April 16 :
59% of public K-12 instructors questioned by the Pew Research Centre continue to be concerned about the likelihood of a school shooting, even though it has been twenty-five years since the tragic mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. Out of that group, 18% say they're terrified about this possibility.

A record-breaking 82 school shootings were recorded in 2023, coinciding with the poll. In this context, the topic of gun safety will likely be front and centre during the 2024 election.

In the 2022–23 academic year, around a quarter of instructors (23 percent) said that their school went into lockdown mode because of a gun or alleged gun threat. Within that group, 15% say it happened once a year, while 8% say it happened multiple times.

When asked whether their school had a lockdown due to a firearms incident in the past school year, 34% of high school instructors said they had. On the other hand, 16% of elementary school teachers and 22% of middle school instructors said the same thing. Roughly 40% of educators feel their school has only adequately prepared them for an active shooter scenario in terms of training and resources.

Teachers who identify as Republican or leaning Republican are far more likely to think that certain policies would greatly improve school safety than teachers who identify as Democratic or leaning Democratic. Of those measures, 69% of Republicans are in support while 37% of Democrats are against the idea of armed guards or police officers stationed inside schools.

Furthermore, although just 27% of Democratic teachers think metal detectors are an efficient security measure, 43% of Republican teachers feel the same way. In terms of the most significant difference, 28% of Republicans and 3% of Democrats support the idea that school administrators and teachers should be able to carry weapons on school premises.

School shootings are a major concern for most public school teachers.