As another school year opens, millions of American children will have to undergo active shooter training because their country doesn’t have laws in place that effectively control gun violence. Sandy Hook Promise, an organization founded by relatives of some Sandy Hook elementary school-shooting victims, released a video that captures the horror that American children grow up fearing and the association between school and gun violence that they must be trained to make, in order to save their lives.
The video shows an upsetting montage of situations in which day-to-day school supplies are used in progressively more troubling situations by children trying to protect themselves from a shooter. It is shocking to watch. Yet, this is a reality too many kids in America have lived, and many are trained to fear.
A majority of Americans are in favor of tougher gun laws, which have been shown to reduce gun violence. And for the first time in decades, more Americans dislike the National Rifle Association, than like it. President Trump is believed to be working on legislation to toughen background checks for gun purchases, although he has cast doubts about sealing a bipartisan agreement. Trump has flip-flopped on supporting various gun control measures. Each of the Democratic candidates running for president have come out in support of more restrictive gun laws, while the Republican party, which gets great financial support from the gun lobby and counts among its supporters more gun owners than not, remains tepid towards initiatives that could curb access to arms.