II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1285 

To direct the National Center for Education Statistics to produce an annual 

report on indicators of school crime and safety, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 25, 2023 

Mr. BENNET introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To direct the National Center for Education Statistics to 

produce an annual report on indicators of school crime 

and safety, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘School Shooting Safety 

5 and Preparedness Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) TITLE 18 DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘fire9 arm’’ and ‘‘ammunition’’ have the meanings given 

10 such terms in section 921 of title 18, United States 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 1285 IS

1 Code. The term ‘‘large capacity ammunition feeding 

2 device’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

3 921 of title 18, Unites States Code, as in effect on 

4 September 1, 2004. 

5 (2) MASS SHOOTING.—The term ‘‘mass shoot6 ing’’ means a shooting during which 3 or more indi7 viduals, not including the shooter, were injured or 

8 killed in one location or in multiple locations in close 

9 proximity. 

10 (3) SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘school’’ means— 

11 (A) an early childhood education program 

12 (as defined in section 103 of the Higher Edu13 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1003)); 

14 (B) an elementary school (as defined in 

15 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 

16 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)); 

17 (C) a secondary school (as defined in sec18 tion 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 

19 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)); and 

20 (D) an institution of higher education (as 

21 defined in section 102 of the Higher Education 

22 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)). 

23 (4) SCHOOL SHOOTING.—The term ‘‘school 

24 shooting’’ means an event or occurrence— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 1285 IS

1 (A) during which one or more individuals 

2 were injured or killed by a firearm; and 

3 (B) that occurred— 

4 (i) in, or on the grounds of, a school, 

5 even if before or after school hours; 

6 (ii) while the victim was traveling to 

7 or from a regular session at school; or 

8 (iii) while the victim was attending or 

9 traveling to or from an official school-spon10 sored event. 

11 SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT ON INDICATORS OF SCHOOL 

12 CRIME AND SAFETY. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education, in 

14 consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary 

15 of Health and Human Services, shall publish not less fre16 quently than on an annual basis a report on indicators 

17 of school crime and safety. Such report shall be produced 

18 by the National Center for Education Statistics of the De19 partment of Education in consultation with the Bureau 

20 of Justice Statistics of the Department of Justice. Such 

21 report shall include, at a minimum, an updated version 

22 of the information provided in the National Center for 

23 Education Statistics report NCES 2022–092 issued in 

24 July 2022, and the data described in subsections (b) and 

25 (d). 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 1285 IS

1 (b) STATISTICS ON SCHOOL SHOOTINGS.—In col2 lecting data on school shootings to be compiled in the an3 nual report described in subsection (a), the National Cen4 ter for Education Statistics shall collect at a minimum the 

5 following data annually: 

6 (1) The number of school shootings that have 

7 taken place nationwide. 

8 (2) Of the school shootings described in para9 graph (1), the number that were mass shootings. 

10 (3) Of the school shootings described in para11 graph (1), the number that were suicides. 

12 (4) Of the school shootings described in para13 graph (1), the number that were accidents. 

14 (5) The number of people killed in each school 

15 shooting, including— 

16 (A) the number of people whose cause of 

17 death was attributable to wound by firearm; 

18 and 

19 (B) the number of people having some 

20 other cause of death. 

21 (6) The number of people injured in each school 

22 shooting, including— 

23 (A) the number of people wounded by fire24 arm; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 1285 IS

1 (B) the number of people injured in some 

2 other manner. 

3 (7) The time of the shooting and whether it oc4 curred during school hours. 

5 (8) The demographics of each school, includ6 ing— 

7 (A) the locale code of the school, as deter8 mined by the Secretary of Education; and 

9 (B) student demographic data 

10 disaggregated by— 

11 (i) economically disadvantaged stu12 dents as compared to students who are not 

13 economically disadvantaged; 

14 (ii) each major racial and ethnic 

15 group; 

16 (iii) children with disabilities as com17 pared to children without disabilities; and 

18 (iv) English proficiency status. 

19 (9) The personal characteristics of each victim 

20 in the shooting, including, at a minimum, the vic21 tim’s— 

22 (A) age; 

23 (B) gender; 

24 (C) race; 

25 (D) ethnicity; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 1285 IS

1 (E) nationality. 

2 (10) The personal characteristics of the shooter, 

3 including, at a minimum, the shooter’s— 

4 (A) age; 

5 (B) gender; 

6 (C) race; 

7 (D) ethnicity; 

8 (E) nationality; and 

9 (F) relationship to the school. 

