But there’s a lot of work left to do.
When a movement scores its first big win, there are two options: call it a day or keep fighting. And on issues like gun violence and climate change — equally as complex as they are consequential— we must keep fighting.
The last time the Senate passed a major gun safety bill was 1994, and the show Friends had just premiered, the first PlayStation had just been released, and Michael Jordan was playing baseball. The last time the Senate passed major climate change legislation? Never. That’s because for decades the gun lobby and fossil fuel industry had federal policy in a chokehold, successfully blocking every effort to shift power from corporations back to the people.
And then in one summer, that changed. Congress passed the most comprehensive gun safety legislation in thirty years and made the largest single investment in tackling the climate crisis in history.
When 19 kids and two teachers were shot and killed at Robb Elementary School on May 24th, expectations for change were low. Because if what’s past is prologue, calls for action would once again go unanswered. But this time Congress did something. It passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a bill that strengthens our gun laws, invests in mental health, and makes communities and schools safer.
Six weeks later, in the midst of a record-breaking global heat wave, the Senate passed another historic bill: the Inflation Reduction Act — a $369 million investment in our future that will supercharge the clean energy economy, support communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and put us on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030. This bill gives us a fighting chance to slow the effects of climate change before it’s too late.
Power in Washington doesn’t shift easily, and these two issues coming unstuck at the same time is not a coincidence.
Young people are almost always at the forefront of the social change movements you read about in history textbooks, and the anti-gun violence and climate movements are prime examples. Young people in America are sick of living in a country where school lockdown drills are the norm, and more than 110 people die by gun violence every day. And they’re sick of watching those in power do nothing while the climate crisis claims more and more lives, and an unlivable future grows more and more likely for everyone.
But like generations of activists before them, young people are turning their anger into action. One of us arrived in Washington as the youngest of 100 Senators and is now the parent of two young kids; one of us is a member of a Platinum-certified rock band with scores of young fans. So we know firsthand what young people are capable of accomplishing.
In the past few years, young people led hundreds of marches across the country, held rallies, and called their representatives. They partnered with bands like AJR to meet people where they are and register them to vote. They built power, brought more people into the fight, and turned out to vote in 2020 at the highest rate ever. Young people sent Democrats to the House, Senate, and White House with a mandate to deliver on a better future, and these victories are in large part thanks to the momentum they helped build.
The legislation Congress passed this summer dealt a seismic blow to the status quo and are testaments to the strength of these movements. But we’ll be the first to admit, there’s a lot of work left to do: banning assault weapons, a price on carbon, widespread environmental justice initiatives, and so much more.
Big, complicated problems like the epidemic of gun violence and the existential threat of climate change tend to breed pessimism and hopelessness. That’s exactly what the cynical corporate interest groups are still betting on.
There would be no gun safety or climate legislation without the tireless efforts of survivors and advocates who — despite countless setbacks — never gave up. It was resilience that got us to today. That same fire and refusal to accept anything less than the future our kids and grandkids deserve is what gets us to tomorrow.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act are important first steps, but they can’t be our last. With young people leading us in this fight, we know we’re just getting started.
Chris Murphy is the junior Democratic senator for Connecticut and author of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, landmark gun safety and mental health legislation.
Adam Met is the bassist of the multi-Platinum band AJR, a Human Rights and Sustainable Development PhD, and Executive Director of Planet Reimagined.
