The Patriot Post® · PSA: Stop Exploiting Children for Leftist Agenda

Sandy Hook Promise describes itself as “a national non-profit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. Based in Newtown, Connecticut, our intent is to honor all victims of gun violence by turning our tragedy into a moment of transformation by providing programs and practices that protect children and prevent the senseless, tragic loss of life.” The deranged perpetrator of that massacre slaughtered 20 kids, six adults, and his own mother. It was obviously a poignant moment in the national debate about school shootings.

Each year, Sandy Hook Promise releases a video to educate parents and children about warning signs and so forth related to such shootings. The 2016 video received a billion views. Sounds helpful, right?

Not in the latest case. “Back-to-School Essentials” begins with kids sharing their excitement about new supplies for class. But the mood gradually shifts to depict students using those supplies during an actual shooting — fleeing an assailant, hiding in a classroom with scissors, using a long sock as a tourniquet, or texting mom from a bathroom stall. By the end, it’s practically a horror movie. And thus it becomes the latest episode of leftists exploiting children to advance a political agenda. The anti-gun Brady Campaign has made similar videos, but guns aren’t the only issue in play. Last Friday, for example, students across the nation skipped class to protest the supposed climate crisis — also at the behest of leftist activists.

A Public Service Announcement should provide viewers with useful information. This Sandy Hook Promise PSA merely scares viewers with an emotional look at frightened children and then directs them to a website. That website feature a large “DONATE NOW” button at the top, and it’s full of phony statistics provided by, among others, Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety — a leftist gun-grabbing group. It’s all meant to direct fearful parents to support “sensible” new gun laws being pushed by the Democrat Party.

On a related note, active-shooter drills are becoming more prevalent in schools around the country. They evoke the old “duck and cover” drills of the Cold War era, but with two very important distinctions. First, they terrorize children by creating needless panic. Second, they might sow the wrong seeds in the minds of disturbed individuals who can see just how effectively they could gain notoriety by attacking a school.