A new generation of young elected officials is gaining power across the United States by leveraging their firsthand encounters with gun violence to push for policy changes they believe the country is ready for.
Their rise marks a nearly decade-long shift. Firearms safety has moved from a third-rail issue seldom discussed on campaign trails to a core issue that candidates, mostly 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 firearms deaths, encompassing large-scale attacks – such as recent incidents at a Rhode Island university and Bondi Beach – as well as gun-related suicides and community violence, which continue to tear apart countless families and communities.
“This is a problem that has directly touched me,” said Justin Pearson. “Serving as a state representative and seeing government inaction, while remembering the effects in my neighborhood, that compelled me to say this is an issue we must prioritize.”
The day he was took office coincided with the deadliest shooting in the state’s history, when six individuals were murdered at a Nashville private school.
Expulsion and a National Spotlight
Days later, he and two other fellow legislators staged a demonstration on the legislative chamber to demand stricter firearms laws. Pearson and his colleague were removed from office for their protest, an act that propelled them to national prominence. They later were reinstated.
Months later, his sibling died of a firearm suicide. This was not his first experience with tragic death; previously, his guide and a former classmate were also fatally shot in his hometown.
Now, Pearson is running for a federal office by centering firearms safety at the heart of his agenda. He highlights how it affects the state’s young residents, for whom firearms injuries are the primary killer.
From Activism to Candidacy
The emergence of candidates focusing on this issue is also a product of the growing advocacy network across the nation, which has evolved into a recruitment channel for political newcomers.
- Maxwell Frost, the country’s first Gen Z US representative, began as a volunteer with March for Our Lives.
- Lucy McBath, a Georgia representative, and Abigail Spanberger, a soon-to-be governor, were both volunteers with a grassroots safety organization before running for office.
- Cameron Kasky, a survivor who was instrumental in national marches, has recently announced his own run for Congress.
“I see myself as a small part of a bigger movement. It’s the reason I got into politics,” noted the congressman. “I was 15 when the Newtown tragedy happened and that’s what inspired me to get involved.”
A Seismic Shift in Politics
Nowadays, challenging pro-gun groups 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 subject of gun control was considered a political third rail.
“It was a slow process and not linear,” said a violence-prevention activist. “We saw our volunteers running for office and thought it was common sense that someone shaping legislation would want to take the next step.”
Many point to the 2012 mass shooting and the lack of action in Washington to pass gun-safety policies as a turning point. This led once NRA-backed politicians to abandon their high ratings to support restrictions on assault weapons. Now, having an F rating from the group is a point of pride.
“After Parkland, no 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 myths and anxieties about being proactive on this issue.”
Personal Loss Fuels Political Action
The issue of gun violence has also activated newcomers to politics.
A Tennessee mother lost her son in a 2018 mass shooting in Nashville. Tragically, another son was shot and injured leaving a music venue. After repeated trips of advocating at the capitol with little result, she chose to run for office.
“Testifying for seven years and having them just dismiss me, made it clear that I needed to do something greater than what I was doing,” Brooks said.
“When people see you’re personally impacted, they feel that you’re more authentic to talk about this. They know it’s not a partisan game for us,” she stated.
‘It’s Our Turn’ to Lead
These personal experiences of loss unite individuals 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 called in this time to be a part of the solution,” Pearson said of his colleagues. “The world is full of seemingly unsolvable issues. We’ve given people decades to address them. And now, with our the people behind us, the moment is ours.”
He believes that tackling this crisis also requires focusing on common-ground problems like veteran suicides and housing security, which might find more traction even in Republican-led legislatures. This broader view shows that being focused on ending firearms tragedies isn’t solely concerning gun laws, but also about addressing the underlying conditions.
“We’re not one-dimensional politicians,” he emphasized. “We understand the intersectionality of the harms. It’s not just shootings. It’s poverty, pollution, deprived communities – these are the places with the most severe rates of violence. We need leaders who have experienced that pain.”
Ultimately, the candidate says inaction at the national level on policies like extreme risk protection orders and waiting periods has deadly outcomes.
“Due to this stagnation, people are dying,” he said. “This crisis isn’t going to be solved by doing what we’ve done in the past.”
