Poll: Majority say students should be involved in gun safety debate

Americans believe that students should have a say in the gun policy and school safety debate, a new CBS poll found.

Sixty-two percent of the poll’s respondents said they think that students should be involved in the gun policy discussion. Thirty-seven percent said the issue is better left to adults.

Women were slightly more supportive of student involvement, with 65 percent saying students should be involved compared to 58 percent of men.

The poll also had a notable split along partisan lines.

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Only 39 percent of Republicans polled backed student involvement, compared to 79 percent of Democrats.

The poll was published one month after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida left 17 people dead and many more wounded.

The shooting has led to a national discussion about gun violence and school safety.

The student survivors of the shooting have strongly advocated for gun control and have gone after the National Rifle Association and politicians backed by the group.

On Wednesday, thousands of students are expected to walk out of school to commemorate the one-month anniversary of the shooting and to raise awareness about gun violence.

President Trump has called for arming teachers as a way to deter school shootings, a proposal that has received a large amount of criticism.

The administration on Sunday unveiled a series of proposals on school safety and gun restrictions, including a push for firearms training for school staff members.

White House officials said the administration will establish a federal commission to assess how to best address gun violence in schools, though it will not propose any legislation of its own.

The CBS poll found that 44 percent of respondents believe that if more teachers carried guns it would lead to more gun violence in schools, while 29 percent said they believed armed educators would prevent gun violence. About a quarter of those surveyed said the measure would have no impact.

Nearly two-thirds of parents polled said that they have talked to their children about gun violence in schools since the Florida shooting.

The poll surveyed 1,223 adults by telephone from March 8-11 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.