| The odds a child will be killed by an armed assailant at a school in the USA are about 1 in 5 million per year, and if you narrow down to mass shootings at schools, that drops to about 1 in 10 million. Between 2013 and 2022, a total of 77 students in grades K-12 have been killed in 11 school mass shootings, in a country with 50 million school children. A child in America is about 500-600x more likely to die in a car accident than a school shooting. A child in America is about 90-120x more likely to die from a pedestrian fatality than a school shooting. A child in America is 70-90x more likely to die from choking than a school shooting. A child in America is 50-60x more likely to die from drowning than a school shooting. A child in America is 40-55x more likely to die in a fire or from smoke than a school shooting. A child in America is 10-15x more likely to die in a bicycle accident not involving a motor vehicle than from a school shooting. Comparable risks to dying in a school shooting include a fatal sting from a bee or wasp, (about twice a likely), or dying from being struck by lightning (about half as likely). School shootings, while tragic, do not pose nearly as much of a statistical threat as you think they do, even if they still pose more than they ought to. |