Despite the intensity of election issues, gun violence remains a big problem, advocates say

(WASHINGTON) — From the June 28 debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, at least 134 people were killed in 148 mass shootings across the country. United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

But for those nearly three months and since, some advocates say gun violence prevention has been overshadowed by a host of pressing campaign issues: the state of the economy, abortion rights, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, two assassination attempts on Trump and the changing political landscape as Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee.

“Gun violence remains one of the most important problems facing our country. We still have an epidemic going on,” said Nicole Hockley, CEO of Sandy Hook Promise — the gun violence prevention group she founded after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 children, including herself. His son and six adult staff members died.

In an interview with ABC News this week, Hockley cited a report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions that said gun violence was the leading cause of death among youth under 19 in the United States for three years.

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

According to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, 61% of Americans say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun in this country, and 58% believe U.S. gun control laws should be stricter.

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

He added: “Perhaps there is an assumption, rightly or wrongly, that everyone already knows what each candidate’s view is and what they would do in terms of gun violence prevention, but the candidates may not be as clear about gun violence prevention on the economy.”

Debates about gun violence
Some advocates said gun violence prevention was discussed less than other controversial issues during the three national debates in the presidential campaign.

During the September 10 debate between Harris and Trump, hosted by ABC News, Trump was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, killing a campaign rally attendee and wounding two others. came up. – “He wants to confiscate your weapons,” he claimed.

The accusation prompted Harris, who oversees the White House’s first Office to Prevent Gun Violence, to respond: “Tim Walz and I, we both own guns. We don’t take anyone’s gun. So stop lying all the time about these things.”

Former California Attorney General Harris also said: “At this point, I am the only person prosecuting international criminal organizations for arms, drug and human trafficking.”

Ten days after the debate with Trump, Harris reiterated that she owned a gun in a televised sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey, adding: “If someone walks into my house, they’ll get shot.”

The most extensive conversation about guns during the debates occurred during the vice presidential debate, when Walz touted his record on combating gun violence in Minnesota and said his administration had banned assault weapons and improved red flag gun laws to keep guns out of hands. people who are ready to harm themselves or others.

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

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,” Doug Hamlin, executive vice president and CEO of the NRA, said in a statement in July. “President Trump and Senator Vance have the courage and courage to stand firmly 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 on this.”

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

‘Lockdown generation’

Despite the numerous issues this campaign cycle, gun violence prevention still resonates with voters across the country, said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures.

“First of all, I travel all over this country and meet our volunteers, our partners, and the candidates who are running up and down the ballot, and there are a lot of people who are not running away from this issue, they’re running on this and actually winning,” Ferrell-Zabala told ABC News. “This is a priority for many people.”

He said in his experience, young people who grew up during a time of school lockdowns and active shooter drills are particularly energized about gun violence prevention and plan to vote their conscience.

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

According to the Pew Research Center’s 2023 survey, 88 percent of respondents supported preventing mentally ill people from purchasing guns, while 79 percent wanted to raise the minimum gun purchasing age to 21.

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

“These are used as political issues, but they are not. Polls show over and over again that the majority of people are in favor of common-sense gun laws because they know they will save lives in this country,” Ferrell-Zabala said. “And what you see is that guns are everywhere for everyone, a product of the gun industry and extremist politicians trying to promote gun culture everywhere. Frankly, this is unacceptable.”

Hockley said most of the children who survived the Sandy Hook massacre, in which his 6-year-old son Dylan died, are now 18 and will vote in their first presidential election.

“I believe they will vote heavily to stop this epidemic,” Hockley told ABC News. “I’m sure they’ll have other concerns; women’s rights, human rights. Preventing gun violence is also a human right; It is the right to live your full potential. “These students have seen the worst our country has to offer when it comes to school violence, and I very much believe and hope that they will vote this as one of their main issues.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.