The Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, which is an anti-gun violence involving parents of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, has released a startling PSA that depicts every parent's worst nightmare. The Newton, Conneticut foundation's Back to School message shows children proudly displaying their new supplies, before their first day of school goes horribly awry. It begins just like any other advertisement for back to school supplies, before a school shooting occurs and the students fear for their lives.
It's a terrifying PSA, but that's exactly the point. Sandy Hook parent Nicole Hockley explained, "We don't want people to turn away from it, so pretending it doesn't exist is not helping to solve it." Hockley, whose 6-year-old son Dylan was killed during the shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, appeared on NBC's Today show to debut the PSA. "At the end, the girl with the phone gets me every time," she added.
The PSA ends with a message, as a tearful girl sends texts to her mother from a toilet cubicle. "It's back to school time and you know what that means," the message reads. "School shootings are preventable when you know the signs." The haunting video is part of a new campaign launched by the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation.
As CBS reported earlier this year, there have been more shootings in America in 2019 so far than there have been days. In Feb. 2018, 17 students were killed during a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, while the lives of 10 children were taken during the Santa Fe High School Shooting in May of last year.
