The website won't be permanently published until the last half of January 2026.
The website won't be permanently published until the last half of January 2026.
Introduction: Since 1999, thousands of U.S. children have been killed and injured in school shootings. While data definitions and time periods vary, our country accounts for approximately 85% of global school shootings. (Source: CNN)
In the business world, we define a problem, look for facts that cause the problem, examine the facts and brainstorm solutions that are capable of Stopping School Shootings. While business teams compete, competition within a business does not give way to the name calling, misinformation, negative ads, and disparaging behavior that happens amongst the different groups claiming to serve the common good for our children. A business that incorporated such behavior would fail. We almost become numb with the misinformation in advertisements, news stations, social media, bogus internet studies, and around the kitchen table bantering. If we do not discover new ways of tackling the problem of school shootings, it will worsen.
Sadly, the worsening trend is underway and accelerating. Since Columbine, school shootings have skyrocketed. There were 336 school shootings across the U.S. in 2024, compared to 23 school shootings when Columbine happened in 1999. In short, it can happen anywhere and is with more frequency. Except for the shooters, no one (Republican, Democrat or Independent) wants our school children to die.
This proposal attempts to answer the questions that I had immediately after the Annunciation shooting. The material is organized to help the general public, politicians, gun enthusiasts and anti-gun enthusiasts. While military weapons are a key issue, they are absolutely not the only issue. There is much more that needs to be addressed. In addition to the information contained in the recommendation section of Stop School Shootings USA, the following are expanded notes from the research.
1. The State of Minnesota has a population of just under 6 million. Of these, just under 1 million are school age children. Approximately 70 school and mass shootings have occurred in urban and rural Minnesota locations since 2014. Columbine High School is located in a town with a population of 46,000. In addition to the shootings in the urbanized Twin Cities, shootings have occurred in Buffalo, Burnsville, Red Lake, Grand Rapids, and other small towns. This can happen anywhere. In Minnesota, firearms are the fourth leading cause of death for children. (Source Wiki Briefs)
2. Since 1999, over 390,000 students in the U.S. have experienced gun violence at school. (Source: Sandy Hook Promise. https://sandyhookpromise.org)
3. States with stricter gun laws have fewer school shootings. (Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, https://KFF.org)
4. 75% of school shooters raised concern amongst others before committing their violent act. This is a very important fact as it relates to the advantages of red flag laws. The Sandy Hook Tip Line program is credited with saving shootings at 19 locations. On September 10, 2025 Tipping Point received an alert that a student was posting concerning content on Instagram. Someone used Tipping Point, and the police were alerted in time to arrest the student and confiscate his guns. (Source: Sandy Hook Promise.org & ABC News article by Mark Guarino on 9/22/2025).
5. I have found studies that suggest the percent of population capable of doing a school shooting can range between .0025 and .0075. Just using the lower number means there are possibly 6,000,000 times .0025 or 15,000 people capable of doing a school shooting in Minnesota. It may seem like a large number and it is. However, it almost seems small considering the number of people who have been hospitalized for mental health reasons, the number with PTSD from an ever-growing list of causes: the individuals on stabilizing and destabilizing psychotropic medications, the injured veterans, those exposed to too much violence, the bullied and marginalized. The Minnesota youth that could be guesstimated within this larger population is probably between 1,425 and 4,275. Whatever the exact number might be, it is obviously not small and our current ways of keeping military and regular weapons out of their hands are terrible. I am proud to be an American, but I am embarrassed by this.
6. The argument that Mentally III Violently People (MIVP) should not be able to purchase military grade weapons with large magazines seems to speak for itself. We are all familiar with the message to Stop, Look and Listen. As parents, we used this message, with our children, in teaching them how to cross a street and avoid getting killed. Given the trends of school shootings, I believe everyone can agree that we put the cart before the horse with the introduction of these military weapons to the general citizenry. The first proposed action is to put the horse in front of the cart and get the methods in place to stop MIVP from buying military & non-military grade weapons.
