🔗 Share this article ‘Now Is Our Moment’: Gun-Safety Advocates Ride a ‘Tectonic’ Wave into US Statehouses. A fresh wave of young political leaders is gaining power across the United States by channeling their personal experience with gun violence to advocate for policy changes they believe the country is ready for. Their ascent signifies a nearly decade-long transformation. Gun violence prevention has moved from a third-rail issue rarely spoken about on campaign trails to a core issue that politicians, predominantly from the Democratic party, are now campaigning on successfully. A Collective Exhaustion Fuels the Shift This evolution is fueled in part by a national weariness with gun violence, including large-scale attacks – like tragedies at Brown University and a Sydney beach – as well as firearms suicides and street violence, which continue to tear apart countless families and communities. “It’s been an issue that has directly touched me,” said Justin Pearson. “Serving as a state representative and seeing government inaction, while remembering the impact in my community, that compelled me to say this is an issue we must address urgently.” Ironically, the day he was took office was also the deadliest shooting in Tennessee history, when three children and three adults were murdered at a Nashville school. From Protest to Prominence Days later, he and several fellow legislators staged a demonstration on the legislative chamber to call for stronger gun policy. The lawmakers were expelled for their action, an act that catapulted them to national prominence. They later reclaimed their seats. Subsequently, his sibling died of a firearm suicide. This was not his first encounter with violent loss; previously, his mentor and a former classmate were also shot and killed in his hometown. Now, Pearson is running for a federal office by centering gun violence at the core of his agenda. He emphasizes how it impacts the state’s young residents, for whom firearms injuries are the primary killer. A Movement Becomes a Pipeline The rise of candidates centering this issue is also a result of the growing advocacy network across the country, which has evolved into a recruitment channel for new candidates. Maxwell Frost, the nation’s first Generation Z congressmember, began as a activist with a student-led gun-safety group. Lucy McBath, a Georgia representative, and Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia governor-elect, were both involved with Moms Demand Action before entering politics. Cameron Kasky, a survivor who helped to organize national marches, has recently announced his own campaign for a House seat. “I see myself as a piece of a bigger movement. It’s the reason I got into politics,” said the congressman. “I was 15 when Sandy Hook happened and that’s what inspired me to get involved.” From Third Rail to Talking Point Nowadays, challenging gun-rights lobbyists like the National Rifle Association is standard practice among Democratic candidates. But less than 15 years ago, many centrist politicians held ‘A’ grades from the organization, and the topic of regulating guns was considered a political third rail. “It was a slow process and not linear,” said a prominent advocate. “We saw our supporters running for office and thought it was common sense that someone advocating for laws would want to take the next step.” Many point to the 2012 mass shooting and the subsequent failure in Washington to pass reforms as a turning point. This led formerly gun-friendly Democrats to abandon their high ratings to call for limits on assault weapons. Now, receiving a poor grade from the NRA is a badge of honor. “After Parkland, zero Democratic members of Congress had an A rating and were boasting of it. That’s a dramatic change,” the advocate added. “It shattered a lot of misperceptions and anxieties about being proactive on this issue.” Personal Loss Fuels Political Action The epidemic of gun violence has also mobilized newcomers to politics. Shaundelle Brooks lost her son in a Waffle House attack in the city. Tragically, another son was wounded leaving a music venue. After years of pleading at the statehouse with little result, she decided to run for office. “Coming up here for seven years and having them just ignoring me, made it clear that I needed to do something greater than what I was doing,” she said. “When people see you’re directly affected, they feel that you’re more authentic to talk about this. They know it’s not a political thing for us,” she stated. ‘It’s Our Turn’ to Lead These personal experiences of loss connect advocates across the nation, forming what those affected describe as a “club no one wants to join.” “We don’t have a group chat, but we all feel compelled in this time to be a part of the healing,” Pearson said of his colleagues. “The world is riddled with seemingly unsolvable issues. We’ve given people decades to address them. And now, with our the people behind us, it’s our turn.” He argues that tackling this crisis also requires action on common-ground problems like mental health access and housing security, which might find greater support even in Republican-led legislatures. This broader view shows that being committed to ending gun violence isn’t solely concerning gun laws, but also about improving the root causes. “We’re not single-issue candidates,” he said. “We understand the intersectionality of the harms. It’s not just gun violence. It’s economic hardship, pollution, deprived communities – these are the places with the most severe rates of violence. We need leaders who have proximity to that pain.” In the end, Pearson says a lack of movement at the national level on measures like red flag laws and cooling-off periods has real consequences. “Due to this stagnation, people are dying,” he said. “This crisis won’t be fixed by doing what we’ve done in the past.”
