they were caught and arrested in Detroit on December 4. Lawsuits were filed against the school district, Oxford Community Schools, starting on December 9; they allege negligence by school officials towards warning signs exhibited by Crumbley leading up to the shooting.

6.Ohio: 57

Governor Mike DeWine: ‘This does not require any school to arm teachers or staff. Every school will make its own decision.’ Photograph: David Richard/AP

Ohio’s permitless gun carry law for “qualifying” adults went into effect on Monday – a measure that would lift restrictions on school teachers, custodians and bus drivers from carrying firearms at work, The Guardian reported.

After Governor Mike DeWine announced he signed House Bill 99, which lowers the required training hours for armed personnel from 728 hours to 24 hours, DeWine said he still preferred law enforcement officers to carry the guns at schools.

Signed into law after 19 children and two teachers were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, the legislation no longer makes it a requirement for Ohioans aged 21 and older to complete eight hours of the handgun training course to carry and conceal a firearm. And it eliminates the requirement for gun carriers to tell police officers they have a concealed weapon on them, though they must say if they are asked.

In Ohio, school employees have been allowed to carry guns on school grounds for years as long as the local school board consents. The Ohio supreme court ruled in 2021 that they should receive the same 700 hours of training as law enforcement officials or security officers.

In Ohio, “permitless carry” applies only to adults over 21 who are not prohibited from possessing a firearm under state or federal law. Under the new law, adults who can lawfully own a firearm will be able to conceal carry a handgun without a permit or background checks.

Several shootings at schools in Ohio have impacted communities, resulting in deaths or injuries. Some recent Ohio school shootings include:

West Liberty-Salem High School, Jan. 20, 2017

Dozens of medics and police rushed to West Liberty-Salem High School last year for a report of student who opened fire inside the school. Alleged gunman Ely Serna has been accused of bringing a shotgun to school and firing shots. Another student, 17-year-old Logan Cole, was shot twice in the chest and survived.

Linden-McKinley STEM Academy, Oct. 13, 2016

A shooting at Linden-McKinley STEM Academy in Columbus injured two students in October 2016. Two Linden-McKinley students were hit by the gunfire. Marques Lamarr Johnson, 15, was struck in the chest by a bullet and was admitted to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

His friend, Ja'Quan Marquise-Lamont Curry, 12, was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder and released from the hospital the same day as the shootings. Two other teenagers were charged in connection with the shooting.

Chardon High School, Feb. 27, 2012

T.J. Lane, 17, killed three students and injured three more at Chardon High School. Prosecutors say he took a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to the school and fired 10 shots at a group of students in the cafeteria. Daniel Parmertor and Demetrius Hewlin, both 16, and Russell King Jr., 17, were killed.

As daytondailynews.com reported, wearing a white T-shirt with "killer" scrawled across it in large, apparently handwritten letters, Lane was given three lifetime prison sentences without the possibility of parole at a sentencing in March 2013.

7.Pennsylvania: 56

Like most states, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania regulates the carry of firearms in various ways, these regulations vary depending on the manner and context. Please see the list below to find information related to the manner in which you are interested, as PAFOA reported.

In Pennsylvania one must possess a valid license to carry a firearm concealed or in a vehicle. This license can be in the form of a Pennsylvania License To Carry Firearms or a similar permit from a state with which we have a form of reciprocity.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 6, 2019

Near the end of a football game at Jeannette High School, Damien Williams and Greg Harper got into an argument outside the stadium, the argument escalated to the point where Williams was shot in the chest by Harper after Williams allegedly punched Harper twice. Williams died and Harper is charged with homicide and reckless endangerment. Harper pled not guilty and is claiming he acted in self-defense.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 19, 2022

A 15-year-old boy boarded a school van to go home when school was being dismissed at Oliver Citywide Academy. Two masked gunmen approached the van and shot the boy twice in the chest. The boy was taken to the hospital where he later died.

Erie, Pennsylvania, April 5, 2022

A student was wounded after multiple shots were fired at Erie High School around 9:20 am. No perpetrator was immediately identified and police were searching for a person who had fled campus shortly after the shooting.

8.New York: 53

Fifteen people were shot, three of them fatalaly, along South Street in Philadelphia. Credit...Dakota Santiago for The New York Times

The program documents a school shooting incident "when a gun is brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time of day, or day of week."

In February, three school shooting incidents marred high school campuses in Brooklyn, Buffalo and Mount Vernon. All three cases resulted from shots fired at dismissal time.

