Latest news with #SandyHookPromise
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
54% of Boys Report Regularly Seeing Sexualized Firearm Content Online, Study Shows
Fact checked by Sarah ScottNew research from Sandy Hook Promise shows gun makers are marketing online content to young boys. 54% of boys surveyed reported seeing sexually charged firearm content at least once a week. Just about a quarter of parents surveyed are aware that their kids are following influencers who promote gun content.A man with bulging biceps, tattoos down to his wrists, and a neatly trimmed beard walks on screen next to two women with glossy hair and perfectly done makeup. An assault rifle drops into the man's hands as he lets out an expletive, and he turns and fires the gun at a distant target. A graphically enhanced blast from the gun blows the women's clothes off, leaving her in her underwear. This YouTube video has racked up 10 million views to date. How many of them were boys under 18? According to recently released research from the nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise, the answer is that boys are seeing hypersexualized gun content like this online much more often than parents think. This survey comes at a time when boys are inundated with confusing societal messages about manhood, and firearms continue to be the leading cause of death for children and teenagers. Nicole Hockley, the co-founder and co-CEO of Sandy Hook Promise, believes this makes for a dangerous mix. 'This kind of marketing preys on young boys' insecurities and how they see themselves. It's the same kind of messaging that influenced the shooter who murdered my son and 25 others at Sandy Hook Elementary. This type of marketing isn't just irresponsible—it's dangerous and it has deadly consequences,' she tells Parents. This latest research is a part of the nonprofit's UnTargeting Kids campaign, which seeks to raise awareness about gun manufacturers' marketing to children. A Remington Arms marketing brief obtained during a lawsuit Sandy Hook Promise brought against the gunmaker clearly stated that 'youth' was among the company's primary target audiences. Sandy Hook Promise is also using the campaign to promote solutions that lawmakers, gun manufacturers, social media developers, and parents can implement. While the video described above is not intended for children, for example, social media loopholes make this kind of content easily accessible to them. Tech industry experts like Titania Jordan, the Chief Marketing Officer for Bark Technologies, a parental controls company that helps families keep their kids safe online and in real life, agrees with and applauds Sandy Hook Promise for taking this approach. 'This is absolutely an urgent issue. Every day, children are being harmed because of unmonitored, unfiltered tech access,' she says. The goal of Sandy Hook Promise's recent survey was to better understand how firearm ads reach boys online, how they impact their views on guns, and whether parents know this content is reaching their kids. The survey included boys ages 10 to 17 and parents of boys in the same age bracket. Participants came from households both with and without firearms. It is also worth noting that Sandy Hook Promise includes influencer-generated content in their definition of firearm ads because it is likely that at least some influencers are receiving payments or free products for their content. More than half of the boys surveyed (54%) reported seeing sexually charged firearm content at least once a week. But boys in households with guns were even more likely to be exposed to this content, and boys who frequently played video games were more than two times more likely to see sexually charged gun content than those who didn't. Thirty-two percent of the boys follow influencers who promote firearms, and 38% had clicked on a firearm ad. Meanwhile, only 27% of parents are aware that their child follows influencers who promote firearms. 'When we show some of the ads to parents, they're shocked because it's not coming through their [own] feeds,' Hockley says. Most notably, 77% of both parents and boys agree that companies should not be allowed to advertise firearms to children under 18. This could indicate that boys are not comfortable with this content, and may even be able to identify on some level that it's harmful. A 2023 report published by Sandy Hook Promise also points out that in some cases, boys are not even seeking out this type of content; the social media algorithms are feeding it to them. Sandy Hook Promise takes the stance that children and teenagers are 'biologically disadvantaged' against gun manufacturers' marketing strategies. Research on the adolescent brain supports this. Until the brain is fully developed, which happens in the mid-twenties, a person is more sensitive to rewarding experiences and less able to control their impulses, regulate their emotions, and understand the consequences of their actions. Boys today are surrounded by messages that tell them being a man is about being tough, always in control, and surrounded by attractive women. This is an impossible and unrealistic vision of manhood that sets boys up for failure, disappointment, and frustration. But online gun content seems to target and feed into this insecurity by telling boys that a gun is a shortcut to achieving this vision. In other words, what's being sold through this kind of marketing strategy is much more than just a gun. Layer that on top of the teen mental health crisis—40% of high school students report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness—and it becomes clear how detrimental this kind of messaging can be. 'We're not saying [gun manufacturers should] stop marketing firearms,' Hockley says. 'We're saying do it in an ethical way that includes ensuring that kids aren't seeing this [content].' Jordan encourages parents to acquaint themselves with this type of gun content. 