‘Now Is Our Moment’: Gun-Safety Advocates Surf a ‘Tectonic’ Wave into US Legislatures.

A fresh wave of youthful political leaders is gaining power across the United States by leveraging their personal experience with gun violence to push for policy changes they believe the country is demanding.

Their ascent signifies a multi-year shift. Gun violence prevention has moved from a third-rail issue rarely spoken about on the stump to a central platform that candidates, mostly Democrats, are now running – and winning – on.

Widespread Fatigue Drives the Shift

This evolution is driven partly by a collective exhaustion with gun violence, encompassing mass shootings – 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 too many American lives.

“It’s been an issue that has impacted my life,” said Justin Pearson. “Serving as a legislator and seeing government inaction, while recalling the impact in my community, that pushed me to say this is an issue we must address urgently.”

Ironically, the day he was sworn in coincided with the deadliest shooting in the state’s history, when three children and three adults were murdered at a Covenant private school.

From Protest to Prominence

Shortly after, he and two other state Democrats staged a demonstration on the legislative chamber to demand stronger gun policy. Pearson and his colleague were expelled for their protest, an act that propelled them to widespread recognition. They eventually were reinstated.

Subsequently, Pearson’s brother was lost to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. This was far from his only experience with tragic death; previously, his mentor and a old schoolmate were also fatally shot in Memphis.

Now, he is campaigning for a seat in the US Congress by centering firearms safety at the core of his agenda. He emphasizes how it impacts the state’s youth, for whom gunshot wounds are the leading cause of death.

From Activism to Candidacy

The emergence of candidates focusing on this issue is also a result of the growing advocacy network across the country, which has become a recruitment channel for political newcomers.

• Maxwell Frost, the country’s first Gen Z congressmember, started off as a activist with March for Our Lives.
• Lucy McBath, a Congresswoman, and Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia governor-elect, were both volunteers with Moms Demand Action before running for office.
• Cameron Kasky, a Parkland survivor who helped to organize national marches, has declared his own run for a House seat.

“I see myself as a piece of a bigger movement. It’s the driving force I got into politics,” noted the congressman. “I was 15 when Sandy Hook happened and that’s what inspired me to get involved.”

A Seismic Shift in Politics

Today, calling out gun-rights lobbyists like the National Rifle Association is standard practice among Democratic candidates. But in the recent past, many centrist politicians held high ratings from the organization, and the subject of gun control was considered a career-ending issue.

“It was gradual and full of ups and downs,” said a prominent advocate. “We saw our supporters seeking election and thought it was logical that someone shaping legislation would want to take the next step.”

Many point to the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy and the subsequent failure in Washington to pass reforms as a watershed moment. This led formerly gun-friendly Democrats to risk their favorable scores to call for restrictions on assault weapons. Now, having an F rating from the NRA is a point of pride.

“After Parkland, zero Democratic members of Congress had an A rating and were proud about it. That’s a seismic shift,” the activist added. “It shattered a lot of misperceptions and anxieties about being proactive on this issue.”

Personal Loss Fuels Political Action

The issue of gun violence has also mobilized first-time entrants to politics.

Shaundelle Brooks lost her son in a 2018 mass shooting in Nashville. Tragically, another son was wounded leaving a music venue. After years of advocating at the capitol with no response, she decided to become a candidate herself.

“Testifying for seven years and having them just dismiss me, made it clear that I needed to do more than what I was doing,” Brooks said.

“When people see you’re personally impacted, they feel that you’re more credible to talk about this. They know it’s not a partisan game for us,” she added.

‘It’s Our Turn’ to Lead

These shared stories of tragedy connect individuals across the country, forming what those affected describe as a “club no one wants to join.”

“We don’t have a formal network, but we all feel compelled in this moment to be a part of the solution,” Pearson said of his colleagues. “The world is riddled with seemingly unsolvable issues. We’ve given people generations to solve them. And now, with our constituents’ support, it’s our turn.”

Pearson argues that tackling gun violence also requires focusing on bipartisan issues like veteran suicides and housing security, which might find more traction even in conservative legislatures. This holistic approach shows that being focused on ending firearms tragedies isn’t solely concerning restrictions, but also about improving the root causes.

“We’re not one-dimensional politicians,” he said. “We understand the connected nature of the harms. It’s not just shootings. It’s poverty, pollution, neglected neighborhoods – these are the places with the most severe rates of violence. We need leaders who have proximity to that pain.”

In the end, Pearson contends a lack of movement at the federal level on policies like red flag laws and cooling-off periods has deadly outcomes.

“Because of that inaction, people are dying,” he said. “This problem isn’t going to be solved by doing what we’ve done in the past.”