Gun control advocacy group gives political candidates a boost in races with special program
As gun violence continues to be a major flash point around the country, one of the nation's largest gun control advocacy groups has been pushing a program to get people who have been affected by a shooting to get involved with politics.
Everytown for Gun Safety started its Demand a Seat program in 2021 to train and assist grassroots volunteers and gun violence survivors running for office or interested in running campaigns.
The program is funded with over $1.5 million in investments and has had volunteers in every state, according to Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action, an Everytown division.
"It doesn't matter if it's Democratic or Republican gun owners. I talked to so many people and they're just tired of this," Ferrell-Zabala told ABC News.
The program hosts several training sessions for volunteers and potential candidates on several topics including recruiting volunteers, communicating with voters, and discussing gun violence during their campaign.
At a Demand a Seat event, Colorado State Sen. Tom Sullivan spoke with candidates and volunteers about the importance of bringing their activism to the bigger political stage.
Sullivan said he knows too well the horrors of gun violence as his son Alex was murdered in the 2012 mass shooting in Aurora after the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a movie theater. He began joining groups and events calling for more gun control and was elected first to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2020 and later to the Senate.
"We need their voices not to just talk about what's happening to them, but talk about the impact to their friends," Sullivan said.
"I think that any type of long term political change has to start at the local level," said Andres Cubillos, a participant in the Demand a Seat program who volunteers at Florida State University's chapter of Students Demand Action.
"A lot of our legislators, they're not part of the school shooting generation. They don't know what it's like to do an active school shooting drill. They don't know what it's like to see their classmates murdered," he added. "It's important for us to be a part of that process, to demand that seat."
Ferrell-Zabala said last year, 158 out of 275 Demand a Seat candidates won their races for office, and the non-profit is looking to have similar successes this year.
Some candidates who are part of Everytown's program said they too want to do more through local politics
Shantell Rock, who ran for a seat on the Woodbridge, Virginia, school board, told ABC News Live that she and her family have been affected by gun violence directly.
Rock lost the election on Tuesday with 21.91% of the vote, according to election results.
Rock said she is a domestic abuse survivor and there was a recent drive-by shooting at her foster children's high school.
"It's just every day, it's becoming a normal thing for this to happen in our school system. So that's why I decided to run," she said.
Rock noted that she is also a military veteran and doesn't have a problem with individuals owning firearms.
"My problem is these kids can get a hold of it," she said.
Demand a Seat participant Rozia Henson Jr., a Democrat who won Tuesday in a race for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, told ABC News Live that gun control has always been a major issue in his political career.
He said he is inspired by the youth volunteer efforts and said that more voices in office that call for gun control will lead to less violence.
"They're going to look at me…and say, 'Hey, what difference did you make while you're in these offices?' And we have to have that response," Henson said.
Ferrell-Zabala said that Everytown is ready to help more people who are passionate about gun control solutions into office and are open to others signing up for any help they can provide.
"We're really excited about the success of the program, really demonstrating that people want to take into their own hands and really solve this problem," she told ABC News Live.