'Until you see what your children are seeing, you're not going to realize the problem,' she says. She also provided several recommendations to help parents manage their children's relationship to technology. Don't allow phones in bedrooms or behind closed doors. When phones are needed for homework, it should happen in a shared area of the house. Explore the apps your kids want to use. Parents can explore apps first before kids download them to get a sense of what the app environment is like. Monitor video game ratings. They help protect developing minds from harmful messages and content that might be too strong for them. Teach media literacy. Understanding that 'free' platforms aren't really free helps kids think more critically about their digital decisions. Talk about games where shooting and killing are the primary focus. Conversations with kids about killing games help to ensure they are not being desensitized. Screenshot inappropriate gun marketing content and circulate it. When other parents experience this content, they are more likely to get involved and push for change. There is also a petition on Sandy Hook Promise's website urging lawmakers to ban the advertising of firearms to children in the same way that alcohol and tobacco have been banned from being marketed to them. Surveys like the one from Sandy Hook Promise give parents critical insight into what is happening in boys' worlds right now. For as long as it continues to reach children, hypersexualized gun marketing can never be categorized as purely entertainment content. Watching pretty women getting their clothes blown off by a gun shapes how boys view the world and their place in it. Parents should be able to control who and what informs this worldview—not an algorithm and not gun manufacturers. Read the original article on Parents
Newsweek
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Exclusive: Children As Young as 10 Are Advertised Guns on Social Media
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Autumn Fry is not a typical influencer. To more than 270,000 YouTube subscribers and 49,000 Instagram followers, the beaming Pennsylvanian 11-year old shares videos and photos of her latest purchases and makes suggestions for what her fans should buy too. But it is not dolls or makeup that interest the tween. Instead, Fry exclusively reviews guns and gun paraphernalia. It is a striking example of how America's firearms culture has permeated to younger generations, but Fry is not alone in possessing a precocious awareness of Glocks and Colts. Indeed, children as young as 10 say they are seeing firearm content online, including advertising. This update handout photo released Thursday, June 7, 2018 by the Transportation Security Administration shows a handgun that was one of 30 guns confiscated in May 2018 at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport security check... This update handout photo released Thursday, June 7, 2018 by the Transportation Security Administration shows a handgun that was one of 30 guns confiscated in May 2018 at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport security check points. More TSA via AP According to polling conducted by Sandy Hook Promise and KRC Research, exclusively shared with Newsweek, 82 percent of boys between 10 and 17 said they have seen at least one gun advert online, while social media is flooded with firearms branded with children's cartoon characters and influencers like Fry promoting guns to children. Federal law prohibits people under the age of 18 from possessing a handgun but there are no nationwide regulations regarding who firearms can be advertised to, despite some intervention from lawmakers. The U.S. has one of the world's highest rates of firearms deaths outside a war zone. According to latest available data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S. in 2021, including nearly 21,000 homicides as well as more than 26,000 suicides. Recent incidents include a mass shooting in Memphis which left one dead and five others injured in April. In March, a man was treated for injuries having been shot twice outside Chicago O'Hare International Airport after an altercation. KRC Research conducted a survey of 250 male children aged between 10 and 17 from March 6 to March 12, 2025 for Sandy Hook Promise, an anti-gun nonprofit founded and led by family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. The margin of error for the poll is +/- 6 percent. According to the polling, 82 percent said they had seen at least one gun advert online and 38 percent said they had clicked on gun advertisements they saw online. Meanwhile, 32 percent of young boys said they followed influencers on social media who feature guns. Thirty-four percent of young boys said there are too many gun adverts in places where children could see them, though the same proportion disagreed. Sandy Hook Promise also found examples of guns shared on social media with designs that appeal to children including a gun with the Batman logo and ones with Hello Kitty branding. Deana A. Rohlinger, a sociology professor at Florida State University told Newsweek advertising guns to children was "a serious problem" in shaping young people's attitudes to guns. "Yes, this is a serious problem, and developmental research makes clear why," she said. "Children and adolescents, especially boys aged 10 to 17, are in critical stages of cognitive, emotional, and social development. During this period, they are actively forming their identities, learning social norms, and developing the ability to distinguish between fantasy and real-world consequences. "When they are exposed to gun advertisements, particularly those that are stylized, gamified, or sexually charged, they are more likely to associate firearms with status, power, or even fun, rather than responsibility. David Rosenbloom, professor of public health at the Boston University