A Child Teaches Adults How to Survive a Mass Shooting in This Heartbreaking PSA

We all wish we could protect children from the horrors of our world, but one of the darkest ironies of modern life is that preparing for mass killings has become an aspect of everyday life for schoolkids, while adults rarely think about it beyond the newest grisly headline. To help show adults just how pervasive the idea of "active shooter" preparation has become in schools, advocacy group March for Our Lives and agency McCann New York have created a gut-wrenching PSA in which a child named Kayleigh surprises a workplace by arriving to be the group's active shooter training coach. [kickout id="1"] According to March for Our Lives, 95% of today's schoolkids—some as young as 5—have been trained on lockdown drills to prepare for the possibility of a shooter in school. As Kayleigh illustrates in the PSA, they've learned to hide quietly, stand on toilets, barricade doors and (perhaps most heartbreakingly of all) that "if the shooter comes into the room, screaming won't do anything." Specifically the PSA asks viewers to support legislation requiring universal background checks for firearm purposes, though the lesson clearly goes far beyond one call to action. March for Our Lives also supports extreme-risk protection orders, safe-storage laws and other measures that could prevent gun violence including mass shootings. Since April 15, March for Our Lives has also been running an ad campaign in Times Square, where the group estimates it will reach 5.5 million people over two weeks. March for Our Lives and McCann have collaborated on several other awareness and advocacy campaigns together, including the Price on Our Lives initiative that divided the amount of NRA donations to politicians in each state by the number of students to determine a "price" of each life that might be lost in a school shooting. McCann also partnered with Kesha to create an intricate, looping music video about the cycle of gun violence. CREDITS: March For Our Lives: Amanda Conlee, Director of Operations Ryan Deitsch, Co-Founder & Content Creator Lauren Hogg, Co-Founder Robyn Mohr, Deputy General Counsel Precision Strategies McCann New York: Eric Silver, Chief Creative Officer, McCann North America Devika Bulchandani, President, McCann New York Sean Bryan, Co-Chief Creative Officer, McCann New York Tom Murphy, Co-Chief Creative Officer, McCann New York Pierre Lipton, Global Executive Creative Director, McCann New York Marco Pupo, Executive Creative Director, McCann New York Karsten Jurkschat, Creative Director, McCann New York Alex Little, Creative Director, McCann New York Nathy Aviram, Chief Production Officer, McCann New York John McAdorey, Executive Producer, McCann New York Gabrielle Levy, Producer, McCann New York Jeremy Miller, Chief Communications Officer, McCann Worldgroup Danielle Korn, Director of Business Affairs, McCann New York Kimberly Kress, Director of Talent Partnerships, McCann New York Wilmien Blake, Director of Business Affairs, McCann New York Terry Marcello, Director of Talent Payment, McCann New York Bristol Parrish, Senior Project Manager, McCann New York Film production: Hungry Man Director: Bryan Buckley EPs: Mino Jarjoura, Kevin Byrne, Caleb Dewart Producer: Matt Lefebvre Production Manager: Sherra Fermino DP: Scott Henriksen Editorial: NO6 Editor: Jason Macdonald Editor: Justin Quagliata Executive Producer: Corina Dennison Post Producer: Malia Rose, Laura Molinaro Assistant Editor: Tripp McCarty, Scott Zeitlen Finishing: NO6 Flame: Ed Skupeen Flame Asst: Mark Reyes Color: Steve Picano Finishing: The Mill/LA Flame: Tom Graham Creative Director: Phil Crowe Producer: Marie O’Brien Executive Producer: Anastasia Von Rahl Audio Post: Sonic Union Audio Engineer: Brian Goodheart Audio Mix Assistant: Kelly Oostman Audio Producer: Pat Sullivan Audio Producer: Justine Cortale Music: Duotone Audio Group Executive Producer: Ross Hopman Composer: Brad Fischer Clearances provided by: STALKR Executive Producer: Colleen Cavanaugh Anthony Producer: George Alvarez Project Manager: Natalie Stowell Researcher: Niko Savich Researcher: Craig Phillips