Gen Z is Traumatized by Gun Violence (2024)

Politicians love to blame the gun violence epidemic on mental illness. It's a convenient punt to the age-old and widely debunked talking point—guns don't kill people, people do! Forget our nation's loose gun laws, the fact that people with mental illness are more likely to be harmed by a gun than cause harm, or the stigmatization of 20 percent of Americans with a mental illness. Blame it on anything but the guns.

Not only is that argument patently untrue, the epidemic of gun violence is itself increasingly driving a mental health crisis among children and young people—an epidemic on top of an epidemic.

It's no secret that guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the US. What we also know is that simply being exposed to gun violence at an early age, whether it's witnessing that violence or living in daily fear of it, causes significant harm to children's mental health. Around 9 million children per year were exposed to gun violence prior to the pandemic and Black children had a 4.44 times higher exposure rate than white children. This disparity has only gotten worse. That's a monumental crisis and a racist failure with serious consequences for children's well-being well into adulthood.

What's also clear is that as activists and (some) leaders move to try to stem the violence, we also need to address the monumental mental health crisis that's emerging in the way of the gun violence epidemic.

As a young person myself, I know firsthand the trauma of gun violence. Fear has infiltrated so many aspects of my daily life and it's exhausting. Just last year after the shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, and then Highland Park, I was so filled with fear that I couldn't join a family trip to the movie theater on the Fourth of July because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to distinguish the sounds of fireworks from the sounds of an active shooter. I'm not alone in this.

Witnessing gun violence can prompt serious mental illnesses, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression, but it can also lead to combative and disruptive behavior. Children's learning and development are stifled, making it harder to keep up in school and develop key skills. This is especially true for kids between 2 and 9 years old, who are more susceptible to PTSD after directly witnessing violence, or simply seeing images of a shooting. Research shows that kids who have an ongoing concern about gun violence—inevitable in a nation where so many of us know at least one person who has been impacted by gun violence—are more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder six months later.

So, what to do? Among the multiple compounding epidemics that flow to and from gun violence, this one can feel nebulous. We can stop it at its source by passing reasonable, common-sense gun laws to end the gun violence epidemic and all its attendant ills. We should keep fighting for that. But with Congress gridlocked, we've got to address this mental health epidemic from another angle.

For one, the media plays an influential role in how we perceive and interact with gun violence, and it's helping to fuel this crisis in mental illness. The media shines a crucial light on the crisis of gun violence. But it can also easily instill fear and trauma. To start, we invite the media to avoid sensationalizing violence and to practice no notoriety to prevent the names and faces of assailants from being broadcast widely. Too often, one shooter inspires the next, leading to shooting after shooting and a traumatized nation. Instead, cover the faces, and avoid sensationalized clips depicting the trauma of violence. Focus instead on survivors and victims—their stories are the ones we should be telling.

We must get a hold of rampant and potentially illegal advertising of guns. Gun manufacturers exploit children through targeted marketing in an effort to maximize their profits. This is detrimental for young people whose propensity to be influenced is far greater than adults. Many social media companies promote this kind of advertising without any regulation or oversight. This rash behavior is putting kids at risk.

We've got to intervene to provide kids with what they need to cope with the trauma of growing up in a world with rampant gun violence. Our kids need counselors in their schools to provide the space to heal instead of allowing the trauma to compound. We need to invest in mental wellness for parents and caregivers, so they can provide the care their loved ones deserve, too. This costs money, and we've got to commit to it if we're serious about identifying mental illness as a crisis, unlike politicians like Governor Greg Abbott in Texas, who talks a big talk about mental illness but then axed $211 million in funds for mental health.

These measures are doable, but they're just the start. And, they have bipartisan support not just among the American public, but also, ostensibly, with our political leaders. As a young person in America, I can tell you firsthand that the situation is grim, but not hopeless. We know what needs to be healed, and how to heal it. It's time to get to work to keep kids safe and well.

Alexa Browning is a senior policy associate at March For Our Lives and a recent master's graduate from Texas State University.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.