New PSA highlights devastating impact on gun violence on youth

JACKSON, Tenn. — Gun violence has a devastating impact on children, leading to psychological and mental health issues, academic difficulties, and a heightened sense of fear and anxiety, affecting their overall well-being and development.

Children and youth exposed to violence experience significant stress, and often struggle to identify and regulate their emotions, as a result of developmental impacts from their frequent exposure to trauma.

Their emotions are often internalized and can later erupt in aggression and violence.

“The PSA that we’re launching this week is all about showing how we need kids to be kids again, and teddy bears to be in children’s arms, not to be placed at school shooting shrines and memorials in the aftermath of tragedy. We want to take back childhood to what it should be by preventing tragedies,” said Nicole Hockley, co-founder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise.

While individuals killed and injured in atrocities such as the Sandy Hook and Aurora Theater shootings are publicly remembered and mourned, victims of these tragedies are not limited to those men, women, and children killed, injured, or present during these horrific events.

The consequences of gun violence are more pervasive and affect entire communities, families, and children.

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