As students head back to school, safety is top of mind. After yet another Chicago summer marred by gun violence, students, their families and school staff are all bracing for what’s to come.
It can sometimes feel like our hands are tied in Illinois, where we already have some of the strongest state and local gun laws in the country. While our state is safer overall because of those laws, in Chicago, we bear the casualties of a constant flow of guns from states with more lax laws — a reminder that our safety is in part dependent on our neighboring states and leaders in Washington.
But our safety is also dependent on each other. Community-based organizations like Chicago CRED, Institute for Nonviolence Chicago, READI Chicago and other violence intervention programs know this well: These programs are successful because they build trusting relationships in communities disproportionately affected by violence and leverage those connections to spread the message to put the guns down.
Sharing facts about gun risks from a trusted messenger is a proven model for saving lives. And many lives need to be saved — gun violence is, after all, the leading cause of death in America for children and teens. So what if we could wield the power of social media, where teens spend many hours of their day, on average, to scale some of the most effective work in gun violence prevention to reach millions of young people before they pick up guns?
Since 2019, a quarter of new gun owners have been between the ages of 18 and 29. Young people, like most Americans, believe that having a gun will make them safer. But it won’t. The presence of a gun makes violence more likely — the risk of homicides, suicides and other shootings are all greater in homes with guns, and in communities where guns are easily available.
Teens are on track to become the largest generation of consumers in the next few years, making them incredibly valuable to the gun industry. Manufacturers are pouring tremendous resources into campaigns to use the fears and insecurities of young people to convince them to buy guns for protection. But there’s hope. Most young people say they’re interested in learning more about gun risks. And when presented with the facts in a clear, non-polarizing way, their minds can shift.
Earlier this year, I founded a new gun safety group aimed at empowering teens to make informed decisions on guns via cultural campaigns, called Project Unloaded
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. Early indications are that the approach is working. In the pilot of our first campaign, SNUG, 15% of teens who saw the campaign shifted their views against gun ownership.This fall, we’ll reach millions more teens with the SNUG message, that we’re Safer Not Using Guns, through Snapchat ads and TikTok posts from influencers. By presenting teens with the facts on using guns, absent any politics or fear tactics, we can empower them to make the decision not to use guns on their own terms.
Teens, like everyone, want to be safe. By talking about gun risks without engaging in a polarized debate, we can connect with young people in a positive way that doesn’t prompt teens disinterested in politics to skip out of the conversation.
Of course, gun violence can’t be solved by culture change alone. We will not fully stop the killings without addressing how structural racism perpetuates this crisis. But culture change campaigns can make a difference.
When Truth Initiative began its work to change youth attitudes about cigarettes in the early 2000s, 23% of teens smoked cigarettes. Today, less than 5% of teens smoke cigarettes. Truth Initiative helped drive this shift with culturally relevant campaigns created just for teens, often tied to popular culture, and always grounded by data.
Truth Initiative didn’t try to tell teens what to do. It reached teens in the places where they spent their time like malls, movie theaters and concerts. In those everyday venues, the campaign offered up facts on smoking risks in a straightforward way, and it inspired a generational shift. We can take a similar approach with guns today using social media platforms to reach young people at scale.
Our goal is, admittedly, a bold one. Luckily, we’re working to reach a demographic that has no trouble being bold. Young people have always been the vanguards of culture change, from the civil rights movement in the 1960s to mental health awareness today. If they opt out of using guns, the gun industry will worry — but our streets, homes and schools will all be safer for it.
Nina Vinik is the founder and executive director of Project Unloaded.
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