School shootings have hit close to home for many U.S. parents. In a new Pew Research Center survey, roughly a third (32%) of parents of children in K-12 schools say they are very or extremely worried about a shooting ever happening at their children’s school.
Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to study American parents’ views on school shootings and policies that could potentially help prevent them. To do this, we surveyed 3,757 U.S. parents with at least one child younger than 18 from Sept. 20 to Oct. 2, 2022. Most parents who took part are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This survey also included an oversample of Black, Hispanic and Asian parents from Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, another probability-based online survey web panel recruited primarily through national, random sampling of residential addresses.
Address-based sampling ensures that nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.
Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.
A similar share of K-12 parents say they are not too or not at all worried (31%), while 37% of parents fall somewhere in the middle, saying they are somewhat worried about a shooting ever happening at their children’s school.
The survey was conducted Sept. 20-Oct. 2 among 3,757 U.S. parents with at least one child younger than 18 (including 3,251 who have a child in a K-12 school). It follows the fatal shooting of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in May.
Mothers of children in K-12 schools are much more likely than fathers to say they are very or extremely worried about a school shooting (39% vs. 24%). In fact, roughly a quarter of mothers (24%) say they are extremely worried. Fathers, in turn, are much more likely than mothers to say they aren’t too worried or aren’t worried at all (41% vs. 23%).
Concerns also vary by race and ethnicity. Half of Hispanic parents of K-12 students say they are very or extremely worried about the possibility of a shooting at their children’s school, compared with 40% of Black parents, 35% of Asian parents and 22% of White parents.
About half of K-12 parents with lower incomes (49%) say they are very or extremely worried about a school shooting happening at their children’s school. This is significantly higher than the share among middle-income (26%) or upper-income parents (19%).
K-12 parents who live in urban areas are more worried about school shootings than those in suburban or rural areas: 46% of urban parents say they are very or extremely worried, compared with 28% of suburban parents and a quarter of rural parents.
Democratic and Democratic-leaning parents of children in K-12 schools express a higher level of concern over school shootings than Republican and GOP-leaning parents – 40% of Democrats compared with 22% of Republicans say they are very or extremely worried about the possibility of a shooting at their children’s school.
Majorities in both parties say better mental health screening, treatment would be an effective way to prevent school shootings
Amid rising gun violence at schools in recent years, there has been widespread discussion about policies and approaches that might prevent such tragedies.
When asked about the effectiveness of certain strategies to prevent school shootings, parents are most likely to see value in improving mental health screening and treatment. A 63% majority of parents with children younger than 18 (whether they are school-age or not) say this would be a very or extremely effective way to prevent school shootings.
Roughly half of U.S. parents (49%) say having police officers or armed security stationed in schools would be a very or extremely effective approach for preventing school shootings. More than four-in-ten (45%) say the same about banning assault-style weapons, and 41% say this about having metal detectors in schools. Only about a quarter of parents (24%) say allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in school would be a very or extremely effective approach, while half say this would be not too or not at all effective.
Reflecting the broader debate over gun policy in the United States, there are significant differences by party when parents are asked about approaches to preventing school shootings. For example, a majority of Republican parents with at least one child under 18 (61%) say having police officers or armed security stationed in schools would be a very or extremely effective preventative tool, whereas only 38% of Democratic parents say the same. Conversely, two-thirds of Democratic parents say banning assault-style weapons would be very or extremely effective, while two-thirds of Republican parents say this would be not too or not at all effective at preventing school shootings. When it comes to allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in school, 41% of Republican parents say this would be a very or extremely effective approach, compared with 11% of Democratic parents.
Majorities of parents in both parties say that improving mental health screening and treatment would be a very or extremely effective way to prevent school shootings. Democratic parents are more likely to have this view; seven-in-ten Democratic parents say this, compared with 55% of Republican parents. Similar shares of Democratic and Republican parents say having metal detectors in schools would be an at least very effective policy (42% vs. 37%).
Within each party, there is some variation in support for certain policies. Among Republican and Republican-leaning parents, mothers are more likely than fathers to express support for improving mental health screening and treatment as a way of prevention (59% vs. 49%). Republican mothers are also more likely than Republican fathers to say banning assault-style weapons (25% vs. 12%) and having metal detectors in school (43% vs. 30%) would be very or extremely effective. On the flip side, Republican fathers are more likely than GOP mothers to express support for allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in school (46% vs. 37%).
Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning parents, mothers are more likely than fathers to express support for all of the listed policies, with the exception of having police officers or armed security stationed in schools; on this question, there’s no statistically significant difference between Democratic mothers and fathers saying this would be extremely or very effective (41% and 35%, respectively).
Attitudes among Democratic parents also differ by community type. Roughly seven-in-ten Democratic parents who live in urban and suburban areas (72% and 68%, respectively) say banning assault-style weapons would be an extremely or very effective approach, compared with 54% of rural Democratic parents.
Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.