7. The Gifford website, developed in response to the shooting of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford, includes an outline of the difficult legal road that the NRA has funded. With nearly every other industry in the United States, civil liability can be used as an important check on irresponsible and harmful industry behaviors. But the profit-seeking gun industry has enjoyed enormous exemptions from liability and accountability in courts since President Bush signed the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act ("PLCAA") into law in 2005. George Washington, a republican, warned us about the perils of political parties making solving issues even harder. Many states have also enacted similar laws that shield firearm and ammunition manufacturers, dealers, and other industry members from many kinds of traditional civil lawsuits. Please read these articles: Source: https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/other-laws-policies/gun-industry-immunity/#footnote_0_5605 Source: https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-first-president/political-parties
8. Prioritize Aggressive Red Flag Laws that have muscle to them and enable people to report suspicious behavior by parents, neighbors, and law enforcement. Given the findings, in fact #5, aggressive red flag laws offer the biggest cost effectiveness.
9. Of the 300,000 guns forecasted to be sold in Minnesota for 2025, (+or-) 95% are for shot guns and regular rifles. The remaining (+or- 5%) or 15,000 consists of military grade weapons and others. Note that shotguns and traditional deer hunting rifles make up a very small percent of firearm homicides. (Source: Minnesota Reformer citing data from FBI and National Shooting Sports Foundation. In addition, slide 9 reinforces this point.)
10. A very memorable image that stirs a lot of public support is that of Charleston Heston, actor and past president of the NRA, quoting the Dirty Harry words regarding someone trying to take his gun away from "My Cold Dead Hands". This was a powerful image that stuck in people's minds. However, the rifle Charleston Heston raised was a flint rock, single shot, revolutionary war weapon. It was not an Assault Weapon. While Charleston Heston never advocated for "gun controls of any kind", I find it hard to believe that he would have promoted the right of MIVP being able to legally purchase a military grade weapon/large capacity magazine and use it to shoot school children. While the Second Amendment gives us the right to bear arms, it does not guarantee the right to bear any arms manufacturers might make, by anyone at any age.
11. The Supreme Court has definitely, and rightly, upheld the right to keep and bear arms. However, the Supreme Court has left the door open for lawsuits to occur should someone make a weapon available to an individual who should not be trusted with a weapon. The courts call this "negligent entrustment". The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that the Second Amendment does not grant an unlimited right to own all weapons. As Minnesotans, we have collectively failed and negatively entrusted mentally ill violent people with the capability to commit violence to our children. Negligent entrustment is a legal doctrine holding an individual liable for harm caused by providing a dangerous item to someone they know or should know is unfit to handle it. The Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment doesn't prevent negligent entrustment lawsuits against individuals or businesses for negligently providing firearms to someone who then cause harm.
What is Negligent Entrustment?It's a tort claim where an entrustor (the person giving the item) is held liable for the injuries caused by the entrusted (the person receiving the item). The key element is the entrustor's knowledge or reasonable expectation that the entrustee is likely to use the dangerous item in a way that poses a risk of harm to themselves or others. Firearms are considered dangerous instrumentalities and providing them to someone known to be incompetent—such as a minor, ex-felon, or someone with known addiction issues—can lead to liability.
How Does it Relate to the Second Amendment? No Direct Constitutional Right to Be Negligent:The Second Amendment doesn't grant a right to be negligent or to provide firearms to others in a negligent manner.
Focus on the Owner's Conduct:The liability in a negligent entrustment case is based on the owner's independent act of entrusting the firearm to an unfit person, not on the user's negligence itself. It would seem obvious that mentally ill people with a propensity toward violence are unfit and should not be allowed to purchase or keep any weapon.
12. Quickly, have the MN Supreme Court issue Keep it Simple guidance statements on the second amendment as it relates to all weapons and military grade gun controls directed at mentally ill violent people. To my knowledge, many of the current arguments against further controls are constitutionally misstated. Likewise, there have been things gun control advocates suggest that would violate the constitution. Let's understand the true legal constraints and stop stumbling over them.
13. Research and communicate to the public and school shooting victim's negligent entrustment legal opportunities to sue those responsible for enabling shootings.
14. The Second Amendment protects the right of people to "keep and bear Arms," stating that "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and Bear Arms, shall not be infringed". The Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) affirmed this as an individual's right to possess firearms for lawful purposes like self-defense, not solely for service in a militia. Regarding the Second Amendment, we need to raise questions about how this applies to military grade weapons and all weapons used by MIVP<251 in a contemporary school setting.
15. Profiles of mass shooters are middle class, lonely, alienated, awkward, and Caucasian with access to guns. (Source: www.asanet.org, Overview of American School Shootings, Rockefeller Institute of Government American Sociological Assoc & WIKI Briefs)
16. Factors associated with school shooters include easy access to firearms, family dysfunction, lack of family supervision, and mental illness. The top motivators for shooters are a reaction to being bullied, persecuted and or feeling threatened. (Source WIKI Briefs)
17. 77.%% of mass shooters used handguns and 25.1 % used assault rifles. This is an important fact. Although banning assault weapons would significantly reduce the number of students killed and the severity of injuries, it would not reduce the number of shooting incidents as much. (National Institute of Justice. (Source: National Institute of Justice: https://www.nij.opj.gov)
18. 80% of the guns used in mass shootings by a child or adolescent were either from the parents' home or close relatives. (Source: FBI report by Mary Ellen O'Tools, PhD, The School Shooter A "Threat Assessment Perspective)
19. 97.7% of mass shooters were male ages 11 to 70. 64.5% of these individuals had a prior history of violence. The most common age of a mass shooter is 17 and roughly 2/3 are under the age of 18. The frontal lobe of the brain controls functions like decision making, reasoning, emotional and impulse control. The frontal lobe development starts before birth and continues to develop into a person's mid-20s. These are important facts. See the verbiage in the first two paragraphs of the Resource section for an explanation of how the number of MVP=25 was arrived at. Why do we have age limits on smoking, drinking and driving vehicles, but allow people with undeveloped frontal lobes to possess firearms? (Source: FBI report by Mary Ellen O'Tools, PhD, The School Shooter A "Threat Assessment Perspective & AI Overview and any medical book on frontal lobe development).
20. While having a physical security guard at all schools would reduce shootings, it is very expensive and controlling pre-attack behavior would save more lives. In addition, it would be impossible for one guard to effectively guard all school shooting locations. (Opinion of U.S. Secret Service).
21. The average police response time to a school shooting is 3 minutes. This is an important fact because most school shooters complete firing using a military grade weapon with a large magazine within 3 minutes. (Source: WIKI Briefs)
22. Several of the school shooters used and were indoctrinated by what is known as the dark web. The most common crimes on the internet are buying and selling illegal drugs, weapons, passwords, ID's, and pornography. In addition to this illegal commerce, primarily young men interact with and are eventually groomed by extremists. The dark web facilitates school shootings by glorifying violence, radicalizing vulnerable youth and connecting them with like-minded extremists. In addition, the Dark Web is very dangerous to access given fraud risks. Do Not Go There. (F.N. Fortinet.com and trendmicro.com)
23. In addition to the dark web, there is growing criticism of how internet users are being drawn into spending more time on the internet with negative behavioral outcomes. Years ago, many advertisements drew readers attention using what was known as Maslow's (Famed Psychologist) Hierarchy of needs. (Psychological, Safety, Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization Needs.) Recently, the primary need of people on the internet is to experience some form of RAGE. This approach draws and keeps users engaged in ever increasing moments of rage. (Source: Professor Scott Galloway has several POD Casts on social media and youth radicalization:)
24. Although the number of pro-gun enthusiasts appeared large in 2018 at 5 million, NRA members have supposedly dropped to 3.9 million in 2023. Similarly, NRA income has dropped. Their annual income was at its highest in 2016 when it hit $465 million versus the 2024 income of $178 million. One could reasonably assume that some of the decrease is impacted by the public's reaction to school shootings. (AI Overview)
25. Approximately 75% of Democrats support stricter controls on military weapons, per a Gallop Poll survey October 2023. For Republicans, the number is approximately half that of Democrats. The important point is that the portion of the total population that could endorse stricter controls is most probably over 50% nationally. The Minnesota Senate Working Group on Gun Control stated that almost 70% of Minnesotans favor banning assault weapons. Please read the discussion points on slides 25 and 26.
