Gun violence is still a major problem despite the plethora of election issues, advocates say

From the June 28 debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to the October 1 vice presidential debate between Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance, at least 134 people were killed in 148 mass shootings in the United States. according to the Gun violence archive.

But for those roughly three months and beyond, the issue of gun violence prevention has been overshadowed by a wave of hot-button actions, according to some advocates. campaign Topics: The state of the economy, abortion rights, wars raging in the Middle East and Ukraine, two assassination attempts on Trump and the changing political landscape as Vice President Kamala Harris succeeded Biden as the Democratic nominee.

“Gun violence continues to be one of the most important issues facing our country. We are still dealing with an ongoing epidemic,” said Nicole Hockley, the CEO of Sandy Hook Promise – a gun violence prevention group she co-founded after the 2012 mass shooting. Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing twenty children, including her son, and six adult staff members.

In an interview this week with ABC News, Hockley quoted a Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions Report That said, gun violence has been the leading cause of death in the United States for adolescents under the age of 19 for three years in a row.

In one ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll Released in August, gun violence ranked eighth among voters, behind the economy, inflation, health care, protecting democracy, crime and safety, immigration and the Supreme Court.

According to a 2023 Pew Research Center Survey61% of Americans say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun in this country, and 58% say U.S. gun control laws should be stricter.

“I appreciate that there are many other big issues and hot topics, like the economy, like abortion, and foreign wars, that are also important to voters,” said Hockley, whose nonpartisan group does not endorse candidates or donate to campaigns .

She added, “Perhaps, rightly or wrongly, it is assumed that everyone already knows what each candidate’s position is and what he or she is likely to do in terms of gun violence prevention, while they may not be so be clear on issues such as policy around the economy.”

Debates about gun violence

During the three national debates of the presidential campaign, the topic of gun violence prevention appears to have received less discussion compared to the other controversial topics, some advocates said.

The September 10 debate between Harris and Trump, hosted by ABC News, featured gun violence as Trump — who was shot in the ear during a July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, that killed one campaigner and two others . injured – claimed: “She wants to confiscate your guns.”

The accusation prompted Harris, who oversees the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, to respond: “Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anyone’s guns away. So stop the constant lying about these things. .”

Harris, California’s former attorney general, also said, “I am the only person on this stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for trafficking in weapons, drugs and people.”

Ten days after the Trump debate, Harris reiterated during a televised sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey that she is a gun owner, adding, “If anyone breaks into my house, they’re going to get shot.”

The most extensive talk about guns during the debates came during the vice presidential debate, when Walz touted Minnesota’s record on combating gun violence and said his administration had passed an assault weapons ban and raised the red flag gun laws had been tightened to keep guns out of people’s hands. of people who are ready to harm themselves or others.

“These are reasonable things we can do to make a difference,” Walz said during the gun violence prevention debate.

Vance and Trump oppose most gun control laws, including an assault weapons ban and national red flag laws proposed by Harris. The National Rifle Association has endorsed the Trump-Vance ticket.

“Now more than ever, freedom and liberty need courageous and virtuous defenders,” said Doug Hamlin, executive vice president and CEO of the NRA, in a statement in July. “President Trump and Senator Vance have the courage and courage to stand firm for the Second Amendment.”

During the debate, Vance said of gun violence prevention measures, “Governor Walz and I probably agree that we need to do better in this area.”

Regarding school shootings, Vance said during the debate, “Unfortunately, I think we need to increase security in our schools. We need to close the doors better. We need to make the doors stronger. And of course we need to increase the number of school staff, because the idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys just doesn’t fit with recent experience.”

‘The lockdown generation’

Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures, said that despite the myriad issues this campaign cycle, gun violence prevention continues to resonate with voters across the country.

“First and foremost, I get to travel all over the country and meet our volunteers, partners and candidates who are running up and down the ballot, and there are so many people who are not running from this issue, but running for it and actually winning,” Ferrell shared. Zabala to ABC News. “This is a priority for many people.”

She said her experience shows that young people, who grew up in the era of school closures and active shooter drills, are particularly energetic about the issue of gun violence prevention and plan to vote their conscience.

“This is a big problem. This is a top three for all voters and for young people. This especially affects them because they are the lockdown generation. Many of them are survivors of gun violence themselves,” said Ferrell-Zabala, whose group has endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket.

According to the 2023 Pew Research Center Survey88% of respondents also supported preventing mentally ill people from purchasing guns, and 79% wanted the minimum age for purchasing guns raised to 21.

Ferrell-Zabala said most aspects of gun violence prevention should not be viewed as political, including requiring gun owners to secure their weapons to prevent them from falling into the hands of children or people who want to harm others or themselves to harm.

“They are used as political issues, but that is not the case. Polls show time and time again that the majority of people support common sense gun laws because they know they will save lives in this country,” Ferrell-Zabala said. . “And what you see is a product of a gun industry and extremist politicians who are trying to support this ‘guns everywhere culture’ where guns are available to everyone anytime, anywhere. That is, quite frankly, unacceptable.”

Hockley said that many of the children who survived the Sandy Hook massacre that claimed the life of her 6-year-old son, Dylan, has now turned 18 and will vote in their first presidential election.

“I believe they will vote very hard to stop this epidemic,” Hockley told ABC News. ‘I’m sure they will have other concerns too, women’s rights, human rights. Preventing gun violence is also a human right, the right to realize your full potential. These students have seen the worst of what our country has to offer. in terms of school violence and I strongly believe and hope that they will consider this as one of their most important issues.”