For activist David Hogg, ending gun violence is very personal.
Hogg was a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018 when 17 students and teachers were killed. It was the second-deadliest shooting at a U.S. public school.
Following the tragedy at his school, Hogg cofounded March for Our Lives, one of the largest youth movements in the U.S. which advocates for the end of gun violence.
“One of the hardest lessons to learn in activism is that you can do everything right and still fail. What I realized in the time since Parkland is what’s broken is not the movement to end gun violence…what’s broken is our government,” Hogg said during a recent Burke Lectureship at UC San Diego.
Hogg also founded Leaders We Deserve, a PAC dedicated to electing young progressives to Congress and state legislatures. He advocates for morally just leadership and increased voter participation.
He says teachers are getting involved in gun violence prevention by running for office.
“We’re about to elect the youngest person in Georgia State history who was a 7th grade algebra teacher. He’s 22 years old. He had a student who watched his father get shot and killed the night before and the student was in class the next day. He decided he had to run.”
Hear more from David Hogg on how to become civically engaged and promote social change for a safer and more equitable future: