I have mixed emotions every year when we announce our annual National High School Essay Contest in January and again when we announce the winners in June. On the negative side, it’s shameful that there’s a need for high school students to think and write about our country’s ongoing epidemic of gun violence. Those of us in older generations should have stopped this epidemic long ago. On the positive side, though, I’m glad that we’re [...]

A Message from the President of Americans Against Gun Violence Every year when we announce the opening of our annual Americans Against Gun Violence National High School Essay Contest, I’m pleased on the one hand, and deeply troubled on the other. And this year, I’m more troubled than ever. I’m pleased because I believe that our essay contest, which we’ve hosted annually since 2018, is an important way of stimulating and rewarding critical thinking on [...]

Sharing the Blame for the Apalachee High School Mass Shooting A Message from the President of Americans Against Gun Violence On September 4, 2024, a 14 year-old student at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, brought an AR-15 style rifle to school and killed two fellow 14 year-old students and two teachers and wounded nine other students and staff.[1] The student, Colt Gray, was known to have serious mental health problems. His mother, with whom [...]

A Message from the President of Americans Against Gun Violence   We may never know what prompted a baby-faced 20-year-old young man, Thomas Matthew Crooks, to borrow his father’s AR-15 style rifle and attempt to assassinate Donald Trump at an open air political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service agent after firing multiple shots, one of which grazed Trump’s right ear. One bystander was killed [...]

A Message from the President of Americans Against Gun Violence On June 21, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision that Zackey Rahimi didn’t have a constitutional right to own a gun. Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter. It shouldn’t have taken the Court 356 days from the date that it agreed to hear this case and 227 days from the date that it heard oral arguments to reach this decision. Here are [...]