26. Litigate with large tech companies to enable the blocking of youth trying to access the dark web. Use IP address tracking and other methods that send alerts to parents and police of youth engaged in suspicious dark web activities. Note that some programs can block an IP address and the solution is not simple.
27. Minnesota has an excellent definition of military grade weapons. Unfortunately, the rules, registrations, and monitoring that would be required to keep them out of the hands of mentally ill people with a propensity for violence are lacking. (Source: https://www.revisor.mn.gov)
28. Why are we surprised when a school shooting happens? We do not have the procedures and regulations in place to stop mentally ill young or old people from executing a school shooting.
29. Numerous states have implemented safe storage laws for firearms. While the law particulars vary from state to state. This approach should reduce but not eliminate all school shootings. It is safe to assume that given the number of states involved, these laws have not violated our constitution. The states include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, MINNESOTA, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. (Source: several internet sites including https://www.kff.org)
30. Let's temporarily pause the sale of weapons and large-scale magazines to people under age 25, until we develop procedures that can keep weapons out of the hands of anyone who would shoot our children. While a large percentage of school shootings involve handguns, military weapons with large scale magazines are far more destructive. They are the weapon of choice for school shooters. The bullets create unimaginable body piercing wounds before any hero can intervene to physically stop the shooting. The mortality risks to our school children far outweigh any extra efforts that a military gun owner might experience. Let's save our children and our country from accounting for 85% of the world's school shootings.
31. The Minnesota Nice image could evolve to include a Minnesota listens image. Using whatever it takes (Parish Priests, Individual Group Facilitators, Six Sigma Trainers on Problem Solving, or Minnesota Majority in the Middle working sessions) respectfully listen to each other and get rid of misinformation. Focus on pragmatically Stopping School Age Shootings - not solving world hunger. Brainstorm how your organization has previously proposed ideas that have made Stopping School Age Shootings harder.
32. Keep guns out of schools and churches via building codes that require scanners and automatically lock doors. (This will help but not solve the total problem.)
33. Educate gun owners and parents on updated gun responsibility ownership consistent with the Stop School Shooting effort.
34. Repeal gun manufacturer immunity laws.
35. Given that Minnesota already has Safe Storage of Weapons, I suggest evaluating our laws to see if they warrant updating after being compared to the similar laws from other states. Our children deserve best of class. (F.N. National Institute Justice.org and Wiki Briefs).
36. Some large merchants have already decided to discontinue selling military grade weapons and large-scale magazines due to the risks associated with those who would conduct school shooting. Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods are two such merchants that have discontinued such sales. One has to imagine that if, NRA type organizations adjusted their goals so as to advocate for keeping weapons away from MVP young people, the member numbers and revenue might start increasing. This is an opportunity for them to go from being the "bad actor" to being part of the solution.
37. The agenda of anti-gun enthusiasts can cover so many topics that it causes them to lose many people who might otherwise support them. Some of their suggestions could get political support, but others threaten gun enthusiasts with statements like "get rid of all guns" and everything dies on the vine.
38. Like the quote in the movie entitled Cool Hand Luke, we have "A Failure To Communicate" in Minnesota. Until we solve this problem, we should make the MN Senate Working Group on Gun Violence permanent and charged with communicating to the general public via traditional political channels, churches, and schools on the proposals to Stop School Shootings. If we are going to Stop School Shootings, we have to stop the misinformation.
