“How Many More?” Giffords Launches Documentary Exploring Stories of Three Students from Chicago to Parkland and How Gun Violence Has Changed Their Lives

 Powerful stories make clear this is an experience shared by too many American children, and that they want to see elected leaders take action to keep them safe  

May 25, 2018 — Today,  Giffords , the gun violence prevention co-founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Captain Mark Kelly, launched a documentary titled   “How Many More?”   that explores the stories of three kids from Parkland and Chicago and how gun violence has impacted their lives. Their experiences make plain the toll that living through a shooting takes – particularly on America’s children and their determination to do something to stop it from happening to others like them.

In   “How Many More?”   Ke’Shon Newman describes losing his brother to a shooting in Chicago while Olivia Wesch and Kayla Schaefer detail what it is was like to be at Parkland as a mass shooting took place. So far in 2018, more students have died in American schools than service members in the military who are deployed. Along with the documentary, Giffords also revealed a new online resource page that includes a link to register to vote along with other sections that describe how the gun violence crisis has impacted America’s children and what we can do about it.

To learn more, visit VoteThemOut.com. 

Statement from former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, co-founder of Giffords:

“Ke’Shon, Olivia, and Kayla’s stories make clear that we have failed our children. But I’m here to say that we hear them, we see them, and I’m calling on the nation to join me in standing with them. Like too many others of their generation, these students wrestle daily with the experience of living through a shooting or losing a loved one. Along with thinking of college, after-school activities, and family, they will also have to think about chairs at tables that will always be empty. Faces they will never see in the hallways again, and siblings who never return from the bus stop.

“We live in a country where kids now expect the gun violence crisis to touch them before they graduate. This is not normal. But we also live in a country that has done great things, that has shown courage when it counts. America’s young people have shown great courage this year in speaking out, stepping up, and demanding that politicians fulfill a broken promise to keep them safe.

“We will march with them until November and join them in voting out anyone who accepts gun violence as unavoidable and bring in leaders who are ready to act and make our country a place free from the fear of gunshots.”

Recently released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detail that in 2016 alone, more than 155,000 people were shot—almost 39,000 fatally. That’s 34,000 more gun violence victims than in 2015, and 40,000 more than in 2014. In fact, this new data shows that America’s gun death and injury rates rose for the second straight year in a row, after having remained relatively flat for more than a decade.

Giffords Law Center recently released a report titled,   Protecting the Parkland Generation: Strategies to Keep America’s Kids Safe from Gun Violence  ,  showing that gun violence doesn’t just hurt kids in the classroom, it hurts them everywhere.

Among the findings:

• 91 percent of children in high-income countries who are killed with firearms live in the United States.
• US children and teens are 17 times more likely to die from gun violence than their peers in other high-income countries.
• Guns are now the third-leading cause of death for all Americans under age 18.
• Nearly 60 percent of all high school students report fears of a shooting at their school or in their community.
• Among 14–17 year-olds, 17 percent have been exposed to gun violence.
• Nearly 40 percent of children exposed to a shooting will develop PTSD.

Background on Giffords’ Political Program

The initial step to this growing list of races began in the hours after the Parkland shooting, when Giffords used  #VoteCourage to get people to pledge to support candidates in November who will stand up to the gun lobby and fight for safer communities. In less than a week more than 450,000 Americans took the  pledge .

Following the #VoteCourage pledge, Giffords began this ongoing, robust political program to shine a light on incumbents’ record of prioritizing the interests of the gun industry over public safety. It is encouraging voters to support candidates with the courage to stand up to the gun lobby. Along with the digital advertisements going out today and the website database the program will include TV advertising, on-the-ground organizing and events, and a voter registration push.

 Giffords launched a partnership with NextGen America and Everytown for Gun safety on a voter registration effort that is committing an initial $1.5 million to seek to get up to 50,000 Americans aged 18-19 registered for the midterm elections. In 2017, Giffords launched its candidate training program to help educate candidates who want to run on a gun safety platform and plans to expand the program in 2018.

The mass shooting at Parkland, in Florida, crystallized the country’s frustration with the lack of any action to pass gun safety laws. Gun death rates have climbed to levels not seen in decades. Currently, the country is averaging nearly 34,000 deaths from guns every year, and  recent pollingshows  that support for stronger gun laws is at an all-time high.

Last November saw  gun safety champions win  commandingly across the country – from statewide races in Virginia and New Jersey to a key state senate seat in Washington state. The elections sparked what has become known as the suburban rebellion in the districts that will matter to who will have control of Congress next year.

In 2016, Giffords flagship program was in the US Senate race in New Hampshire, where it invested $2.6 million in a targeted campaign to defeat incumbent Senator Kelly Ayotte by reminding voters of her vote against universal background checks, making the race a referendum on gun violence prevention.

 Suburban voters overwhelmingly support safer gun laws , making most Republican incumbents in suburban districts out-of-step with their voters on the issue. Two bills to further regulate or ban the sale of bump stocks that were introduced in the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting have a combined 15 Republican co-sponsors, all of whom represent politically vulnerable districts. This is a sign that House Republicans understand that opposing reasonable gun safety measures could be a political liability in 2018.

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