On Jan. 17, volunteer activists with Students Demand Action(opens in a new tab), a national gun violence prevention organization led by young voters and students of all ages, took a quick trip to Vegas. Few of the group were of age to gamble in the casinos or hit up any bars, but all were old enough to speak up for the safety of their peers to the people putting them directly in the line of fire. So that's what they did, asserting themselves as leaders of a digital activation and protest against gun lobbyists, manufacturers, and buyers(opens in a new tab) attending the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF)'s annual trade show, known as the SHOT Show.
The students stood outside of the convention center, holding out QR code-pasted flyers with their own welcome for attendees of the "gun show." They marched with signs reading, "Guns are the #1 killer of kids and teens in America." They projected 50-foot messages on the sides of buildings — "While the gun industry parties, kids die." — and hoped drivers paid attention to the billboards projecting the same messages on the side of the convention causeways. The peaceful, and yet powerful, disruption guided viewers to a petition(opens in a new tab) and list of 17 demands(opens in a new tab), outlining the safety, educational, and marketing issues informing the nation's growing gun crisis.
For the youth activists, this is all par for the course, another step on years-long journeys to feel safe in schools and public spaces as the country struggles with continued gun violence.
According to the Gun Violence Archive(opens in a new tab), less than a month into the new year, the nation already has witnessed 40 mass shootings(opens in a new tab), which the data-collecting organization defines as an event in which four or more individuals are shot, whether killed or injured. These instances of gun violence include the shooting of a first-grade teacher by her 6-year-old student(opens in a new tab) and the devastating mass shootings in Los Angeles County and Monterey Park, California(opens in a new tab).
Founded in 2016, Students Demand Action is an offshoot of national organization Everytown for Gun Safety(opens in a new tab). It's one of many youth-led and youth-focused organizations that have spent years advocating for the protection of young lives from the threat of gun violence, including March For Our Lives(opens in a new tab), Team ENOUGH, and educational campaign Project Unloaded(opens in a new tab). Many of Student Demand Action's leaders started in the organization very young, middle schoolers entering their first year of high school already motivated to make change. Others joined later, working fervently to start club chapters at their own schools and colleges. Many volunteers help host on-the-ground protests or participate in the organization's Text Team, which offers peer-to-peer communication about gun policy and activism.
It's a uniquely generational movement, and one that activists hope will drive common sense gun reform that relieves the responsibility from future young organizers.
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But as 2023 grinds on, the burden of safety is still falling on these students, children in many senses of the word. Though it's easy to let their work be sidelined in the bad news media churn, thousands of youth activists will continue to organize their peers to demand change. Here's what just four of them have to say about their work and where the country is headed.
Ade Osadolor Hernandez, 21
Ade Osadolor Hernandez is a Students Demand Action National Advisory Board member and third-year student at the University of Chicago. She got involved in gun violence prevention during her sophomore year of high school after researching the prevalence of deaths by firearms. "I was just completely shocked by all the statistics that I saw and found myself feeling responsible for creating change, and for lifting up communities are most impacted by gun violence," she said.
To that end, Osadolor Hernandez sees the work of Students Demand Action as a community-building, mutual aid opportunity. "It's about uplifting other people's voices, especially children and young adults that are heavily impacted by gun violence, where gun violence informs parts of their daily lives," she told Mashable. This belief led her to participate in the organization's Summer Leadership Academy(opens in a new tab), which provides mentorship for local activists interested in becoming a part of the movement. "These kids are heavily affected by gun violence, and we teach them how to become community organizers. How to find their own voice."
Osadolor Hernandez wants the nation to understand that young activists in this space are still hopeful, they're still working to enact localized change, and they're balancing it with emotionally and physically demanding scheduling. "How is it being in school and doing all this work? It's a sense of responsibility. If I'm willing to create change and find ways to make America a safer space for everyone, then I'm also carrying the burden of the deaths of thousands of people that are dying from this gun violence crisis every day," she said. "During Las Vegas, I was literally waking up early in the morning to finish a physics preset and write an essay, and a couple hours later, I was putting up yard signs and getting responses from these SHOT Show attendees. While it can be hard at times to balance, I find it necessary."
She also wants to ensure the general public, and potential activists, understand that incremental change is necessary. "The movement is not a sprint, but a marathon. It takes a long time. There are small changes; sometimes it seems like just moving backwards, but we're not."
Avi Rubin, 18
Avi Rubin grew up in the Chicago area and is now a freshman at Arizona State University. He joined Students Demand Action in 2018, the summer between his eighth- and ninth-grade years, after he learned about the legal status of "ghost guns," or untraceable DIY firearms, in Illinois. The topic became an organizing anchor for him in his local activism, and it paid off when the state became the first in the Midwest to ban the clandestine weapons(opens in a new tab).
