We must deal with the trauma of these mass shootings, too

Gun violence has turned the U.S. into a society dominated by trauma and fear, where children are scared to go to school and their parents are scared for them. With the return of the school year, it’s time to reassess how our community deals with the threat.

We know the terrible statistics — two deadly mass shootings a month thus far in 2019 — with the interval between such shocking events steadily decreasing over recent years. On average, 100 people per day die by firearms. That’s more than 36,000 deaths per year. More than 22,000 suicides. By guns.

But death by firearm is one of the top three leading causes of death of children. Too many of our kids not only feel unsafe in schools, they also fear that they might be a victim of random violence in any place they frequent.

Backpacks are now being sold with gun protection built in.

“What are your facility’s emergency plans?” is a frequent question from parents to school representatives. Children worry that they will be victims of a school massacre, and parents want to know how their children will be safe in the event of an attack. In the case of a lockdown, “I would have to hide, too,” a school nurse confessed to a Denver mother of a kindergartner with Type 1 diabetes.

Parents are afraid to be out in public places, and they are nervous about sending their kids to schools where their kids participate in mandatory lockdown drills. The lockdown drills themselves are traumatic. Children experience debilitating fear, anxiety and depression around anticipatory terror. And for every shooting, others suffer lifelong trauma and loss.

And what about the survivors? Studies show the experience of trauma affects the architecture of the developing brain. Loss delivers up the kind of toxic stress that can lead to later life ailments like heart disease, alcoholism, depression and debilitating anxiety. It is not unusual for victims of trauma to cut themselves off from the world as a sort of protection, a defense.

With the shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch in May,

and with the recent shootings in Odessa, Dayton, El Paso and at the Gilroy Festival, I’ve been thinking a lot about loss and trauma. As a candidate for U.S. Senate, I am advocating for the use of every available measure to reduce gun violence. It is time to assure our children and our families that we know how to protect them. We just need the political will to follow through. The National Rifle Association, the Trump administration and other elected representatives, like Cory Gardner, have failed to take reasonable steps to reduce violence. Conservatives give a false narrative that the issue relates to mental health. This is simply wrong and it gives people with mental health issues a bad rap. This administration, along with its abettors, have encouraged and promoted an environment of hostility and division and our children are often the victims.

How do we restore a sense of safety and sanity in this climate of fear and violence?

As a psychologist, a mom of four kids and as a climate and social justice advocate, I have observed many different types of trauma. Particularly as a mom, I know that our kids can only withstand so much.

Terror from gun violence is perpetuating a serious mental health crisis in our country today. In addition to gun safety legislation, it is time to give our children the coping skills to emotionally survive.

Stronger laws will make us safer and more counseling and compassion can assist. Classrooms can be made safer by teaching kids and administrators to reach out to those who are vulnerable and isolated. Teaching compassion will bolster communities, and kids who are actively engaged in their community will feel less helpless and more resilient.

So let’s do it — let’s arm our kids with compassion, let’s enact serious gun safety legislation, let’s stop blaming and scapegoating those with mental health challenges, and let’s engage with one another to end the senseless and preventable violence.