We Asked Young Conservatives, “How Would You Stop Gun Violence?” Their Answers Were…Something Else.

“We support self-defense.”

Cade Plotts, center, of Ohio University, listens to President Trump address the Conservative Political Action Conference via video at the Gaylord National Resort.Tom Williams/Congressional Quarterly/Newscom via ZUMA

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On Wednesday, the message from students around America rang loud and clear: Lawmakers must address gun control. Students from Parkland rallied at Florida’s capitol to protest state legislators’ failure to take up a bill that would ban assault rifles. High schoolers across the country stood with them, staging walkouts and marches to demand action on gun violence. And at the end of the day, in a town hall event produced by CNN, parents and peers of slain students from Stoneman Douglas High School challenged Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) to reject financial support from the National Rifle Association and panned the GOP’s response to the violence that had devastated their community.

I spent Wednesday afternoon with DC-area students who walked out of local high schools in solidarity with the Stoneman Douglas students; they marched from Capitol Hill to the White House to implore lawmakers to address mass shootings in schools. They reminded politicians that while they may be young, many of them will soon be eligible to vote—and this issue will drive their choices at the polls.

The next day, I heard a very different message from young conservatives who had gathered in National Harbor, Maryland, for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, an event sponsored by the National Rifle Association. In light of the Florida shooting and the words I’d heard from high schoolers the previous day, I asked some of the college students in attendance what they thought should be done to address gun violence in America. In short: They still aren’t fans of gun control.

Watch what they said below:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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