Preventing the next school shooting will require evidence, conviction, and strength in numbers, say Columbia University faculty in A Call for Action to Prevent Gun Violence. 

The remarks were co-authored by Charles Branas, the Gelman Professor and Chair of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University; Sonali Rajan, Assistant Professor of Health Education at Teachers College; Louis Klarevas, Research Professor at Teachers College; and Ted Alcorn, a lecturer in Epidemiology at the Mailman School. 

“We must provide the school community with tools to intervene and prevent school-based gun violence,” they write in the wake of two recent school shootings in Colorado and North Carolina. “This includes policies that make it harder for youth to access guns; significant investments in mental health training and support in schools; and more careful study of the impact that exposure to gun violence has on child development, teacher burnout, and community well-being.”

In 2018, Branas and Rajan were named to an interdisciplinary team of researchers addressing the gun violence epidemic. Rajan has written and been quoted in numerous academic and prominent  media outlets on the subject of gun violence in schools. Klarevas, author of Rampage Nation: Securing America from Mass Shootings, recently joined the TC faculty, where he will be continuing his research on active shootings in schools and other frequently-targeted locations.