School of Public Health said marketing to children was "a real problem." "It normalizes the role and desirability of guns and gun violence," he told Newsweek. "Associating owning a gun and shooting with being a 'real' man is particularly harmful to kids who are searching for clues about manhood in their early and mid teens." "The gun industry knows that if it hooks people when they are young it will have customers for their entire lives," he added. "They learned marketing to kids works from the tobacco and alcohol industries." Lawmakers have previously moved to regulate the extent to which the firearms can entice children. In 2023, Democratic Senator Edward Markey introduced the Protecting Kids from Gun Marketing Act which would create rules against advertising firearms in a way that would appear attractive to a minor if passed. In August 2023, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the Firearm Industry Responsibility Act, a law which included banning firearms advertising that appeals to children. However, in September 2023 a U.S. appeals court blocked a California law banning gun marketing to minors citing freedom of speech concerns and arguing the law was unlikely to reduce gun violence. Speaking to Newsweek, Emma Brown, executive director at anti-gun group Giffords called on Congress to address these marketing practices. "For years the gun industry has egregiously targeted young boys and men in their advertising," she said. "We've seen it with ads telling buyers to get their 'man card' and marketing that stokes fear and hatred. The gun industry CEO's don't care if they fuel violence, they just want to make more money. Congress must take action to address these marketing practices." Rohlinger added: "Legislators have several tools available at their disposal. First, they can regulate firearm advertising the way we regulate other products harmful to minors, including banning marketing that targets or features children. "Second, they could insist on stronger digital advertising standards, especially on social media platforms. This would make companies like Meta more responsible for their content and digital partnerships. "Finally, legislators could treat the promotion of gun violence as a public health concern. Given that, as of 2024, gun violence remained the leading cause of death for children and teens, this is something public health professionals have been calling on elected officials to do for years."
Boston Globe
31-03-2025
- Boston Globe
Their kids died at Sandy Hook. Their tip line prevents school shootings.
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Trinity Shockley was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and threatening to commit terrorism. It was the 18th credible school shooting threat interrupted by a tip to the Say Something phone line or app since 2018, and the second so far this year. Shockley's lawyer did not return a request for comment. Advertisement The push to stop murders in classrooms by families who've experienced them continues to yield success stories even as the federal government is dismantling some tools aimed at preventing school shootings. The United States saw a sharp rise in such events starting in 2018, a Washington Post database shows, when the number of school shootings soared to 30 after annually averaging about half that. The grim figure increased to more than 40 in 2021 and 2022. But the number has dropped to 33 and 34 in the past two years, as Sandy Hook Promise pushes to spread word of the program through annual trainings and encourages students to report warning signs that could preface something worse. Advertisement Police and school officials around the country say they are happy to have the help. In Prince William County, Virginia, police receive tips 'almost daily, sometimes multiple times a day,' said Lt. Kimberly M. Mercer of the police youth services bureau. In December, when a Prince William student allegedly shared detailed plans about carrying out a school shooting, the Sandy Hook tip line was notified. Prince William police responded that night, Mercer said, followed by involvement with the school's threat assessment team and an increased police presence at the school. 'Situations like these happen more often than people realize,' Mercer said, 'and having a structured response process, starting with students speaking up, Sandy Hook Promise filtering critical tips, and law enforcement stepping in when needed, is essential for preventing violence before it happens.' In Largo, Florida, police in January responded after the Say Something line received more than 40 tips when a teen allegedly threatened to shoot up his high school in a social media post, and the teen was arrested. 'Countless lives were saved, thanks to your quick thinking and for taking it seriously,' Sandy Hook Promise co-founder Mark Barden, whose son Daniel Barden was slain in 2012, said in a video thanking the students at Largo High School and the first responders who intervened. In addition to the 18 school shootings stopped since 2018, tips to the Say Something line have prevented more than 700 teen suicides nationwide, using in-school training sessions to teach students how to recognize a threat and report it, the group says. Nicole Hockley, also a co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise and parent of Newtown victim Dylan Hockley, told of a recent case in which a tipster called to report a suicidal friend and spoke to a crisis counselor for several hours. Eventually, Hockley said the student told the counselor, ''I'm not calling you about my friend, it's me and I just overdosed,' so we were able to get to school to get to that child.' Advertisement Sandy Hook Promise opened a 24-hour crisis center in Miami to handle phone and online tips, established relationships with law enforcement agencies and school districts around the country, and helped coordinate the training of more than 31 million participants, Hockley said. Last year, the program trained 5.7 million students, estimated to be about 10 percent of the K-12 universe, and they hope to double that to 11 million per year. 