Social movements rise and fall on the backs of their leaders. For USC students taking part in the ongoing gun control movement, that might be grounds for pessimism.
There is evidence to suggest the current student-led gun control movement will not lead to significant policy change or the election of more anti-gun politicians because its leaders demonize the opposition and lack clear direction.
David Hogg, one of the #NeverAgain movement’s most vocal leaders, has repeatedly attacked the National Rifle Association and politicians who don’t adhere to his agenda. He’s referred to the NRA and the politicians it supports as “child murderers,” called NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch “disgusting” while accusing her of not caring about children’s lives, charged Senator Marco Rubio with trading campaign donations for students’ lives and claimed Florida Gov. Rick Scott “does not give a f-ck about [the Parkland] kids’ lives.”
This rhetoric is self-destructive. Since Hogg began his verbal assaults, Google searches for “NRA membership” have skyrocketed by 4,900 percent and donations to the NRA have tripled. TIME Magazine also reported large membership increases in the National Association for Gun Rights and other pro-Second Amendment groups.
At USC and college campuses nationwide, many students feel the need to hop on the political bandwagon and to participate in the recent wave of demands for gun control; and yet, like Hogg, they seem to lack focus. It’s easy to play the blame game, but it’s hard to turn that anger into action. If anything, the small turnout at the recent March for Our Lives event hosted by University student groups seemed to expose students’ apathy.
On the national scale, the vitriolic approach of liberal activists has had the unintended effect of galvanizing the other side. The general trend of accusing the
