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In December the Madison community was rocked by a mass shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School. It was just one of 330 school shooting incidents in 2024, as documented by the K-12 School Shooting Database. On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow is joined by two gun violence advocates–Tyler Kelly and Darrell Lofton– to talk about their work to change the narrative about school safety and power. 

Kelly and Lofton work for WAVE Educational Fund, and they’re planning a Day of Action on May 20, and urging folks to speak directly with their representatives about this issue. They encourage everyone to participate in person, but Lofton says folks can email him with their testimonies if they are unable to attend.

Kelly, who is part of the generation of kids who practice active shooter drills at school, says he wants to change how we talk about school safety and students feeling safe at school. Part of the problem is how schools have designed prevention work. Lofton says that not only are active shooter trainings not effective, they’re actually stressing kids out. He says we need to work on empowering young people and teach them that they have political power. 

Tyler Kelly is a Policy and Engagement Associate at the WAVE Educational Fund. After the Parkland high school shooting, Tyler joined the gun violence prevention movement, leading Milwaukee’s chapter of March For Our Lives, and WAVE Educational Fund’s 2020 get out the vote initiatives. 

Darrell Lofton is the youth coordinator for WAVE. He told WORT after the Abundant Life Christian School shooting, that “It is up to us grown folks to stand up for our kids.”

Featured image of a stop gun violence poster via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

The post A Hopeful Conversation to End Gun Violence appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.