Poll: Majority of teens afraid shooting could occur at their school

A majority of U.S. teenagers and parents say they are afraid a shooting could happen at their schools, according to a Pew survey published Wednesday.

Fifty-seven percent of teens surveyed said they are worried about school shootings at their school, with 32 percent saying they are somewhat worried and 25 percent saying they are very worried.

Sixty-three percent of parents also said they are worried about a shooting happening at their child’s school.

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The survey found that 86 percent of teens said preventing people with mental health illnesses from purchasing a gun would be effective at preventing school shootings, the same percentage who said strengthening mental illness screenings would be effective.

About 79 percent of the teens surveyed said that metal detectors would be effective and 66 percent said banning assault-style weapons would be effective.

Only 39 percent of teens said that allowing teachers to carry guns at school would effectively prevent shootings.

The poll found some differences depending on the race of the teenagers answering the survey questions.

Hispanic and black teens expressed more worry about shootings happening at their schools than white teens.

About 80 percent of both black and Hispanic teens said that banning assault-style weapons would be effective at preventing shootings while only 59 percent of white teens said the same.

The survey polled 743 teens ages 13-17 and 1,058 parents from March 7-April 10. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points for the teen respondents and plus or minus 4.5 percentage points for the parent respondents.

The polling began less than a month after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead. The survey ended before the “March For Our Lives” gun-law reform rally in Washington, D.C., organized by the Stoneman Douglas student survivors.