Gun violence and school safety continue to be major topics of discussion across the United States, including in Nebraska.
Current national regulations mainly prohibit specific individuals from purchasing firearms, enforce general background checks and regulate devices such as machine guns and silencers, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Nebraska, however, became a constitutional carry state Sept. 2, 2023, allowing individuals 21 or older who are not otherwise prohibited from carrying concealed handguns without a state permit.
“They never should have changed it,” Kevin Kavan, security director at Fremont Public Schools and former state trooper, said regarding the change in law.
Experiences with guns can vary depending on where people live, according to McKenzie McCarter, a city clerk and U.S. veteran.
“In urban areas, use is concealed carry — it’s for personal protection,” McCarter said. “In rural areas, you see more hunting and protection against animal predators, not people.”
Nebraska also has no laws regulating semiautomatic firearms, commonly referred to as assault-style rifles, with large-capacity magazines, according to NRA-ILA.
McCarter explained that the differences in gun use are not necessarily due to changing laws.
“Policy doesn’t really change based on location,” she said. “Statute is the same statewide — set at the federal, then state, then local level, where it can get a bit more restrictive.”
Other countries have approached gun violence differently. In 1989, a student armed with a semiautomatic rifle killed 14 students at Montreal Engineering School in Canada. The incident became a major driving force behind Canadian gun reform measures, including mandatory safety training courses, waiting periods, background checks and restrictions on military-style firearms and large-capacity magazines, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The United States has also experienced numerous high-profile school shootings, including Columbine, Sandy Hook and Uvalde.
According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, there had been 63 incidents involving gun violence on school campuses as of April 22, 2026.
With less than 5% of the world’s population, the United States has the world’s highest civilian gun ownership rate at 121 firearms per 100 residents, according to the 2017 World Population Review.
As discussions surrounding gun violence continue, many people are left questioning what realistic steps can reduce the risk of future tragedies.
“This topic is so difficult because of privacy laws,” McCarter said. “We’ve painted ourselves into the craziest corner, and I don’t know how we fix it.”
Many proposed solutions focus on stricter background checks and additional restrictions on firearm access.
Current background checks screen individuals purchasing firearms, though some critics argue the process can be inconsistent due to incomplete criminal or domestic violence reporting between states.
Research from organizations such as Everytown for Gun Safety has shown links between prior domestic violence incidents and future gun violence. Some advocates also support waiting periods to reduce impulsive acts of violence and suicide.
According to national firearm statistics, suicides have accounted for the majority of firearm-related deaths each year since 1995.
McCarter also raised concerns about how expanded monitoring systems could affect privacy.
“As soon as you ‘red flag’ someone, are they forever flagged?” she asked. “Who has access to that? Employers? It opens a huge can of worms.”
Large-capacity magazines remain another major focus in gun regulation debates.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, “In mass shootings with four or more people killed between 2015 and 2022, high-capacity magazines led to more than twice as many people killed, and nearly 10 times as many people wounded per incident on average.”
“There are always going to be people who make bad choices,” McCarter said. “Anytime you tell someone no, they are going to say ‘watch me.’”