Parental concerns about children’s safety in school have risen for the fourth year, with four in ten reporting heightened anxieties, according to a new Gallup survey.
The survey conducted from Aug. 1 to Aug. 20, before the shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic School this week that killed two children and injured 17 others, found that 41% of U.S. parents of K-12 students feared their oldest child’s safety at school.
Readings from the past three years showed similar findings, ranging from 38% to 44% marking the longest continuous stretch of elevated parental concern, Gallup said.
Before the four-year stretch, the last time parental fear was this high was in March 2001, shortly after a student gunman killed two classmates and injured 13 others at a high school in Santee, California. At the time, 45% of parents expressed concerns.
The last four year findings are all above the 34% Gallup average that has been documented since the analytics company started it in 1998.
Gallup started conducting the survey after a series of fatal school shootings that had recently occurred. The first findings showed 37% of parents had concerns, but this spiked to a record-high 55% after the Columbine High School massacre in April 1999.
Concerns have since increased across all surveyed subgroups, including political, gender, household income, school grade level, and region in the country.
The survey comes as there has also been a series of recent hoax active shooter threats on college campuses that have prompted the FBI to launch an investigation.
“The FBI is seeing an increase in swatting events across the country, and we take potential hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk,” an FBI statement read.
Reactions to Minneapolis shooting
Since the Minneapolis shooting, politicians from both sides have expressed sympathies to the victims and families affected by the tragedy.
Many Democrats have also called for gun control following the shooting, including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
“Don’t just say, this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying,” the Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a press conference last week. “They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence, and their parents should have the same kind of assurance.”
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Frey’s comments and former press secretary, Jen Psaki’s, post on X that said “prayer is not freaking enough” stirred up debate with republicans over responses to mass shootings.
“It is shocking to me that so many left wing politicians attack the idea of prayer in response to a tragedy. Literally no one thinks prayer is a substitute for action. We pray because our hearts are broken and we believe that God is listening,” Vice President JD Vance said in response on X.
Previous gun control legislation
In 2022, then-President Joe Biden signed into law the first major gun safety legislation that was passed by Congress in 30 years. The bill came after the shootings at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York and a primary school in Uvalde, Texas.
A Gallup survey conducted three months after the Uvalde shooting that killed 19 children and two adults, reported concerns surged to 44%.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act enhanced background checks for gun buyers under 21, provided funding for mental health services and school safety, closed the “boyfriend loophole” for domestic abusers, and established federal penalties for gun trafficking and straw purchasing.
“Today, we say more than enough. We say more than enough,” Biden said at the time. “At a time when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential.”
The National Rifle Association opposed the bill, saying it “can be abused to restrict lawful gun purchases.”
Democrats continue to urge for more federal gun reforms. Biden said at the time of the signing, “this bill doesn’t do everything I want.”
There have been eight school shootings in 2025 that resulted in injuries or deaths and 39 last year, according to an Education Week analysis.
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Gallup noted in the study that trends show that major school shootings often drive “temporary spikes” in parental anxieties, and these findings could be different if the poll were conducted today.
“Given the timing of the latest poll, before the tragic incident in Minneapolis, these findings may understate current levels of anxiety among parents nationwide,” the study said.