'We're just everywhere that we can possibly be,' Hockley said, 'so that people realize that this isn't a hopeless issue, that there are actions that everyone can take. And if you're not an activist, that's okay. But everyone can learn warning signs and everyone can have conversations with each other.' The Post has compiled a database of school shootings since the Columbine, Colorado, shootings in 1999, when two teens killed 13 students and one teacher. Since then, there have been 428 school shootings involving gunfire at a primary or secondary school during school hours. In those shootings, 216 children, educators and other people have been killed, and another 487 have been injured. Advertisement Hockley said Sandy Hook Promise uses 'a very strict set of data criteria for us to be able to say this was a validated, credible, planned school shooting attack that was stopped as a result of our program.' 'I come from a marketing background,' Hockley said. 'I didn't know anything about gun violence prevention or school safety when my son was killed at Sandy Hook. But I wanted to make a difference.' She said, 'So many people were focusing on the policy end of gun violence. We decided that we would do more than that.' The group's anonymous reporting system, which also has a phone app, has received 328,803 tips since 2018, said Aimee Thunberg, head of communications for Sandy Hook Promise. The tips range beyond school shootings, Hockley said, to include substance abuse, bullying and self-harm. 'We've had the entire spectrum of violence against young people and self-harm that come into our crisis center,' Hockley said, 'as a result of training that we did for kids in terms of how to recognize signs of someone who needs help and tell a trusted adult or to use our anonymous reporting system.' Chase Ferrell, the auxiliary services and safety officer for Johnston County, North Carolina, public schools, said the district of about 37,500 students receives up to 250 referrals a year from the reporting system. He said the call takers at the crisis center in Miami are trained to handle teenagers in crisis, while his staff works quickly with police and school officials. 'It's one of the most proactive tools out there, in my opinion. It allows us to curb incidents before they become crisis situations,' Ferrell said. 'There have been a couple of occasions where we have made a save, if you will, and that was a student that was in the throes of wanting to do self-harm. And we were able to stop it. And if it weren't for that tip line, we may be without a student.' Advertisement Ferrell said his school district requires training of all students from grades six through 12 in recognizing, and reporting, situations where a student appears ready to harm others or themselves. 'The first two or three weeks after that training, we get some bogus tips and some things that drive us crazy,' Ferrell said. 'But after that, you really get pertinent information that can be very, very helpful.' Hockley said Sandy Hook Promise chose education and awareness programs 'because we know that kind of violence prevention has a long historical base of evidence to prove that it works.' One way the group spreads the word is through public service announcements, including a new one featuring a child holding a beloved teddy bear, juxtaposed with the many teddy bears left at the mourning sites of school shootings. 'We had over 60,000 teddy bears that came into Newtown after the tragedy,' Hockley said. 'We don't want teddy bears to be a memorial. We want them to be companions to people. We want to let kids be kids and not have fear of going to school, or fear that they could end up in a school shooting.'
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
United Way of Southwest Georgia President & CEO Shaunae Motley steps down
ALBANY – After six years of service, Shaunae Motley announced she will step down as president/CEO of United Way of Southwest Georgia. Motley took on the role in 2019, thus beginning six years of guiding the most vulnerable in southwest Georgia through some of their toughest challenges and greatest successes. Motley expanded the organization's reach and deepened its impact across the region. Under her leadership, UWSWGA has strengthened its investment in rural communities, forged critical partnerships, and mobilized resources to tackle some of southwest Georgia's most pressing challenges. 'Serving as president and CEO of United Way of Southwest Georgia has been one of the greatest honors of my career,' Motley said. 'This work has been both strategic and heart-driven — guided by a deep love for community and a commitment to creating lasting change.' Motley's tenure has been defined by a commitment to equity, innovation and collaboration. She played a pivotal role in securing transformative funding to support regional recovery efforts and capacity-building initiatives, ensuring local nonprofits and community programs have the resources to thrive. During her tenure, Motley spearheaded numerous milestones in COVID-19 response, financial growth and stability, organizational visibility, and addressing mental health and violence among youths and schools. Under Motley's leadership, the UWSWGA's role was emphasized as more than just a grantmaker. It was centered as a key connector for the community and a catalyst for change. She expanded the area United Way's annual budget to $1.3 million, doubling revenue and securing more than $3 million in grants to support regional programs. Her efforts reversed a near six-year decline. She also increased the UWSWGA's staff and brought on interns and volunteers to help expand programming. Motley led the United Way of Southwest Georgia's crisis response to