‘The Time Has Come’: Firearms-Safety Advocates Ride a ‘Seismic’ Surge into American Statehouses.

A fresh wave of youthful political leaders is ascending to office across the nation by leveraging their personal experience with gun violence to advocate for reforms they contend the public is ready for.

Their rise 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, mostly Democrats, are now campaigning on successfully.

A Collective Exhaustion Fuels the Change

This change is driven partly by a collective exhaustion with gun violence, encompassing mass shootings – such as tragedies at a Rhode Island university and Bondi Beach – as well as gun-related suicides and community violence, which persist in devastating too many American lives.

“This is a problem that has directly touched me,” said a Tennessee state representative. “Serving as a legislator and witnessing government inaction, while recalling the effects in my neighborhood, that compelled me to say this is an issue we must address urgently.”

The day he was took office coincided with the most lethal attack in the state’s history, when six individuals were shot and killed at a Nashville school.

From Protest to Prominence

Shortly after, he and two other state Democrats led a protest on the legislative chamber to call for stronger gun policy. Pearson and his colleague were expelled for their action, an act that propelled them to widespread recognition. They later reclaimed their seats.

Subsequently, his sibling was lost to a firearm suicide. This was not his first encounter with tragic death; just years before, his mentor and a former classmate were also shot and killed in his hometown.

Now, he is campaigning for a seat in the US Congress by centering gun violence at the heart of his agenda. He highlights how it impacts the state’s young residents, for whom firearms injuries are the leading cause of death.

From Activism to Candidacy

The rise of candidates centering this issue is also a result of the growing advocacy network across the nation, which has evolved into a recruitment channel for new candidates.

• Maxwell Frost, the nation’s first Gen Z US representative, started off as a volunteer with March for Our Lives.
• Lucy McBath, a Congresswoman, and Abigail Spanberger, a soon-to-be governor, were both volunteers with a grassroots safety organization before running for office.
• Cameron Kasky, a Parkland survivor who was instrumental in national marches, has recently announced his own campaign for a House seat.

“I see myself as a small part of a larger cause. It’s the driving force I got into politics,” said Frost. “I was 15 when the Newtown tragedy happened and that’s what inspired me to get involved.”

From Third Rail to Talking Point

Today, challenging pro-gun groups like the National Rifle Association is common among Democratic candidates. But less than 15 years ago, many centrist politicians held high ratings from the NRA, and the subject of regulating guns was considered a political third rail.

“It was a slow process and full of ups and downs,” explained a violence-prevention activist. “We saw our supporters seeking election and thought it was common sense that someone shaping legislation would want to become a lawmaker.”

Many point to the 2012 mass shooting and the lack of action in Congress to pass reforms as a watershed moment. This led once NRA-backed politicians to abandon their high ratings to call for limits on assault weapons. Now, receiving a poor grade from the NRA is a point of pride.

“After Parkland, no Democratic members of Congress had an A rating and were proud about it. That’s a seismic shift,” the advocate continued. “It shattered a lot of myths and anxieties about being gun safety-forward.”

Personal Loss Fuels Political Action

The issue of firearms deaths has also activated 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 advocating at the statehouse with little result, she chose to run for office.

“Coming up here for seven years and having them just dismiss me, showed me that I needed to do something greater than what I was doing,” she said.

“Knowing 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.

A New Generation’s Call

These shared stories of tragedy unite individuals across the country, forming what victims and survivors describe as a “club no one wants to join.”

“We don’t have a formal network, but we all feel compelled in this time to be a part of the healing,” Pearson said of his fellow advocates. “The world is full of seemingly unsolvable issues. We’ve given people decades to solve them. And now, with our the people behind us, it’s our turn.”

Pearson believes that tackling gun violence also requires focusing on bipartisan issues like mental health access and economic stability, which might find more traction even in conservative legislatures. This holistic approach shows that being focused on ending gun violence isn’t solely concerning gun laws, but also about addressing 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, environmental issues, neglected neighborhoods – these are the places with the most severe rates of violence. We need leaders who have experienced that reality.”

Ultimately, the candidate contends a lack of movement at the national level on measures like red flag laws and cooling-off periods has deadly outcomes.

“Due to this stagnation, people are dying,” he said. “This crisis won’t be fixed by doing what we’ve done in the past.”