When Nabeela Syed was in third grade, a police officer came to her classroom door and rattled the doorknob to test how young students would react to a shooter trying to enter the room.
Syed, now 23, will keep that harrowing memory in mind when the election comes early this month and he embarks on his new role as a member of the Illinois legislature. After a string of shootings at schools, parades, concerts, LGBTQ nightclubs and, tragically, last week’s Walmart shooting in Virginia, Democrats vote for gun safety legislation I am eager to
About Generation Z, the people born after 1997, Said said: “Sometimes it’s frustrating. Being a young person and feeling like we’re screaming for this and not being heard.”
The call for tougher gun control finally felt like it was being heard, with hundreds of volunteers and well-supported candidates elected top and bottom.
After decades of standing up and defending against strong pro-gun lobbying and a entrenched firearms culture, gun safety activists say the political winds have turned in their direction. claims that gun safety is a hidden issue in the pivotal midterm elections, mobilizing the youngest group of voters and reaffirming that gun safety candidates can run and win. ing.
“I think we’ve really proven that gun safety isn’t just good policy, it’s good politics,” says Moms, a group launched after the 2012 shooting of a small child and educator in Sandy. Shannon Watts, founder of Demand Action, says. Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Last month, more than 125 gun volunteers from the Everytown for Gun Safety group were elected, and the group reported that more than 150 Everytown volunteers won the race this election cycle.
In Minnesota, six Moms Demand Action volunteers were elected to the state legislature. Among them are her four women elected to the Minnesota Senate, who helped turn the House blue, and her one seat for what activists say is a “gun sense” faction. We provide the majority.
In Michigan, where both houses of the state legislature have changed from red to blue, nine Michigan Moms Demand Action volunteers won the election, marking what the group calls the first “gun sense trilogy” (both houses). majority and the governor). Nearly 40 years.
In Illinois, 16 Moms Demand Action volunteers were selected. In Rhode Island, seven of the group’s volunteers won elections for various positions. In Oregon, voters approved a ballot measure to strengthen the state’s gun laws, electing eight Moms Demand Action volunteers.
gun control and gun rights cartoon
And in Florida, voters elected the first Generation Z Congressman, Maxwell Frost, to Congress. Frost, organizer of the student gun safety group March for Our Lives, campaigned to end gun violence.
Advocating for gun control of any kind may have been the kiss of death politically in the last few years, but this month, those who advocate gun safety won a crucial election. They include Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, incumbent Democratic Senator Katherine Cortez Mast of Nevada, Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and Katie Hobbs of Arizona Governor. .
Both Hassan and Cortez Masto voted this year for the first gun safety measure to pass Congress in nearly 30 years. Enacted following the shootings at a Buffalo supermarket and a school in Uvalde, Texas, the law was opposed by the National Rifle Association.
When Watts launched Mom’s Demand Action in 2012, about a quarter of Democrats on Capitol Hill had an “A” rating from the NRA, Watts said. Now that number is zero.
“We think the candidates have really succeeded in changing the conversation from gun crime to gun safety,” Watts says. She said the group isn’t talking about gun bans (some of the volunteers are gun owners themselves), but enacting data-driven laws and regulations to ensure safe gun ownership. It says it does.
Overall, gun rights activists say they still have considerable success in electing like-minded candidates for president. To date, just under 90% of NRA-endorsed candidates have won federal elections, and over 90% of NRA-endorsed candidates have won elections at the state and local levels.
Second Amendment proponents say the answer to gun violence is not to control the weapons themselves, but to control the criminals who use them to target innocent people.
“At the end of the day, this is a matter of right and wrong. If you are a good person, there is absolutely no reason for the government to try to restrict one of your basic constitutional rights,” said Andrew Alranandam. say. , NRA spokesperson.
“If you are a bad person, the NRA wholeheartedly agrees that you need to be arrested, prosecuted and punished. Arulanandam says.
Many Americans fervently believe that the right to own a gun is sacred. The United States is the only country with more guns than people, According to the Swiss-based Small Arms Survey,FBI background check data shows gun sales increased during the pandemic.
But there is evidence that Gen Z people see the issue differently.a Survey of 15-25 year olds A survey taken by the Murmuration/Walton Family Foundation in May-June of this year ranked “stopping school shootings” as the most important issue for the America they want to live in, with guns We found that reducing violence and mass shootings ranked second alongside protecting access. clean water and air.
another Group research Project UnloadedTrying to change “gun culture” . This is compared to countless reelection polls showing that American voters as a whole are most concerned about inflation, democracy and abortion rights.
“This generation continues to experience mass shootings not just in schools, but in malls, movie theaters, nightclubs and other places where young people spend their time,” said Nina Vinik, founder and executive director of Project Unloaded. ‘ said. It is the confluence of factors that are driving this generation on this issue. ”
Americans generally want stronger gun control, according to the poll by Gallup, Fifty-seven percent of Gallup’s October poll favored tougher legislation, down from 66% who felt so in June.
But for Generation Z (only a few of whom are old enough to vote), the issue is more personal.Gun violence is now leading cause of death among children and adolescents.
McKayla Jordan, a 19-year-old University of Alabama student, was shot four years ago after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and after a friend was killed in a nearby shootout. Participated in safety advocacy for Alabama school. Jordan says her friend died when her classmate brought a gun to school, brandished it, and accidentally shot her.
“This is not a problem we created, but a problem we grew up with,” says Jordan. “I’m sick of waking up every morning to see someone dead. I’m sick of seeing my friends crying,” she adds.
Generation Z voters seem to have provided essential support for Democrats in the midterm elections. 18- to 19-year-olds (Gen Z and younger millennials) made up just 12% of the vote in the midterm elections, but skewed Democratic support made the difference, says FIGHT: How Gen Z says John Della Volpe, author of It conveys their fear and passion to save America. ”
Citing exit polls, the youngest group of voters supported Democrats by 28 percent, says Della Volpe. That translates into his 3 percentage point uplift for the Democratic nominee, and in some cases more than the margin of victory.
“People are out there voting,” says Jordan, who voted for the first time this year. “We’re not trying to take your guns. That’s not what his Gen Z wants.”
If the 2022 midterm elections are the indicator, candidates need to start listening.