The video, produced by former Congresswoman and gun violence survivor Gabby Giffords and her namesake organization, is titled “Our Kids Deserve to be Safe at School.” It features the candidates calling for stricter gun laws to protect children.
The video is one of a series of six produced by Giffords’ Courage to Fight Gun Violence organization and will be shown in the Houston area ahead of the Thursday debate. It features Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders, alongside former Representative Beto O’Rourke, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former Vice President Joe Biden. A representative for the organization said all candidates were invited to join.
The presidential candidates are seated alone against a gray-slate background and appear to finish each other’s statements giving the impression that they are all on the same page.
“Gun violence is literally life and death,” says Warren to open the video.
O’Rourke follows her, saying, “It has become so numbingly common.”
Buttigieg adds that, “We have kids going to school wondering if they’re going to be physically safe.”
The video, which is 83 seconds long, has each candidate speak a line until Warren ends the video. “This will be a moment of determination,” she says. “Determination to change.”
According to Giffords’ organization, a student’s chance of dying in a school shooting is at its highest level in at least 25 years. During the 2017–2018 school year, 4.1 million students endured at least one lockdown.
“Our Gun Safety President campaign frames a critical and historic choice for our nation. We can continue with the corrupt leadership of Donald Trump, who has taken millions from the NRA while opposing gun safety policies—or we can forge a new path and elect a gun safety president who’s willing to stand up to the gun lobby and protect our kids and communities from gun violence,” Giffords wrote in an emailed statement about the ad campaign.
“This campaign will give Americans a closer look at just how committed the candidates running against Trump are in the fight to save lives.”