Rubin has volunteered for Students Demand Action as a virtual field office leader during the beginning of the pandemic, as a member of the organization's Text Team, and as a protest participant at events like the SHOT Show. In his eyes, the vitality of the movement relies on young people getting involved in areas close to them, physically and emotionally. "I think that it's important to take action from all different channels: online, in person, on the ground, on social media. It's important to have a multivariable approach," he said, and pointed to his home state as a positive example of local work. "Illinois just passed a major assault weapons ban(opens in a new tab). I'm really excited about that, and I think that that should be something that happens across the country with gun manufacturers — where they take the initiative."
And for those looking to support gun violence prevention in the new year, Rubin has some suggestions. "There's two very different, but very important things, that people can do. One of them is for gun owners to lock up their guns. Get good gun locks, because a lot of shootings can be prevented if guns are simply locked up and stored properly. A second really great thing for the public to do is to just know their laws, and know what they do."
He recommends people follow in his footsteps and join the movement online, text JOIN to the Students Demand Action information number at 64433 to sign up for SDA updates, and stay up-to-date on local laws using Everytown's gun law rankings website(opens in a new tab). "Make sure that the gun industry is held accountable for profiting off of people dying."
Peren Tiemann, 18
Peren Tiemann joined the gun violence prevention movement at the age of 14, motivated by a collective fear and anxiety following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. "I've since learned that gun violence is so much more than mass school shootings. And to have this problem still be prevalent in our country is terrifying," they said.
Tiemann now runs a Students Demand Action chapter at their school, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. "For me, this issue is part of my daily life. Every day, I wake up and think, 'OK, what am I going to do in my campus, or in my community, to work on gun violence?'" Tiemann sees a growing excitement in the movement, building off a social and legislative momentum which began last year. "It's not so much that something has changed within our movement, it's that we've proven that what we're doing works. Last summer, after the Uvalde shooting, when the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act(opens in a new tab) was passed, that was proving that our years of work in this space are paying off," they said.
Continuing forward this year, Tiemann is really focused on addressing the marketing tactics used by the gun industry, and building self-awareness among young people who are targeted by these companies. "I think our next big thing is figuring out the most successful ways for students to engage with industry accountability," they explained. This is a nod to Students Demand Action's main strategy: Get more eyes on the insidious influence(opens in a new tab) of the gun lobby and firearms industry(opens in a new tab). That's not just a single swing at manufacturing bigwigs or lawmakers, it's a multifaceted attack against the economic, political, and social factors that are still pushing guns into the hands of Americans. "This is not a one-segmented issue. We need to be addressing it from all sides."
Sari Kaufman, 20
Sari Kaufman is a survivor of the Parkland shooting, an Everytown and Students Demand Action organizer, and a junior at Yale, where she recently initiated the university's first SDA chapter. Kaufman was also involved in the planning for the SHOT Show activation, figuring out the best ways to effectively counter an event of that scale, how to empower young people to talk about industry profits and exploitation, and ways to engage the general public about their list of demands. "We definitely got some pushback," she said. "It was, in an odd way, a reaffirming fact that what we were doing was important. That they were seeing the signs and clearly had some issue with us raising awareness about the facts of the impact of gun violence."
Kaufman was motivated to join Students Demand Action after organizing with her fellow survivors through March For Our Lives. "This advocacy work is a way for me to cope with the tragedy that happened at my school, and it helps give me a purpose in my life," Kaufman reflected. She explained that creating connection with students across the country is a significant motivator for her continued activism. "That gives me a lot of hope and inspiration. I also think it gives me an emotional support network."
The 20-year-old Political Science major also explained that one part of the recent gun violence prevention movement is targeting the marketing tactics of gun sellers, including the way these powerful forces use social media influencers to normalize gun ownership. She says that this is a less known but potentially effective way to hold manufacturers accountable for gun violence, as they currently hide behind legal loopholes like the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which shields firearms manufacturers and dealers from liability when guns are used in crimes. "Even if PLCAA is not repealed, there is potential to still hold these gun manufacturers liable and raise awareness that these gun manufacturers are purposely advertising to specific people. That is a harmful practice that no business or industry should be doing, especially in an industry that sells deadly weapons."
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In 2023, Kaufman says she wants to build on the enthusiasm of students looking to attend community events on their college campuses, which she thinks prompts more engagement than digital means. She also hopes that youth voices gain more respect at a national level.
"It's amazing that young people from across the country are the ones leading this fight," she said. "I also think it sometimes creates a challenge, because older folks will look at it and think, 'Oh, they're young and naive.' That bothers me the most. Yeah, sure, we're young. But we are sophisticated in our thinking."
