Sandy Hook Promise releases chilling back-to-school PSA showing school shooting ‘essentials'

The anti-gun violence group Sandy Hook Promise Foundation released a public service announcement Wednesday showing students using ordinary back-to-school items to protect themselves from an active shooter.

The chilling video shows smiling children talking about their new school items until the scene switches to students using new shoes to run from a shooter, a boy using a new skateboard to bust out a window to escape gunfire, and, the most heart-wrenching, a girl hiding in the bathroom texting her mother that she loves her.

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The Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, which has called for bans on weapons and the sale of large amounts of ammunition, grew out of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were shot and killed – 20 children and six adults.

The foundation warned viewers that the video is disturbing and explained in a press release why they produced it.

"So far this year there have been over 22 school shootings, and with students heading back to school, it seems sadly probable that we will see more incidents. This is unacceptable, given that we have proven tools to prevent these acts from occurring. We cannot accept school shootings as the new normal in our country," the press release read.

“Our goal with this PSA is to wake up parents to the horrible reality that our children endure. Gone are the days of viewing back-to-school as just a carefree time, when school violence has become so prevalent. However, if we come together to know the signs, this doesn’t have to be the case. I hope that parents across the country will join me to make the promise to stop this epidemic,” said Nicole Hockley, co-founder and managing director of Sandy Hook Promise, in the press release.

Hockley’s son, Dylan, was killed in the Sandy Hook School shooting.

The PSA is below. Warning: Some people may find the contents disturbing.

Cox Media Group