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This study aims to examine parent perceptions of school active shooter preparedness and prevention efforts, as well as parent perceptions of the risk of an active shooter event.

Data were obtained in 2019 through an online survey of 182 Pennsylvania residents who were the parents or step-parents of children enrolled in pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten-12th or college/ university. Respondents were a subset of a state-representative sample of 668 individuals.

Actions taken by schools were largely unrelated to parent perceptions. Parents who reported that their child’s school had provided information about active shooters to students had better attitudes toward preventive efforts overall. Parents who reported that their child’s school had changed firearms policy perceived a higher level of risk. Parents were also asked to share what they felt their child’s school could do that would help them feel more prepared for an active shooter event. The most common response was for schools to install metal detectors or perform random metal detector checks.

While there is extensive research on the views of students about school safety and security and, to a lesser degree, the views of school administrators and teachers, parents have largely been neglected in school safety research.

This study aims to investigate patterns in adolescent gun access and household gun storage in 2021 and 2022.

Data were collected from two cross-sectional surveys of Pennsylvania parents with a teenage child at home.

The results indicated that about 20% of gun owners in each survey stored their guns loaded; a similar percentage stored their guns unlocked. Very few gun owners reported that their children could access their guns without adult supervision. This study found no change in gun storage practices between 2021 and 2022, but higher rates of gun ownership in 2022. The factors associated with gun storage behaviors did change between the two time points. COVID-related uncertainties and transitions in the household were linked to gun ownership and less safe storage practices in 2021, but not in 2022.

This study identified factors associated with teen gun access at distinct points during the pandemic. This study found little evidence of any association between child mental health and household firearm storage.