A fresh wave of young political leaders is gaining power across the United States by channeling their personal experience with gun violence to advocate for policy changes they believe the country is ready for. Their ascent signifies a nearly decade-long transformation. Gun violence prevention has moved from a third-rail issue rarely spoken about on campaign trails to a core issue that politicians, predominantly from the Democratic party, are now campaigning on successfully. A Collective Exhaustion Fuels the Shift This evolution is fueled in part by a national weariness with gun violence, including large-scale attacks – like tragedies at Brown University and a Sydney beach – as well as firearms suicides and street violence, which continue to tear apart countless families and communities. “It’s been an issue that has directly touched me,” said Justin Pearson. “Serving as a state representative and seeing government inaction, while remembering the impact in my community, that compelled me to say this is an issue we must address urgently.” Ironically, the day he was took office was also the deadliest shooting in Tennessee history, when three children and three adults were murdered at a Nashville school. From Protest to Prominence Days later, he and several fellow legislators staged a demonstration on the legislative chamber to call for stronger gun policy. The lawmakers were expelled for their action, an act that catapulted them to national prominence. They later reclaimed their seats. Subsequently, his sibling died of a firearm suicide. This was not his first encounter with violent loss; previously, his mentor and a former classmate were also shot and killed in his hometown. Now, Pearson is running for a federal office by centering gun violence at the core of his agenda. He emphasizes how it impacts the state’s young residents, for whom firearms injuries are the primary killer. A Movement Becomes a Pipeline The rise of candidates centering this issue is also a result of the growing advocacy network across the country, which has evolved into a recruitment channel for new candidates. Maxwell Frost, the nation’s first Generation Z congressmember, began as a activist with a student-led gun-safety group. Lucy McBath, a Georgia representative, and Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia governor-elect, were both involved with Moms Demand Action before entering politics. Cameron Kasky, a survivor who helped to organize national marches, has recently announced his own campaign for a House seat. “I see myself as a piece of a bigger movement. It’s the reason I got into politics,” said the congressman. “I was 15 when Sandy Hook happened and that’s what inspired me to get involved.” From Third Rail to Talking Point Nowadays, challenging gun-rights lobbyists like the National Rifle Association is standard practice among Democratic candidates. But less than 15 years ago, many centrist politicians held ‘A’ grades from the organization, and the topic of regulating guns was considered a political third rail. “It was a slow process and not linear,” said a prominent advocate. “We saw our supporters running for office and thought it was common sense that someone advocating for laws would want to take the next step.” Many point to the 2012 mass shooting and the subsequent failure in Washington to pass reforms as a turning point. This led formerly gun-friendly Democrats to abandon their high ratings to call for limits on assault weapons. Now, receiving a poor grade from the NRA is a badge of honor. “After Parkland, zero Democratic members of Congress had an A rating and were boasting of it. That’s a dramatic change,” the advocate added. “It shattered a lot of misperceptions and anxieties about being proactive on this issue.” Personal Loss Fuels Political Action The epidemic of gun violence has also mobilized newcomers to politics. Shaundelle Brooks lost her son in a Waffle House attack in the city. Tragically, another son was wounded leaving a music venue. After years of pleading at the statehouse with little result, she decided to run for office. “Coming up here for seven years and having them just ignoring me, made it clear that I needed to do something greater than what I was doing,” she said. “When people see you’re directly affected, they feel that you’re more authentic to talk about this. They know it’s not a political thing for us,” she stated. ‘It’s Our Turn’ to Lead These personal experiences of loss connect advocates across the nation, forming what those affected describe as a “club no one wants to join.” “We don’t have a group chat, but we all feel compelled in this time to be a part of the healing,” Pearson said of his colleagues. “The world is riddled with seemingly unsolvable issues. We’ve given people decades to address them. And now, with our the people behind us, it’s our turn.” He argues that tackling this crisis also requires action on common-ground problems like mental health access and housing security, which might find greater support even in Republican-led legislatures. This broader view shows that being committed to ending gun violence isn’t solely concerning gun laws, but also about improving the root causes. “We’re not single-issue candidates,” he said. “We understand the intersectionality of the harms. It’s not just gun violence. It’s economic hardship, pollution, deprived communities – these are the places with the most severe rates of violence. We need leaders who have proximity to that pain.” In the end, Pearson says a lack of movement at the national level on measures like red flag laws and cooling-off periods has real consequences. “Due to this stagnation, people are dying,” he said. “This crisis won’t be fixed by doing what we’ve done in the past.”