39. Sandy Hook Promise was founded by family members of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, including Nicole Hockey and Mark Barden. They lost their sons to the tragedy and were motivated to channel their grief into action. Launched in 2013, the organization's mission is to prevent gun violence by training students, teachers, and parents to recognize warning signs and take action to stop violence before it happens. The Sandy Hook Tip Line was started in 2018 following a similar tragedy in Parkland, Florida. $\text{[https://sandyhookpromise.org](https://sandyhookpromise.org)}$
40. Minnesota Special Session on Gun Violence was cancelled due to insufficient republican support. $\text{Floor vote on assault weapons ban reportedly the main sticking point in MN special session talks.}$
41. Minnesota car insurance premiums total $10.6 billion in 2022. The average full coverage premium = $2,552/Year and the average minimal coverage premium = $709/Year. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
42. Minnesota total annual economic cost of gun violence in 2023 is estimated between $6.2 billion and $10.0 billion. The number of deaths were 525. Of these, 65% were homicide and 47% were suicide. Source: John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Protect Minnesota—Preventing Gun Violence in Minnesota. ($\text{protectmn.org}$).
43. Minnesota insurance premiums covering gun violence does not appear to exist. It is assumed that the economic costs of gun violence are born by the victims and the general taxpaying population. Minnesota requires car drivers to carry personal injury protection, liability, uninsured motorist, and under insured motorist coverage. In 2023, MN senate bill SF3378 and House bill HF 4014 were introduced to require gun liability insurance. These bills are still in committee. California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington require some form of gun insurance. If Minnesota required all gun owners to have appropriate liability insurance, the rates would be set by age, personal history, location, and type of firearm. Such an approach would solve a tremendous amount of the problem if it was simply administered via a status on a drivers license, cell phone accessible data bases for police and carried significant financial penalties as well as an uninsured firearm being confiscated. If this is not done via regular insurance, it should be created like other Minnesota disaster relief funds. The source of the monies for a government relief fund should come from gun owners, not the average taxpayer, who is being forced to pay for the total societal costs of gun violence today. The comparison of car accidents to gun violence is just one example of how firearms and their users have fewer regulations and grossly lower costs of ownership than any other consumer/industry in the state.
44. Minnesota Hunting Laws and Assault Weapons. Minnesota law categorizes certain firearms as "semiautomatic military-style assault weapons," and their use in hunting is subject to specific regulations, age restrictions, local ordinances and background check requirements for private transfers. While some AR-15 style rifles are legal for hunting deer with appropriate ammunition, the public carry of these weapons is restricted, and possession is prohibited for certain individuals, such as those with a criminal history. The limitations on bullets are more specific: When using firearms classified as assault weapons for hunting, it is essential to use appropriate ammunition for the purpose. For example, when hunting deer with an AR-15, using a bullet with a heavy-for-caliber and controlled expansion is required.
45. Several organizations address assault weapons and their ammunition. The Geneva Convention, Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, United Nations and other organizations address the issue of assault type weapons. While these organizations do not outlaw specific assault weapons models amongst warring militaries, they do put restrictions on weapons which may be deemed to be excessively injurious (referring to soldiers) and they are against weapons or their use that has an indiscriminate impact upon civilians. In addition, there are prohibitions on the use of any weapon designed to injure by fragments which cannot be detected in the human body by x-rays. Why are we so weak in protecting our children when international organizations prohibit the above? We have controls and penalties for deer hunting with these weapons, but grossly insufficient controls over MIVP who buy weapons that kill our children? Why, why, why, why Minnesota.?
46. There are several legal precedents that could make gun owners, versus the general taxpaying public, pay the true total societal costs associated with gun violence in Minnesota.
47. Vote, Vote, Vote Your Survey Recommendations