‘It’s Our Turn’: Firearms-Safety Advocates Ride a ‘Seismic’ Surge into American Legislatures.

A fresh wave of young elected officials is gaining power across the United States by leveraging their firsthand encounters with firearms tragedies to advocate for policy changes they believe the country is demanding.

Their ascent marks a nearly decade-long shift. Firearms safety has moved from a third-rail issue rarely spoken about on campaign trails to a central platform that politicians, predominantly Democrats, are now running – and winning – on.

A Collective Exhaustion Drives the Change

This change is driven partly by a national weariness with firearms deaths, encompassing mass shootings – such as tragedies at a Rhode Island university and Bondi Beach – as well as gun-related suicides and street violence, which persist in devastating countless families and communities.

“This is a problem that has directly touched me,” explained a Tennessee state representative. “There was something about a state representative and seeing government inaction, while remembering the effects in my neighborhood, that pushed me to say this is an issue we must address urgently.”

Ironically, the day he was sworn in was also the most lethal attack in Tennessee history, when six individuals were shot and killed at a Nashville school.

From Protest to Prominence

Shortly after, he and two other fellow legislators staged a demonstration on the legislative chamber to call for stronger gun policy. The lawmakers were removed from office for their protest, an act that catapulted them to national prominence. They later were reinstated.

Subsequently, 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 Memphis.

Now, he is campaigning for a seat in the US Congress by placing firearms safety at the heart of his agenda. He highlights how it affects the state’s youth, for whom firearms injuries are the leading cause of death.

A Movement Becomes a Pipeline

The rise of candidates focusing on gun violence is also a product of the growing prevention movement across the nation, which has evolved into a recruitment channel for new candidates.

• Maxwell Frost, the country’s first Generation Z congressmember, started off as a activist with a student-led gun-safety group.
• Lucy McBath, a Congresswoman, and Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia governor-elect, were both involved 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 run for a House seat.

“I see myself as a piece of a bigger movement. It’s the reason I got into politics,” noted Frost. “I was 15 when the Newtown tragedy happened and that’s what pushed me to get involved.”

A Seismic Shift in Politics

Today, calling out pro-gun groups like the NRA is common among Democratic candidates. But less than 15 years ago, many centrist politicians held ‘A’ grades from the NRA, and the subject of gun control was considered a political third rail.

“It was gradual and full of ups and downs,” explained a prominent advocate. “We saw our volunteers seeking election and thought it was common sense that someone advocating for laws would want to become a lawmaker.”

Advocates cite the 2012 mass shooting and the subsequent failure in Congress to pass reforms as a watershed moment. This pushed once NRA-backed politicians to abandon their high ratings 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 boasting of it. That’s a seismic shift,” the advocate continued. “It dispelled a lot of misperceptions and anxieties about being proactive on this issue.”

Personal Loss Fuels Political Action

The epidemic of gun violence has also mobilized newcomers to politics.

A Tennessee mother lost her son in a Waffle House attack in the city. Years later, another son was shot and injured leaving a music venue. After years of pleading at the statehouse with no response, she decided to run for office.

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

“Knowing you’re personally impacted, they feel that you’re more credible to talk about this. They know it’s not a political thing for us,” she added.

‘It’s Our Turn’ to Lead

These shared stories of loss connect individuals across the nation, forming what victims and survivors describe as a “group 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 healing,” Pearson said of his fellow advocates. “The world is full of entrenched problems. We’ve given people decades to solve them. And now, with our constituents’ support, it’s our turn.”

He believes that addressing this crisis also requires focusing on bipartisan issues like mental health access and housing security, which might find more traction even in Republican-led legislatures. This broader view shows that being committed to ending firearms tragedies isn’t just about restrictions, but also about addressing the root causes.

“We’re not single-issue candidates,” he said. “We understand the connected nature of the harms. It’s not just shootings. It’s poverty, 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 says a lack of movement at the federal level on policies like extreme risk protection orders and cooling-off periods has real consequences.

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