“Research shows that Americans are increasingly worried about mass shootings, thinking about exits in public places, not wanting to send their children to certain places,” said Dr. barnhorst Teen Vogue. “It preoccupies people and causes fear.”
The fear of gun violence causes, according to Dr. Barnhorst may not have more serious conditions like PTSD, but it can increase your risk of other mental health problems like anxiety, depression and substance use. However, witnessing or being a victim of gun violence can trigger PTSD.
Sari Kaufman was just 15 years old when a gunman killed 17 people and injured 17 others at her high school in Parkland, Fla. Now at 20, she’s still working through trauma as the nation’s eyes continue to wander. “You get a sense that people aren’t going to forget what happened and people are going to remember Parkland because the tragedy was so terrible,” Kaufman said. “But now we’re almost five years out and everyone in Parkland is still grappling with that trauma … and the rest of the world has moved on.”
The reality of surviving a mass shooting plagues Kaufman every day. She sits in class and wonders if a shooter will enter the classroom. In every building she enters, she immediately looks for exits. Could she escape if she had to? She flinches at loud noises – was that a backfire or a shot? After Parkland, she says, her innocence was lost. She now knows that anything can happen and is constantly bracing herself for it. And as other mass shootings make headlines, Kaufman turns 15 again, in Parkland, hearing the gunshots coming from the building next door, reading texts and watching videos of students in the building where the gunman massacred.
When the Uvalde shooting took place on May 24, Kaufman watched the story play out as it did in Parkland. There: the footage of crying parents hoping to be reunited with their children; there: the police cordon off the school; there: paramedics rushing to help the victims. “And it happens over and over again,” Kaufman said. “My friends say, ‘Turn it off, don’t watch it,’ but you can’t just turn it off every day.”
dr Barnhorst tells Teen Vogue that the effect of exposure to gun violence can be detrimental to a developing brain. “It prevents your brain from completing developmental tasks,” said Dr. barnhorst “What that means in your life is higher levels of depression and anxiety and substance abuse and an inability to focus on school. Academic performance is inhibited in children who are stressed and distracted by staying alive.”
Of course, school shootings aren’t the only type of gun violence that leads to lasting trauma. In the US According to Everytown USA, the US average is about 19 mass shootings each year, defined as shootings in which four or more people are killed, excluding the shooter. In 2021, 136 people were killed and 30 injured in mass shootings. But across the country there is an average of 40,620 gun deaths every year, according to Everytown. While mass shootings are more likely to grab national headlines, everyday incidents of gun violence are much more common.
according to dr Barnhorst, the age at which you are exposed to a traumatic event, the severity of the exposure, and the type of exposure change how a person responds to that trauma. Chronic exposure to gun violence can have a significant impact on a young person’s development.