The spate of gun violence seems to be taking its toll on parents and children alike. Parents are concerned about the safety of their children in schools and report feeling stressed, scared and angry — and many report that their children are feeling the same.
Parents on both sides of the gun control debate express concern about their children’s safety. Three in four parents of school-aged children are at least somewhat concerned about the possibility of gun violence at their children’s school, including one in three who are very concerned. Large majorities of parents report feeling sad, stressed, scared and nervous after seeing or hearing about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Two in three parents say they are angry.
And it’s not just the parents who are concerned — most parents say their children are also worried. More than half of parents say their school-aged children sometimes worry about gun violence while attending school, including more than a quarter who say they worry about it a lot.
Most have talked to their school-aged children about gun violence in the aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and many children report feeling many of the same emotions their parents feel. Majorities of parents say their children have felt sadness, while half are nervous, scared, angry, or stressed after seeing or hearing about the shooting.
Parents favor active policies in their schools to try to mitigate the risk from school shootings.
Large majorities favor having armed security guards or police in the schools, as well as practicing lockdowns and active shooter drills for students and staff — measures that find support across partisan lines. More than half of parents also favor allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns, a measure that finds favor with almost all Republican parents and most independents. Most Democratic parents disagree, though four in 10 would also like to see this happen.
This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,021 U.S. adult residents interviewed between June 1-3, 2022. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as to 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error is ±2.6 points.
