A 6-year-old boy from Virginia brought his mom鈥檚 pistol to school and shot his teacher in the chest, leaving the educator with life-threatening injuries and making him among the youngest school shooters in U.S. history.

The Newport News police chief has made clear the shooting was no accident, but law enforcement must still answer a tough question: Should the boy, whose young brain is still developing, face criminal charges? How about his mother, who purchased the handgun legally? A school-based liability question emerged late last week when the district superintendent told parents at least one administrator was made aware but none was found when the boy鈥檚 backpack was searched. Two hours later, he took aim at his teacher. 

Rare but not unprecedented: Intentional shootings carried out by young children are so rare that data about them is hard to come by. Hat tip to Sarah Burd-Sharps, the senior director of research at Everytown for Gun Safety, who pointed me to the FBI鈥檚 National Incident-Based Reporting System for some (imperfect) answers.

In 2021, 29 homicides were carried out by children 9 years old or younger, according to the federal database, compared with 2,490 homicides by those 10 to 19 years old. Weapons used in the attacks aren鈥檛 specified in the database, but in 2020, according to the Department of Justice. Another caveat: The FBI database is incomplete, with just 63% of local law enforcement agencies submitting info. 

In 2022, children carried out at least that resulted in 133 deaths and 180 injuries, according to Everytown. Of the roughly 2,000 unintentional shootings identified between 2015 and 2020, 29% were carried out by children 5 and younger and 37% were carried out by teens 14 to 17. Children in those same age groups were also the most common victims 鈥斅燼s Everytown said in a : Shootings by children are most often also shootings of children.

鈥淭his 6-year-old 鈥� who is far too young to fully grasp the power and consequences of his actions, and whose life will also forever be impacted 鈥� should never have been able to access a firearm,” Burd-Sharps told me. “There are limitations on data about child perpetrators, because at the end of the day, the responsibility to prevent tragedies like this one from happening lies with adults.”

The 25-year-old 鈥� who escorted her students out of the classroom after she was shot 鈥� is reportedly in stable condition. The boy is under court-ordered temporary detention and being treated at a medical facility, but will have to to determine next steps.

Learning from the past: Of all school shootings since 1970, just 16 were carried out by children younger than 10 and most were unintentional, according to David Riedman, founder of the . Among them is a shooting in 2000, where in a Michigan classroom following a playground dispute. The student never faced charges due to his age, but his uncle pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for leaving his gun in a location easily accessible by the child. 

鈥淎 6-year-old cannot go to the store and buy a gun,鈥� Riedman told me. 鈥淪o if a 6-year-old shoots somebody at a school, it鈥檚 because whoever owned the gun failed to be a responsible gun owner.鈥�

What鈥檚 next? Juvenile justice experts in Virginia say it鈥檚 will be held criminally responsible, but his parents may be at greater legal jeopardy. Police said they are investigating if and how the mother stored the 9mm Taurus and how her son got hold of it. 

Among accountability avenues is the commonwealth鈥檚 , which prohibits people from 鈥渞ecklessly leaving a loaded, unsecured firearm鈥� in a manner that endangers children. Child access prevention or safe storage laws and Washington, D.C.

An effective prevention strategy: Rules designed to limit youth access to firearms, including Virginia鈥檚 law, are , according to an in-depth analysis released this week 鈥� with great timing 鈥� by the nonprofit RAND Corp. 

鈥淕un violence is a complex issue that is going to take a public health approach鈥� to overcome, Kelsey Gastineau, a Tennessee-based pediatrician and public health researcher focused on youth firearm injuries, told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淏ut at the end of the day, one thing that we can do moving forward 鈥� right now 鈥� is making sure that if there are firearms in the home, that they are locked and unloaded separate from ammunition.鈥�

Learn more at The74Million.org; sign up for the site鈥檚 daily newsletter.

During a press call Thursday, leaders with Everytown for Gun Safety, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association bemoaned a return to campus gun violence after a year without mass school shootings. There were 30 reported instances of gunfire on school grounds between Aug. 1 and Sept. 15, resulting in five deaths and 23 injuries, according to a tally by Everytown, a nonprofit advocacy group that promotes gun control measures. That鈥檚 the largest count during that back-to-school period since the group started keeping track in 2013 and comes amid a larger surge in violence outside of schools.

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鈥淔or the past 18 months, we鈥檝e been focused on keeping our students and educators safe, getting them back together in classrooms,鈥� NEA President Becky Pringle told reporters. 鈥淣ow, as students across the nation are returning to school buildings, we not only face the threat of an ongoing pandemic, we face record levels of gun violence on our school campuses.鈥澛�

The most recent high-profile incident unfolded Wednesday at Timberview High School in Arlington, Texas, where four people were injured and an 18-year-old student was arrested and charged with carrying out the attack after a reported fight with another student. The suspect鈥檚 family . Mansfield Independent School District spokesman Donald Williams said the school system is investigating the incident and its potential motives.听

Earlier this month, on Oct. 1, charter school in Houston was injured after getting shot in the back on campus. A 25-year-old man who reportedly graduated from the school in 2017 was charged in the shooting.听

Even before the pandemic swept the nation, America faced a gun violence epidemic, Pringle said. Yet, time and again, she said policymakers have failed to reach tangible solutions. She promoted gun control measures like expanding firearm background check systems and improving youth access to mental health care, but argued that other responses like arming teachers, active-shooter drills and school-based police could further traumatize kids.听

The latest tragedies confirm the fears of criminologists and school safety experts who warned about the potential for heightened violence in schools as students repopulated classrooms after a year of isolation, economic hardship and social unrest during the pandemic. The carnage follows a year without a single mass school shooting, according to data from The Violence Project, a nonprofit research center focused on reducing such tragedies.听

鈥淎s the mom of a teacher in Indiana, I was worrying a lot about what back-to-school would look like,鈥� said Shannon Watts, the founder of the gun safety group, . 鈥淪adly, back-to-school has meant back-to-school shootings for too many communities across the country.鈥澛�

Though mass shootings happen elsewhere, the U.S. is a clear outlier. School shootings remain statistically rare and federal data suggest that schools have grown markedly safer in recent years, but there has been an uptick in campus gun violence leading to injury and death in the last several years. During the 2019-20 school year, there were 27 campus shootings that resulted in death and 48 in injuries, .听

During the press call Thursday, advocates and union leaders said a comprehensive strategy is required to prevent gun violence in schools,聽

President Joe Biden to back new gun control measures and for an increase in funding for police officers. Yet many of the proposed solutions highlighted Thursday 鈥� gun control, in particular 鈥斅爃ave long faced fierce opposition. Congress is already juggling several high-stakes, contentious issues including a potential budget impasse, an infrastructure bill and a long-term resolution of the debt ceiling.听

AFT President Randi Weingarten specifically called for moderate lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, to support measures like red flag laws, firearm storage rules and background checks for all gun sales.听

鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 be controversial,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 huge bipartisan support [among voters] for these common-sense safety measures.鈥澛