Gun violence has been the leading cause of death for people under the age of 19 in the U.S. since 2020, according to a chart issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In 2024, there were 30 mass shootings where four or more people died within 24 hours, not including the killer, the AP News reported.
According to a Sept. 5 article from AP News, at least 131 people have died in mass shootings in 2024. In 2023, 217 people were killed in mass shootings across 42 instances of mass gun violence in the U.S.
More recently, two students and two faculty members died in Winder, Georgia, at Apalachee High School Sept. 4, according to AP News.
According to the American Public Health Association, gun violence is a major public health concern. Preventing death and injury from gun violence requires extensive public health approaches.
“Ohio University’s Emergency Management team works University-wide to plan and coordinate various types of emergency programming for Ohio University to ensure a timely and effective response throughout the campus community in the event of an emergency situation,” OU spokesperson Samantha Pelham wrote in an email.
Ohio University Police Department Captain Tim Ryan said OUPD hasn’t taken any reports of injuries or deaths due to gunfire on campus in the last 10 years.
However, in the event of a reported active threat, OUPD officers are trained to examine the circumstances and deploy the appropriate resources required to respond, Ryan wrote in an email.
“The Ohio University Police Department (OUPD) is an invaluable safety resource for the OHIO community,” Ryan wrote. “They are a full-service police agency, driven by their core values of professionalism, humanity, and integrity.”
OUPD officers patrol the campus 24 hours a day, every day of the year, focusing on high-traffic areas, Ryan added.
Pelham said OU has also implemented an outdoor siren system in case of emergency.
“Each of OHIO’s campuses is equipped with an outdoor emergency notification system (audible siren/PA), that may be used to notify the campus community of weather-related situations or other emergencies as deemed necessary by the university,” according to the OHIO Alert page. “An audible educational test of the outdoor emergency notification system occurs each academic semester.”
According to the same page, mobile alerts also notify the Athens campus and all other regional campuses, which could be informational, urgent or critical.
“All OHIO students, faculty, and staff are automatically signed up for alerts based on the mobile phone number provided to the University,” Pelham wrote.
In Ohio, firearms are generally prohibited on college campuses, with exceptions for handguns locked in vehicles and individuals with written authorization from the college institution; however, state law can be restricted through certain campus conducts, according to ohio.edu.
“The University has the legal right to be more restrictive than the law may allow, which means while particular conduct may be legal, it is still a violation of the student code of conduct or employment policies to possess firearms on campus,” according to OU’s Open and Concealed Carry FAQs page.
The upcoming presidential election could affect gun violence rates. According to an AP News article, former President Donald Trump was endorsed as president by the National Rifle Association, or NRA.
“She has a plan to defund the police,” Trump said during the debate against Vice President Kamala Harris Sept. 10, according to AP News. “She has a plan to confiscate everybody’s gun.”
Harris replied to this comment by saying that she is a gun owner, along with her vice president pick, Tim Walz. However, she wants to implement universal background checks and take guns away from people who are deemed dangerous or unstable. She also wants to ban assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines, according to AP News.
