Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) participated in the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force’s hearing on the impact of gun violence on children. Phillips questioned the panel of experts on the emotional and psychological toll active shooter drills, lockdowns, and the fear of gun violence have on students and educators. You can view video of Rep. Phillips’s question and the responses here.

Leslie Boggs, President of the National Parent Teacher Association, is a resident of Odessa, Texas where there was recently a mass shooting spree that killed 7 and injured 22 victims. She shared that her goddaughter is now too afraid to walk the two blocks from her school to her grandmother’s house:

“You not only see students that are now afraid, and question everything that happens within and around their schools, but you also see parents who are no longer able to walk up to a school to retrieve their children. They’re keeping them in auditoriums, and then call them out to the cars, because they are fearful of what might happen in their community… I see schools that have become more of a fortress and a prison than a welcoming environment to thrive and learn. And this is happening across the country, not just in my hometown.”

Ray McMurrey, the Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers, Texas, shared how the Columbine shooting altered his entire mindset as a teacher:

“That day I remember looking at my students, and for the first time it was no longer just about me and those students and what we were learning and the culture of being an educational academic environment, having to deal with those kinds of issues and wonder, now, with this student, what is under that coat or jacket? It changes the dynamics of what we’re producing, and who we are, and what we’re about. What does it mean to be an educational academic institution? What are we teaching our kids? All that culture is about to be fundamentally changed.”

Participants in the full hearing, which can be viewed here, included:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Garen J. Wintemute, M.D., M.P.H., gun violence researcher at University of California, Davis
Destini Pilpot, Baltimore Students Demand Action
Ray McMurrey, Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers, Texas
Leslie Boggs, National Parent Teacher Association President
Colonel Edwin C. Roessler, Chief of Police in Fairfax, Virginia.

Below is a transcript of Rep. Phillips’s entire exchange

Rep. Phillips: I want you to know that we cannot, and we will not let gun violence in America become normalized. And we cannot and we will not let the Majority Leader of the United States Senate obstruct the will of the American people. And I’m saddened and frankly appalled that we even have to have a hearing like this today, but it is a beginning and I’m grateful to all of you for being here.

I can’t believe we now live in a country in which our children have to be subject to active shooter drills in schools. I cannot believe we live in the country in which parents have to consider buying their children bulletproof backpacks to go to school. I’m one of those parents, a father of two daughters now in college. The fact that I have to think about them if they go to a concert, when they go to the store, or when they go to their college classroom, is something I will not tolerate.

And to that end, my first question is to you, Mr. McMurrey and Ms. Boggs. Please talk to us about the emotional toll, psychological toll, on the health and well-being and even academic achievement, that just the fear of gun violence in schools is having among children and also teachers.

Ms. Boggs: Thank you for the question. As I mentioned before, we had a shooting in my hometown, and so I’m witnessing firsthand what we’re experiencing in our schools and how it’s impacting them and the students they serve and the families they serve. I have a goddaughter that goes to middle school and she used to walk home to her grandmother’s everyday – it’s like two blocks away from the school.

She no longer can do that because the fear and the trauma that she’s felt by witnessing the shooting that happened in her community she no longer feels safe. So when you asked me how children and families see, you not only see students that are now afraid, and question everything that happens within and around their schools, but you also see parents who are no longer able to walk up to a school to retrieve their children.

They’re keeping them in auditoriums, and then call them out to the cars, because they are fearful of what might happen in their community. I see lockdowns happening, I see schools that have become more of a fortress and a prison than a welcoming environment to thrive and learn. And this is happening across the country, not just in my hometown, in my community.

Yes, you see students dealing with this every day. And it impacts them not in the short-term, not just when the mass shooting happens, but for years to go. And I find it very sad that we have now the opportunity to create change, and yet we are still battling this change.

Mr. McMurrey: Thank you. Thank you for the question. You know, I did teach and coach in the Texas public school system for many years and I remember the day that Columbine happened. I was in Texas and that was in Colorado, but that unleashed a generation of students that were exposed and have been exposed to a level of violence and distrust where they’re growing up in a whole different set of circumstances.

But I remember that day that I walked into that classroom, what do you say? You look those students in the eye – you have to talk about that. We had to address what had just happened. I didn’t know that it was going to happen over, and over, and over again. Over the next 10, 15, 20 years. But that day I remember looking at my students for the first time and it was no longer just about me and those students and what we were learning and the culture of being an educational academic environment, having to deal with those kinds of issues and wonder, now, with this student, what is under that coat or jacket?

It changes the dynamics of what we’re producing, and who we are, and what we’re about. What does it mean to be an educational academic institution? What are we teaching our kids? All that culture is about to be fundamentally changed.

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