LAS VEGAS — Gun-control activist David Hogg thinks age has a lot to do with how some Democratic presidential candidates approach the issue of gun control.
“I certainly think there’s a generational divide,” Hogg told the Washington Examiner Wednesday morning when asked at the 2020 Gun Safety Forum to contrast Joe Biden’s, 76, gun control plan with some of the more aggressive proposals pushed by South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 37, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, 50, and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, 47.
“There’s this generation that had to go through air raid drills out of fear of a nuclear attack,” Hogg said. “And right now, we have kids going through active shooter drills in our schools and there’s a certain gap in that generation who don’t realize the reality of what’s going on. And what I think what we need to do to solve this issue is bridge that gap and get the generation that went through those air raid drills working together.”
Hogg, 19, became a leading voice in the gun control movement after the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, where he was then a senior. Since that massacre, which left 17 dead and another 17 wounded, Hogg has traveled around the country calling for restrictions — and in some cases, outright bans — on firearm access.
The gun-control activist also told the Washington Examiner that his organization, March for Our Lives, will endorse a Democratic candidate at some point in the primary cycle.
Before he spoke at the event, Biden released a gun control plan of his own. While both O’Rourke and Booker have called for mandatory gun “buybacks,” Biden’s plan would make them optional. Buttigieg has also called for a national gun license, while Biden’s plan does not address that as a potential solution to end gun violence.
Virtually every candidate running for president on the Democratic side has endorsed a ban on assault-style weapons, as well as limitations on magazine sizes.
