SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
In a new PSA released by Sandy Hook Promise, a student hides in a bathroom stall texting her mother as a shooter is heard entering the room. (Photo: Sandy Hook Promise)
WATCH: With Gun Control Measures Held Up In Congress, 'Gut Punch' PSA Shows Children Trying to Survive School Shooting
"When kids go back to school, they have plenty to worry about. They shouldn't also have to wonder if they're going to make it home."
Sep 18, 2019
A new PSA released Wednesday by the non-profit group Sandy Hook Promise showcases the reality children face as they head back to school--one marked not only by back-to-school shopping but by active shooter drills and fears that their school could be the next target of a mass shooting.
Formed in the wake of the 2012 shooting that killed 20 young children and seven adults in Newtown, Connecticut, Sandy Hook Promise aims to prevent gun deaths by lobbying for gun control measures like universal background checks and red flag laws.
The group also delivers programs to schools and communities to prevent gun violence and educate the public on identifying warning signs of a potential shooting.
As part of its "Know the Signs" campaign, Sandy Hook Promise released a video--along with a warning about its graphic content--featuring schoolchildren showing off their new school supplies and then using scissors, pencils, and other classroom items to protect themselves from a shooter who's entered their school.
Watch:
In the video, children are seen using a jacket to tie a gymnasium door shut as others scream and run from the shooter in the background, holding up scissors in self-defense as the perpetrator lurks in a hallway outside a classroom, and finally using a cell phone to text, "I love you, Mom," while hiding in a bathroom stall as the shooter is heard entering the room.
"This PSA is a gut punch, it's uncomfortable, it's hard to watch, but you can't sanitize a school shooting," Mark Barden, a co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise who lost his son in the Newtown shooting. "My hope is that folks will see this and be inspired to take action."
The video was met with shock and praise from gun control advocates who are demanding that Congress take action to stop the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.
There have already been nearly 300 mass shootings in 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive. In the first four months of the year, at least eight shootings took place at schools.
The Department of Education reports that about 96 percent of American public schools now hold active shooter drills in preparation for a potential shooting on campus.
Sandy Hook Promise released its video a week after Congress reconvened after a six-week recess. Senators returned to Washington with a universal background checks bill still waiting to be brought to the floor for debate by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), seven months after the Democratic-led House passed the legislation.
McConnell said Tuesday that Congress is in "a holding pattern," waiting for President Donald Trump to signal that he will sign the bill if it's passed by the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Associated Press Wednesday, "This is the moment for the president to do something different and courageous."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A new PSA released Wednesday by the non-profit group Sandy Hook Promise showcases the reality children face as they head back to school--one marked not only by back-to-school shopping but by active shooter drills and fears that their school could be the next target of a mass shooting.
Formed in the wake of the 2012 shooting that killed 20 young children and seven adults in Newtown, Connecticut, Sandy Hook Promise aims to prevent gun deaths by lobbying for gun control measures like universal background checks and red flag laws.
The group also delivers programs to schools and communities to prevent gun violence and educate the public on identifying warning signs of a potential shooting.
As part of its "Know the Signs" campaign, Sandy Hook Promise released a video--along with a warning about its graphic content--featuring schoolchildren showing off their new school supplies and then using scissors, pencils, and other classroom items to protect themselves from a shooter who's entered their school.
Watch:
In the video, children are seen using a jacket to tie a gymnasium door shut as others scream and run from the shooter in the background, holding up scissors in self-defense as the perpetrator lurks in a hallway outside a classroom, and finally using a cell phone to text, "I love you, Mom," while hiding in a bathroom stall as the shooter is heard entering the room.
"This PSA is a gut punch, it's uncomfortable, it's hard to watch, but you can't sanitize a school shooting," Mark Barden, a co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise who lost his son in the Newtown shooting. "My hope is that folks will see this and be inspired to take action."
The video was met with shock and praise from gun control advocates who are demanding that Congress take action to stop the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.
There have already been nearly 300 mass shootings in 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive. In the first four months of the year, at least eight shootings took place at schools.
The Department of Education reports that about 96 percent of American public schools now hold active shooter drills in preparation for a potential shooting on campus.
Sandy Hook Promise released its video a week after Congress reconvened after a six-week recess. Senators returned to Washington with a universal background checks bill still waiting to be brought to the floor for debate by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), seven months after the Democratic-led House passed the legislation.
McConnell said Tuesday that Congress is in "a holding pattern," waiting for President Donald Trump to signal that he will sign the bill if it's passed by the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Associated Press Wednesday, "This is the moment for the president to do something different and courageous."
A new PSA released Wednesday by the non-profit group Sandy Hook Promise showcases the reality children face as they head back to school--one marked not only by back-to-school shopping but by active shooter drills and fears that their school could be the next target of a mass shooting.
Formed in the wake of the 2012 shooting that killed 20 young children and seven adults in Newtown, Connecticut, Sandy Hook Promise aims to prevent gun deaths by lobbying for gun control measures like universal background checks and red flag laws.
The group also delivers programs to schools and communities to prevent gun violence and educate the public on identifying warning signs of a potential shooting.
As part of its "Know the Signs" campaign, Sandy Hook Promise released a video--along with a warning about its graphic content--featuring schoolchildren showing off their new school supplies and then using scissors, pencils, and other classroom items to protect themselves from a shooter who's entered their school.
Watch:
In the video, children are seen using a jacket to tie a gymnasium door shut as others scream and run from the shooter in the background, holding up scissors in self-defense as the perpetrator lurks in a hallway outside a classroom, and finally using a cell phone to text, "I love you, Mom," while hiding in a bathroom stall as the shooter is heard entering the room.
"This PSA is a gut punch, it's uncomfortable, it's hard to watch, but you can't sanitize a school shooting," Mark Barden, a co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise who lost his son in the Newtown shooting. "My hope is that folks will see this and be inspired to take action."
The video was met with shock and praise from gun control advocates who are demanding that Congress take action to stop the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.
There have already been nearly 300 mass shootings in 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive. In the first four months of the year, at least eight shootings took place at schools.
The Department of Education reports that about 96 percent of American public schools now hold active shooter drills in preparation for a potential shooting on campus.
Sandy Hook Promise released its video a week after Congress reconvened after a six-week recess. Senators returned to Washington with a universal background checks bill still waiting to be brought to the floor for debate by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), seven months after the Democratic-led House passed the legislation.
McConnell said Tuesday that Congress is in "a holding pattern," waiting for President Donald Trump to signal that he will sign the bill if it's passed by the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Associated Press Wednesday, "This is the moment for the president to do something different and courageous."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.