the COVID-19 pandemic, raising $800k in relief funding to support regional families, businesses and nonprofits. She established the Youth United Teen Mental Health Coalition as part of Resilient Southwest Georgia's trauma-informed practices in building up southwest Georgia communities. Youth United is made up of teens, hosting events and working together to improve the health and well-being of the community by addressing adverse childhood experiences. Motley launched local school districts' participation in the nationally recognized Sandy Hook Promise initiative to prevent school violence and promote positive school climates. Motley's impact extends statewide through her board service with the Georgia Foundation for Public Education and the Georgia Grantmakers Alliance, where she has advocated for bridging the resource gap between metro Atlanta and rural Georgia. She also serves on local boards including: 4C Academy Foundation, Randolph County Family Connection (former Board Chair), and Flint River Fresh. Her contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Georgia Women's Legislative Caucus Nikki T. Randall Servant Leadership Award (2023) and the Trailblazer in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award from United Way Southeast Region (2022). She has also been honored as a national American Express NGen Fellow (2019) and Zell Miller Leadership Institute participant (2019). In 2023, she led the UWSWGA to being recognized as Nonprofit of the Year by the Albany Area Chamber. 'Shaunae's leadership has left an indelible mark on United Way of Southwest Georgia,' Mark Johnson, the chair of United Way's Board of Directors and Business Development Officer at Georgia's Own Credit Union, said. 'Her passion, vision, and unwavering dedication have strengthened our organization and positioned us for continued impact. While we are sad to see her go, we celebrate all she has accomplished and wish her the best in her next chapter.' United Way of Southwest Georgia will announce plans for leadership transition in the coming weeks.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A New Survey Finds 80 Percent of Parents Think Gun Violence Changes What It Means To Be a Kid in America
Stories like Nicole Hockley's should never have to be told. When Hockley sent her first-grader to school on December 14th, 2012, she had no idea that their morning goodbye would be their last. But 6-year-old Dylan — along with 19 other children and 6 faculty members — would never come home to their families, instead falling victim to the unimaginable tragedy of the Sandy Hook school shooting. More from SheKnows I Lost My Son in the Sandy Hook Shooting 12 Years Ago Today - & Here's What I Need You to Know 'As a parent, you never think it could be you,' Hockley wrote for SheKnows on the 12th anniversary of the day she lost her son. Letting grief compel her forward, Hockley co-founded Sandy Hook Promise to honor her son and all the others killed in the senseless act: a nonprofit group dedicated to protecting children from gun violence in the places they should feel most safe. Recently, the organization polled around 1,000 parents of children 17 and under. Of those, 4 in 10 parents said they feel 'uncertain, frustrated or hopeless' about preventing violence in schools. Nearly half of the parents said they worried about gun violence at their child's school on a monthly basis, while 40 percent reported having those fears weekly or even daily. But that isn't all; parents also overwhelmingly feel that this issue is literally changing the carefree nature of childhood as we know it — and Sandy Hook Promise's gut-wrenching new PSA highlights this. The new PSA shines a spotlight on a sad reality: Gun violence truly has changed our kids' childhood experience, and the teddy bear is a perfect symbol of this. 'Following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, more than 60,000 bears were sent to Newtown, Connecticut — so many that a storage facility was required,' says a press release from Sandy Hook Promise. 'These comfort objects, meant for playtime and companionship, have since become a go-to object placed at memorials.' For Hockley and the other founders of Sandy Hook Promise, whose children didn't get a fraction of the childhood they deserved, this is simply unacceptable. 'From our research, we know that 80% of parents feel that the threat of violence in schools has affected childhood in America today. At Sandy Hook Promise, we also know that school shootings are preventable when you know the signs, and that we all have a role to play in preventing this cycle from continuing,' Hockley tells SheKnows. 'With this PSA, we want to drive home the message that childhood doesn't have to be this way and encourage parents, educators, students and caring adults to learn the signs, so we can help ensure the innocent, carefree childhood our kids deserve.' According to the most recent data, released late last year, guns killed more children and teens (age 1 through 17) than any other cause — including car crashes and cancer. It's a daunting statistic, to be sure, but there's reason to be hopeful: Sandy Hook Promise's Know the Signs programs and Say Something anonymous reporting system have helped stop at least 18 planned school shootings — most recently at Mooresville High School in Indiana — and many other acts of suicide and self-harm. To confirm a prevented attack, they use a strict review process that checks for a clear threat, a plan, access to a weapon, and where the information came from. As Hockley says, childhood doesn't have to be this way. Parents, let's make sure it isn't. Learn more about how to make a change here. Best of SheKnows Chelsea Handler & Other Celebs Who Are Doing Just Fine Without Biological Children 'Mario Day' Is Today — & All the Can't-Miss Mario Bros. Deals Are Here! Wicked-Inspired Names Are Spiking — Here Are the Most 'Popular' Names from the Trend
