March For Our Lives is making a sobering statement with a new public service announcement. Titled "Generation Lockdown," the video shows an expert leading an active shooter drill during an all-staff meeting at an undisclosed workplace in National City, CA. The "expert" is a middle school student.
Throughout the course of the video, Kayleigh offers blunt advice on ways to stay safe during a shooting, as several employees are overcome with emotion. (A spokesperson for the student-led organization confirmed to NPR that Kayleigh is an actual student and the reactions were not scripted.) "Sometimes we play the game 'who can stay quietest the longest,' so we all remember," Kayleigh says during a particularly heartbreaking moment.
Apart from illustrating the tragedy in children having to grow up learning drills of this kind, the PSA is meant to draw attention to the S.42 Background Check Expansion Act, which will require universal background checks on all gun sales if passed. The bill is currently awaiting action in the Senate.