1 of 2 Lori Alhadeff’s son Robbie (right) and a friend carry bulletproof backpacks Photo: MIKAELA MARTINS Lori Alhadeff’s son Robbie (right) and a friend carry bulletproof backpacks Photo: MIKAELA MARTINS
As gun violence escalates and mass shootings make headlines, fear is changing the lives of millions of Americans.
A shopping center. A class room. A party at a teenager’s house.
All of these locations have been hit by a mass shooting in the US in recent weeks.
For many Americans, it seems like this could happen anywhere.
As the US marks National Gun Violence Awareness Day on Friday, how is this issue affecting the way people go about their lives?
difficult conversations
According to a survey by KFF, a nonprofit organization focused on health policy, about 60% of adults say they have discussed guns with their children or other relatives.
Some of these conversations are triggered by exercises in US classrooms.
In some cases, fiveyearolds are taught when to barricade doors and when to run for their lives if a sniper is roaming the hallways.
Morgan Hook’s nineyearold daughter, Elise, recently came home from school and surprised her family when she said the exercises wouldn’t do much good if the shooter just kicked down the door.
Hook tried to reassure his daughter that that wouldn’t happen, but he recalled a recent shooting at a Nashville private school where the suspect did just that.
“Sometimes trying to comfort your kids means lying to them,” he says, who lives in Saratoga County, New York.
“It’s helpful for parents to talk to their children about gun violence, as long as they do it quietly,” says Vaile Wright, executive director of health innovation at the American Psychological Association.
Relocation
Gun violence in the United States has already prompted some to pack up and change their lives. According to the KFF, around 15% say they moved to a different neighborhood or city because of this.
Last year, 40yearold Travis Wilson and his wife moved to a new neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky after moving from Old Louisville, where they counted gunshots at night.
Once a bullet went through his neighbor’s window. Another time someone pointed a gun at him in front of his house. After the birth of their daughter in 2021, he and his wife began a reevaluation.
“I can’t imagine how a child could grow up in an area where gunfire is heard a lot without being drastically affected,” he said.
But violence followed him to his new neighborhood last month when a gunman killed five former colleagues at a local bank.
Wilson said he sometimes feels irresponsible raising a child in the United States, where nowhere seems safe.
“I’ll never forgive myself if [minha filha] is the victim of a shooting and I’m just waiting for her turn.”
bulletproof backpacks
On Valentine’s Day five years ago, Lori Alhadeff sent her three kids to school as she did every morning, but at the end of the day only two made it home.
A teenage gunman shot dead 17 people, including Alhadeff’s 14yearold daughter Alyssa, at a high school in Parkland, Fla.
After the shooting, she ordered bulletproof backpacks for her two children, determined to do whatever she could to avoid losing another child.
“Unfortunately, the question isn’t if there will be another school shooting, it’s when,” she says. “This is the world we live in.”
As gun violence escalates in the United States, demand for backpacks has increased, especially after the mass shooting, says Yasir Sheikh, owner of selfdefense equipment maker Guard Dog Security.
“It’s important for parents to feel like there’s something they can do to protect themselves and their children.”
Firearms training for school staff
With shootings becoming more common, Kate, a high school principal in Ohio, has developed a safety plan for her school district.
This includes locking exterior doors, providing medical training for staff, and labeling classroom doors so first responders can find students more easily.
But after the 2018 shooting in Parkland, Fla., she and other employees wanted to do more.
So they took part in a threeday training session with the group FASTER Saves Lives, which teaches school staff how to use firearms in response to gun violence.
Like Kate, about 41% of people interviewed by the KFF have taken a gun safety course to protect themselves and others from being shot.
“I just want to take all the precautions I can,” she says.
Kate realizes that not all team members want to arm themselves and some resent the fact that they feel they have to.
But at the end of the day, in the event of a shooting, she wants to be able to say that the county did everything it could to prevent deaths.
avoid public spaces
Rose Lewis still remembers the day in 2015 when a gunman opened fire at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, killing two people while she was watching one of her favorite films, Trainwreck.
The 25yearold began avoiding movie theaters and other dark, enclosed spaces, fearing they would not provide a quick escape.
“The risk of getting shot is probably pretty low, but it’s not worth the fear of worrying,” she says.
Carla Smith, 62, also tries to avoid certain rooms. She only goes to the supermarket in the mornings for fear of large crowds, which she says increases the risk of a shooting. “It scares me.”
According to the KFF survey, about a third of Americans are taking similar measures and avoiding certain public places.
“We often take steps to increase our sense of security when we are threatened or when our sense of stability and security is disrupted,” says Daniel Mosley, a psychologist who has studied the effects of mass shootings.
But avoiding places can become an unhealthy coping mechanism if it significantly interferes with everyday life, he adds.
to live in fear
Whenever Pam Bosley’s 28yearold son leaves home at midnight to work as a truck driver, the mother watches his every step towards the truck from her window and prays nothing bad will happen to him.
It’s 17 years since Bosley lost his eldest son, Terrell, when the 18yearold was shot dead outside a Chicago church.
2 of 2 Pam Bosley founded an advocacy group, Purpose Over Pain Photo: KRISTAN LIEB Pam Bosley founded an advocacy group, Purpose Over Pain Photo: KRISTAN LIEB
She is still haunted by the fear of gun violence.
“Sometimes I can’t sleep because I’m scared — not just for my kids, but for my husband, my parents,” she said. “I live in a state of fear.”
It’s not just people like Bosley, who have experienced gun violence themselves, who are concerned.
Vaile Wright of the American Psychological Association has been studying the top stressors in Americans for two decades. Mass shootings topped the list in 2019.
Pam Bosley found a way to channel her pain: she started a campaign against gun violence.
“Even though I’m suffering,” she said, “I work hard so that my other two children, my nephews and my nieces … so that we can all live. That’s my goal, that’s what drives me every day.”