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22 incidents of kids bringing guns to U.S. elementary schools so far in 2023
Lisa Chiu in Washington
North America;United States
22 incidents of kids bringing guns to U.S. elementary schools so far in 2023

The 6-year-old who intentionally shot his teacher in Newport News, Virginia earlier this year will not face any criminal charges, the city prosecutor said. However the office is still looking into whether to charge any adults in the case.

The prosecutor told NBC that charging a 6-year-old would be “problematic” since the child would not be competent to understand the legal system.

The news that a first grader could commit such an act made international headlines when the shooting occurred in January, but guns found in U.S. elementary schools are not as rare as one might think.

Since 2019 there have been 181 incidents of children between the ages of 0-11 bringing a gun to school that did not result in death or injury, according to data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive analyzed by CGTN America.

22 incidents of kids bringing guns to U.S. elementary schools so far in 2023

During the same time period, an additional 56 elementary school incidents involving a school shooting were reported, including 30 children killed and wounded by a mass shooter in Uvalde, Texas in 2022.

Three months into 2023, 21 non-injury gun incidents were reported in elementary schools - including at least three involving 6-year-olds, and 1 involving a 5-year-old.

The Gun Violence Archive examines thousands of sources from police, media, and government and verifies each to compile its database. The incidents include descriptions such as:

"Gun found in student's bag." (Age 5)

"student brought handgun to school and threatened to shoot classmate" (Age 6)

"6 y/o brought gun to school and ammunition, gun linked to straw sales in 03/2"

"Gun found in 6 year old's backpack; Marvin Davis, 58, charged with failing to properly store a firearm"

"5th grade student with handgun threat another student"

"gun, ammo clip found at school" (Age 11)

"Parent left loaded handgun in child's backpack"

"1 gun involved" (kindergartner had a gun in backpack)

"Child brought (loaded) gun to school in backpack." (Fourth grade)

"child with gun in backpack, placed there unintentionally by family prior night; self-reported to faculty"

"gun taken to school by student, given to another student; student found after school w/ gun;"

As students get older, the number of incidents only increase. Since 2019, there have been 335 school shooting incidents involving children ages 12-17 and 1,823 non-injury incidents involving older students bringing a gun to school.

A 2018 survey of 1,444 gun owners in the United States found that 54 percent do not safety store all their guns, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found.

While federal law requires gun makers, importers, and dealers make gun locks available at sale, there's no requirement that people use them.

Democratic lawmakers have continuously introduced bills in Congress requiring gun owners to store guns safely, but Republicans have blocked attempts at such legislation.

Currently only 23 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have some kind of law on child access prevention to guns and the safe storage of firearms, but that number is expected to grow.

The New Mexico legislature on Thursday, March 9, approved a bill that would criminalize negligent storage of a firearm and allowing a child to misuse the weapon. It now heads to Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for approval.

Minnesota and Michigan, two states that flipped Democratic in the last election, could also be set to join the list of states with gun storage laws.

The states have each fast tracked bills that would strengthen gun safety - including storage requirements -- which could become law within weeks, the Washington Post reported.

For more, check out our exclusive content on CGTN Now and subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The China Report.

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