10 (11) Whether the shooting was determined to 

11 be an accident, and if not, the motivation of the 

12 shooter, including any real or perceived bias based 

13 on race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or sex (in14 cluding sexual orientation or gender identity). 

15 (12) How the shooting was stopped, includ16 ing— 

17 (A) whether the shooter was injured or 

18 killed, and if so, by whom; and 

19 (B) if not, what was the other outcome of 

20 the incident (such as escape, arrest, or suicide). 

21 (13) The number and type of firearms and am22 munition that were used in each shooting, includ23 ing— 

24 (A) the make and model of the firearm; 

25 (B) the manufacturer of the firearm; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 1285 IS

1 (C) the make and model of the ammuni2 tion; 

3 (D) the manufacturer of the ammunition; 

4 (E) whether a large capacity ammunition 

5 feeding device was present at the scene or used 

6 during the shooting; and 

7 (F) the number of rounds of ammunition 

8 fired by the shooter over the course of the 

9 shooting. 

10 (14) Where each of the firearms used in each 

11 shooting was obtained and how, including— 

12 (A) whether the firearm was registered if 

13 required; 

14 (B) whether the firearm was purchased 

15 from a licensed gun dealer or an unlicensed 

16 sale; and 

17 (C) the geographic location from where the 

18 shooter obtained the firearm. 

19 (15) If the original purchaser was not the 

20 shooter, the original purchaser’s relationship, if any, 

21 to the shooter. 

22 (16) If the original purchaser was not the 

23 shooter and the firearm was obtained from the 

24 shooter’s home, the gun storage practices being used 

25 in the home, and whether the gun owner was 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 1285 IS

1 charged with failing to properly secure his or her 

2 firearm. 

3 (17) Whether the school had one or more teach4 ers, as that term is defined in section 8553 of the 

5 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

6 (20 U.S.C. 7943), who were armed, and if so, 

7 whether such armed teacher or teachers stopped the 

8 incident by shooting the shooter. 

9 (18) The length of time that the shooting lasted 

10 (the approximate elapsed time between the first and 

11 last shots fired). 

12 (19) The response time of law enforcement. 

13 (c) HISTORIC STATISTICS ON SCHOOL SHOOTINGS.— 

14 The Secretary of Education shall direct the National Cen15 ter for Education Statistics— 

16 (1) to collect, to the extent practicable, the data 

17 required in subsection (b) for shootings that oc18 curred before the date of the enactment of this Act; 

19 and 

20 (2) to publish such data as revisions to the 

21 most applicable annual reports on indicators of 

22 school crime and safety issued by the National Cen23 ter for Education Statistics before the date of the 

24 enactment of this Act. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 1285 IS

1 (d) SAFETY AND PREVENTION.—In collecting data 

2 on school shootings to be compiled in the annual report 

3 described in subsection (a), the National Center for Edu4 cation Statistics shall collect, at a minimum, information 

5 on the existence or absence of the following measures at 

6 the time of the shooting at schools where a school shooting 

7 occurred in the previous year: 

8 (1) Physical security measures, including— 

9 (A) building envelopes and interiors de10 signed to protect occupants from human 

11 threats; and 

12 (B) other physical security measures de13 signed to avert and restrict violence. 

14 (2) Other types of security measures, including 

15 measures designed to preserve open learning envi16 ronments that positively influence student behavior. 

17 (3) A communication plan with local law en18 forcement. 

19 (4) A response plan that includes coordination 

20 with local agencies (such as law enforcement, fire 

21 department, and hospitals). 

22 (5) An active shooter response plan (including 

23 the use of an alert system to notify students, faculty, 

24 and parents or guardians). 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 1285 IS

1 (6) A trauma response plan to address trauma 

2 resulting from the shooting, including coordination 

3 with school-based counselors, other school mental 

4 health professionals, and appropriate community 

5 partners and organizations, such as community ac6 tion programs or agencies. 

7 (7) Any other similar type of safety or preven8 tion measure in place at the time of the school 

9 shooting. 

10 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—In collecting data on 

11 school shootings to be compiled in the annual report de12 scribed in subsection (a), any data disaggregation required 

13 by subsection (b) shall not be required in the case where 

14 such disaggregation would reveal personally identifiable 

15 information about any individual. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS