The mass shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee, where two people were killed and at least five others injured, is another painful reminder of the crisis we live with every day as school health professionals. What happened on a college campus has happened over and over again in K–12 schools. There are students at the FSU shooting who lived through the Parkland shooting. School shootings are a scenario we prepare for but hope never to face. And now, at the exact moment when we need stronger systems to prevent these tragedies, the CDC has been gutted of the very infrastructure designed to protect our communities.
Why This Matters to School Nurses and Public Health
School nurses see the impact of trauma in real time—in the worried eyes of a kindergartener after a lockdown drill, in the anxious teen who asks about a shooting in another state, in parents asking if their children are safe. We hold space for these fears and serve as the frontline of health, healing, and advocacy.
But this tragedy is not just a school issue; it is a national public health emergency. The FSU shooting, involving a student with access to firearms through a law enforcement family, highlights the complex, context-specific patterns, such as secure storage, access, and oversight, that only robust research can identify.
The Layoffs: Undermining Gun Violence Research and Data
As detailed in Chip Brownlee’s article for The Trace, CDC Teams That Study Gun Violence and Collect Data Are Decimated by Layoffs recent layoffs at the CDC have decimated the Division of Violence Prevention and dismantled key teams responsible for tracking gun violence. These cuts directly threaten foundational systems like WISQARS and CDC WONDER—tools that help us understand where and why shootings occur, and what strategies might prevent them.
It was through analysis of data from the CDC’s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) system that researchers first documented firearms surpassing motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States. Based on U.S. death certificates compiled by the CDC, this platform has served as the primary data source for multiple peer-reviewed studies and public health organizations. A 2018 study in the New England Journal of Medicine used CDC WONDER to summarize leading causes of death in children and adolescents, and more recent analyses—including those by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Everytown for Gun Safety—have continued to rely on it to track and confirm that firearm injuries remain the leading cause of death for this age group, a shift first identified in 2020 and persisting in the years since.
The sweeping layoffs have gutted the CDC’s Injury Center at a moment when the nation is again confronted with the devastating consequences of gun violence in schools and universities. The dismantling of these teams means policymakers, researchers, and journalists will have even less capacity to analyze incidents like the FSU shooting, identify risk factors, and propose evidence-based interventions. Without this infrastructure, school communities and public health leaders are left “flying blind” in the face of recurring mass shootings.
Where are policymakers going to get their data to make informed decisions if our center disappears? — CDC employee, quoted in The Trace
Ripple Effects on Federal, State, and Local Programs
The layoffs not only threaten federal research and data collection but also jeopardize the availability and administration of grants and technical assistance to state and local programs that respond to shootings like the one at FSU. With CDC oversight diminished, state-level interventions may become less effective, and the flow of critical information between federal agencies, local authorities, and the public will be disrupted at precisely the moment it is needed most.
These effects are not theoretical. As more than 80 mass shootings have already occurred in the U.S. this year—six in Florida alone—these are not just statistics. These are communities, schools, students, and educators who will carry the trauma for years. The CDC’s ability to provide guidance, technical support, and rapid data analysis during crises like the FSU shooting has been severely compromised.
A Setback Amid a National Crisis
The FSU shooting is not an isolated event but part of a broader national pattern. The CDC layoffs come just as gun violence has become the leading cause of death for American children and adolescents—a fact established by research that is now at risk of being curtailed. The loss of capacity to study and prevent such incidents is a profound setback for public health and safety.
And while these CDC cuts may seem far away from the nurse’s office or the local school board, the ripple effects are real: fewer resources, stalled grant programs, delayed interventions, and fragmented communication between federal agencies and school-based programs.
Broader Public Health Consequences
The sweeping cuts at the CDC go far beyond gun violence prevention—they threaten the very infrastructure of public health in the United States. Programs that monitor and respond to injury prevention, chronic disease, maternal and child health, infectious disease outbreaks, and environmental health hazards are all being impacted.
These layoffs have hollowed out critical teams, dismantled surveillance systems, and weakened the CDC’s ability to provide rapid, science-based guidance during emergencies. Without this capacity, local and state health departments will struggle to respond effectively to crises, from opioid overdoses to emerging infectious diseases. The erosion of public health leadership doesn’t just stall progress—it puts lives at risk by reducing the nation’s ability to detect threats, coordinate responses, and protect the most vulnerable among us.
This Is a Setback—But We Are Not Powerless
Let’s be clear: this moment represents a dangerous erosion of public health leadership. But it is also a call to action. School nurses, educators, health professionals, and advocates must speak up, even when it’s uncomfortable. We must advocate, even when resources are tight. We must show up, again and again, because our students and communities need us to.
“If adults come back to run the government in four years, all this institutional memory will be lost. It’s going to take more than four years to get us back to where we were just two months ago.”
— David Hemenway, Harvard University
Take Action
We can take meaningful, immediate actions to address the urgent need for gun violence prevention and to help restore our public health infrastructure. Here are several steps, along with trusted organizations you can support or get involved with:
1. Contact Your Elected Officials
Urge them to prioritize funding for gun violence prevention research and to rebuild CDC public health programs. Ask them to:
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Restore funding for the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention.
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Support evidence-based gun safety legislation, like safe storage laws, universal background checks, and red flag laws.
📞 Find and contact your members of Congress
2. Support Organizations Leading the Charge
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Brady United – Works to end gun violence through advocacy, education, and litigation.
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Everytown for Gun Safety – A powerful movement for gun safety policy and community-based violence intervention programs.
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Giffords Law Center – Focuses on policy research and legal strategies to fight gun violence.
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Cure Violence Global – Uses a public health approach to reduce violence in communities across the U.S. and internationally.
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National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) – Advocates for local health departments and public health infrastructure.
3. Amplify the Message
Use your platform—social media, school newsletters, PTA meetings, professional networks—to:
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Share stories and data about the impact of gun violence on youth.
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Link to resources and articles like The Trace’s report on CDC cuts.
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Encourage community conversations around trauma-informed practices and violence prevention in schools.
4. Donate to Restore and Protect Public Health Infrastructure
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CDC Foundation – Supports programs that strengthen the CDC’s ability to respond to public health threats.
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Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) – Advocates for increased investment in public health and publishes annual reports on public health preparedness.
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National Prevention Science Coalition – Promotes evidence-based solutions and systemic reform across multiple health and social sectors.
5. Stay Informed and Educated
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Subscribe to The Trace for in-depth journalism on gun violence.
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Follow advocacy groups and public health leaders on social media.
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Participate in webinars and town halls focused on gun safety, youth mental health, and trauma-informed care.
Taking even one of these steps helps build the momentum needed to restore our national capacity to track, understand, and prevent gun violence—and to protect the public health systems that serve every community.
Let’s not allow this tragedy—or the dismantling of our nation’s prevention infrastructure—to pass unnoticed. The shooting at Florida State University makes clear that restoring and protecting public health infrastructure and ensuring the transparency and data needed to combat gun violence is not an abstract policy debate, but a matter of life and death for American communities.
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