Since 2018, there have been 119 school shootings, with 27 of them happening just this year. Despite those tragedies, gun control legislation has largely stalled in Congress.
But one organization detouring from politics in their quest to change the conversation around gun culture is Project Unloaded. Its members aren’t trying to change laws, flip Congress, or even involve adults in their efforts. Instead, the group is targeting teens and young adults to create a new culture narrative that guns make them less safe.
Afterall, the leading cause of death among children and youths, is guns.
“The polarized nature of this debate is really kind of turning off a lot of young people. They don’t want to be forced to pick a side. We’re not asking them to pick a side. We’re asking them to get the facts and to make a decision that’s in the best interests of their health and safety,” said founder and executive director of Project Unloaded, Nina Vinik.
Vinik said her organization is meeting young people where they’re spending the most time: online. Using their pilot campaign, SNUG (Safer Not Using Guns), the goal of the campaign is to educate and promote conversations around gun safety through influencer and social posts, billboards, discussion boards and more.
Having spent two decades working in gun violence prevention, Vinik believes that the best way to create bold advancement towards substantive reform is changing the cultural perception around guns, especially in light of this week’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers dead.
“Time and time again the politics seem to get in the way of the merits on common sense proposals that would address gun violence. So, even if we somehow are able to somehow find 60 votes in the Senate, for the most modest of proposals that’s not going to solve the problem,” said Vinik. “We need to keep pushing for policy change, but we also have to admit that over time, those efforts have not been successful.”
Sari Kaufman, who was a high school student in Parkland, Florida in 2018, when an expelled student entered the school and opened fire, said she believes her generation’s perception around guns has the power to change.
“I think when more and more students are going to school and they’re scared for their lives if they hear a noise, because they think it’s a shooter walking in and they’re going to be next … that that reinforces the power of these guns,” said Kaufman, who is now a student a Yale University and leads the school’s Students Demand Action chapter, which focuses on gun violence prevention.
While she’s hopeful about her generation’s perception changing, Kaufman also said gun control legislation is critical.
“If more guns made people safer, this would be the safest country on earth but that is not our reality,” she said. “What young people know would make this country safer is ensuring that gun sales go through a background check — and that starts with common-sense federal background check legislation. Young people aren’t interested in taking anyone’s guns away. We just want to keep guns out of the wrong hands, and encourage those who own guns to be smart, safe and responsible.”
Vinik noted that in the last two decades there’s been a fundamental shift in the way Americans understand guns and the role they play in their lives. The reasoning behind owning a gun has also drastically changed.
More people than ever before, for example, believe, having a gun in their home makes them safer, noted Vinik. According to Gallup, in 2014, the majority of Americans – 63 percent – believed a gun made them safer, up from 35 percent in 2000. For those under 30 the shift of perception has been the steepest; 27 percent in 2000 and 70 percent in 2014. In 2019, 76 percent of young people between the ages of 13 and 27 believed a gun in the home makes it more safe.
A key part of how Project Unloaded is combating those stats is by creating a conversation online around gun safety through a nonpartisan lens, engaging young people before they’re able to vote or declare a party affiliation. Their pilot initiative, which rolled out in Houston and southeastern Wisconsin, for example, relied on billboards and conversations on social media. Influencers shared information on why they chose to “be safer by not using guns,” and there were ads on platforms like Snapchat and TikTock.
Mark Barden, co-founder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund has been working over a decade protecting American children from gun violence after tragically losing his 7-year-old son Daniel in the Sandy Hook school shooting.
“Young people are really the stakeholders, because they are advocating for their own the future,” said Barden. “We saw that after the shooting tragedy in Parkland High School in Parkland, Florida. Those students really motivated and activated to advocate for their own their own safety their own futures. And they made a difference…Youth across the country really connected with that movement and continue to do so, and then we saw the difference in a midterm elections in 2018 and 2020. These new voters were having an impact, and I think that’s a signal to all of us.”
Vinik said it’s about educating those young stakeholders about guns and how they don’t make people safer. Then those people will carry that messaging for generations to come. “We found that after young people were exposed to this message that we’re safer not using guns, they increase their awareness of the risks around gun ownership, they became more confident in sharing this information with others and they decreased their interest in owning a gun in the future.”
Daniela Pierre-Bravo
Daniela Pierre-Bravo is a journalist and author and founder of Acceso Community. She is a co-author of “Earn It” with Mika Brzezinski. Her solo book, “’The Other: How to Own Your Power at Work as a Woman of Color,” is out now. Follow her on X and Instagram @dpierrebravo.