OMAHA, Neb. — The Nebraska chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network, released the following statements in response to a shooting today at Northwest High School in Omaha, Nebraska. While details are still emerging, reporting shows at least one 15-year-old boy has been shot and is in critical condition. Omaha Police have confirmed the alleged shooter is in custody.
“School has barely begun, and already we’re met with the terror that our children may not make it home alive,” said Jen Hodge, a volunteer with the Nebraska chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We are sick and tired of thoughts and prayers. Guns and gun violence keep appearing in our schools because our lawmakers care more about gun lobby campaign contributions than prioritizing basic, preventative measures to keep our children safe. Electing lawmakers that prioritize common sense gun laws is quite literally a matter of life or death. How many more kids killed, injured and traumatized in their classrooms is it really going to take?”
“Every single American should be outraged by the gun violence we’re seeing unfold in schools across the country,” said Jayden Speed, a Students Demand Action National Organizing Board member from Nebraska. “The toll these tragedies are taking on students, parents, teachers, and communities nationwide is unbearable. There is simply no reason to accept gun violence as inevitable when we know there are proven, common sense gun laws that will keep our schools safe. I, once again, find myself begging our leaders to protect students from being shot in class.”
This shooting comes less than a week after a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, that resulted in at least four individuals shot and killed and at least seven shot and wounded. In 2024 there has been at least 139 incidents of gunfire on school grounds across the nation, and multiple reported threats of gun violence in schools across the nation, including a handgun found in the backpack of a student today at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines. Last Thursday, police confiscated a loaded gun from a 6-year-old at a school in Memphis, Tennessee, after he obtained his mother’s unsecured firearm and brought it to Geeter K-8 School. The loaded gun was passed around the classroom before being confiscated.
Firearms are the leading cause of death for children, teens (ages 1 to 19) in the United States. Children, teens and young adults in the U.S. are impacted by gun violence in all its forms. Exposure to gun violence has an impact on the psychological and mental well-being of young people and affects their school performance, among other factors.
According to a recent analysis by Everytown, gun violence on school grounds rose by 31 percent last school year, the second-highest number of incidents since Everytown began tracking gun violence at schools more than a decade ago. Securely storing firearms is an important tool to help prevent shootings in schools. Three quarters of school shooters get a firearm from home or from a relative’s home.
Be SMART, a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, helps parents and other adults normalize conversations about gun safety and take responsible actions that can prevent child gun deaths and injuries, youth suicide, and gunfire on school grounds.
The program encourages parents and adults to:
- Secure all guns in their home and vehicles
- Model responsible behavior around guns
- Ask about the presence of unsecured guns in other homes
- Recognize the role of guns in suicide
- Tell your peers to be SMART
Gun owners must store all of their guns securely at all times; parents need to ask about guns and gun storage at any home their children will be visiting; schools, the medical community, gun shops and gun storage device sellers, and others play a vital role in educating the community about secure gun storage; and community members need to support laws that research has shown are effective in holding adults accountable for failing to store their firearms securely. Read more on solutions to this devastating trend here. For more information on secure firearm storage and the most effective ways to protect children from unsecured firearms, visit BeSMARTforkids.org.
Nebraska has weak gun laws – ranking 24th in the country. It has no laws requiring that firearms be securely stored to prevent access by children and has weakened its laws in recent years, including by allowing permitless carry of concealed firearms in public. More information about gun violence in Nebraska is available here.