In one case in East Greenbush in 2004, a 16-year-old brought a shotgun to school, loaded it in a school bathroom and then attempted to shoot a student, but missed. He did shoot and injure one teacher before he was tackled by a school administrator. Now out of prison after 15 years, the shooter, Jon Romano, spoke to police in February and discussed ways law enforcement can look for signs of students in trouble to avoid more school shootings.

In most of these New York school shootings, teenagers are holding the weapons. Where an exact age for the shooter was available, 33 of the perpetrators in the incidents were between 13 and 17 years old, the data shows. Four were 18 years old and eight were 21 years or older.

In New York, people 21 and older can legally possess or purchase a handgun, according to the Giffords Law Center. Twenty other states allow people to buy a handgun beginning at age 18.

But in New York, individuals can buy a long gun once they reach the age of 18, according to the Giffords Law Center, and they can possess a long gun when they're 16 or older. Long guns include shotguns and rifles of various types. Only six states set the minimum age to buy a long gun at 21. Two states explicitly allow possession of long guns at ages younger than 16: Minnesota at age 14 and Massachusetts at age 15, as timesunion.com reported.

9.Maryland: 49

Maryland has laws specific to rifles, in section 5-200s of it's Public Safety code. These laws specifically do not apply to to antique firearms or firearms that cannot be fired.

In Maryland, a short-barreled rifle or short-barreled shotgun must be registered with the federal government, unless the person is a member of law enforcement, the armed forces or National guard, a correctional officer or a sheriff.

One is also allowed to purchase a rifle or shotgun from a federally licensed gun dealer in Maryland if they are eligible under the laws in a neighboring state.

The state also restricts people from owning a rifle or shotgun if they've been convicted of a "disqualifying crime as defined in [section] 5-101 of this title," has been convicted of a crime and received a prison sentence of more than 2 years, is a fugitive, is a "habitual drunkard," is addicted to a CDS, suffers from a mental disorder and has a history of violent behavior against people, has been found incompetent for trial, etc.

This is all on top of the fact that Maryland law requires a person to submit a firearm application before the purchase of a regulated firearm. To receive a license to purchase any firearm in Maryland, one must be at least 21 years old and not otherwise disqualified by restrictions.

According to wmar2news.com, a person is also restricted from buying more than one regulated firearm in a 30-day period, unless the person has been approved for a purchase of multiple firearms or it's for a private collection or collector series or it's a bulk purchase from an estate sale. Maryland ranks 7th on Everytown's 'Gun Law Strength' rankings, with 38 of the 50 gun laws enacted in the state.

These include a Secure Storage requirement, like Texas, a Background Check and/or Purchase Permit requirement, a prohibition on Assault Weapons and a regulation of ghost guns, which passed in the previous legislative session.

The NRA categorizes Maryland as a 'Rights Restricted - Very Limited Issue' state and notes that handguns require permit to purchase, a registration of the firearm, a licensing of the owner and a permit to carry. Rifles and shotguns, however, require none of these in Maryland, according to the NRA.

Police move students into a different area of Great Mills High School, the scene of a shooting, March 20, 2018 in Great Mills, Md. Alex Brandon/AP.

10.Georgia: 46

Georgia law requires that you be at least 18 years of age to possess either a handgun or long gun such as a rifle or shotgun. While you can legally own a handgun in Georgia at 18 years of age, Federal law requires you to be at least 21 years of age before you can purchase a handgun.

Currently, without a permit, the firearm must be carried "in the glove compartment, console, or similar compartment of the vehicle" or "in open manner and fully exposed to view". With a carry permit, those restrictions do not apply and the person "may carry a handgun in any location in a motor vehicle". A bill has recently been introduced in the legislature that would allow you to carry a firearm anywhere in your vehicle, as daltonpd.com reported.

In Georgia, there is no requirement of firearms instruction or training prior to getting the carry permit. However, while not required, it is highly recommended that the person obtain, at a minimum, basic instruction on the operation of the firearm they own as well as be familiar with the laws surrounding carrying and use of firearms. Carrying a firearm for personal protection is a tremendous responsibility and one that should not be taken lightly.

Stone Mountain, Georgia, April 25, 2019

At a teen armed with a pellet gun fired at Wynbrooke Elementary School inflicting minor injuries on 10 children. The shooter pled guilty to 10 counts of aggravated assault.

Lithonia, Georgia, January 30, 2019

A man running on the Miller Grove High School track saw someone trying to break into his car, which was parked on school property. When the man confronted the person breaking into his car, he was shot once. The man was taken to a local hospital and listed in stable condition.

Jonesboro, Georgia, May 18, 2018

Mount Zion High School: An argument led to a shooting in a parking lot after a high school graduation ceremony for graduates of Perry Learning Center. Mount Zion High School provided overflow parking for people attending the ceremony.

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