From the June 28 debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, at least 134 people have been killed in 148 mass shootings in the United States , according to The Gun Violence Archive.

But during those roughly three months and since, the issue of gun violence prevention, some advocates say, has been overshadowed by a flurry of hot buttons. campaign topics: the state of the economy, abortion rights, the raging wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, two assassination attempts on Trump and the changing political landscape as Vice President Kamala Harris succeeds Biden as the Democratic nominee.

“Gun violence is still one of the most important issues facing our country. We still have an ongoing epidemic,” said Nicole Hockley, CEO of Sandy Hook Promise — a gun violence prevention group she co-founded in the wake of the 2012 mass shooting. Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown , Connecticut, which left 20 children, including her son, and six adult staff members dead.

In an interview this week with ABC News, Hockley cited a Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions Report That said, for three years in a row, gun violence has been the leading cause of death in the United States for teens under 19.

IN A ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll released in August, gun violence ranked eighth in importance among voters, after the economy, inflation, health care, protecting democracy, crime and safety, immigration and the Supreme Court.

According to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey61% of Americans say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun in this country and 58% think US gun control laws should be stricter.

“I appreciate that there are many other big issues and hot topics, like the economy, like abortion, like foreign wars, that are of interest to voters as well,” said Hockley, whose nonpartisan group does not endorse candidates or donate campaigns.

She added: “Maybe there’s an assumption, rightly or wrongly, that everyone already knows what each candidate thinks and what they’re likely to do in terms of preventing gun violence, whereas they might not be as clear about things like policies around the economy.”

Gun violence debates

During the three national debates in the presidential campaign, the topic of gun violence prevention appears to have been less discussed than other contentious topics, some supporters said.

In the Sept. 10 debate between Harris and Trump hosted by ABC News, gun violence came up when Trump — who was shot in the ear during a July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left one participant dead at the rally and two others. wounded — he supposed, “He wants to confiscate your guns.”

The allegation prompted Harris, who oversees the White House’s first Office of Gun Violence Prevention, to respond: “Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We don’t take anyone’s guns. So stop lying about these things continuously. .”

Harris, the former California attorney general, also said: “I am the only person on this stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for arms, drug and human trafficking.”

Ten days after debating Trump, Harris reiterated that he was a gun owner during a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey, adding, “If somebody breaks into my house, they get shot.”

The most extensive conversation about guns during the debates came during the vice presidential debate, when Walz touted his Minnesota record on gun violence, saying his administration passed an assault weapons ban and improved gun laws red flag type to keep weapons out of hands. of people ready to harm themselves or others.

“These are reasonable things we can do to make a difference,” Walz said of gun violence prevention during the debate.

Vance and Trump oppose most gun control laws, including the assault weapons ban and national red flag laws proposed by Harris. The National Rifle Association endorsed the Trump-Vance ticket.

“Now more than ever, freedom and liberty need brave and virtuous defenders,” Doug Hamlin, executive vice president and CEO of the NRA, said in a statement in July. “President Trump and Senator Vance have the guts and courage to stand firm on the Second Amendment.”

During the debate, Vance said of gun violence prevention measures, “Governor Walz and I probably agree that we need to do better on this.”

Addressing school shootings, Vance said at the debate, “Unfortunately, I think we need to increase security in our schools. We need to make the doors lock better. We need to make the doors stronger. We need to make Windows stronger And of course we need to increase the number of school resource officers because the idea that we can wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of the bad guys just doesn’t fit the recent experience.

“The Blockage Generation”

Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures, said that despite the myriad issues in this campaign cycle, gun violence prevention still resonates with voters across the country .

“First of all, I get to travel all over the country and meet with our volunteers, partners and candidates who are running up and down the ballot, and there are so many people who are not running away from this issue, they are dealing with it and even win. Ferrell-Zabala told ABC News. “That’s a priority for a lot of people.”

She said in her experience, young people who grew up in an era of school closures and active shooter drills are especially energized about the issue of gun violence prevention and plan to vote their conscience.

“This is a big issue. This is a top three for all voters and for young people, this hits them especially hard because they are the lockout generation. Many of them are survivors of gun violence themselves,” said Ferrell- Zabala, whose group. endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket.

According to 2023 Pew Research Center survey88% of respondents were also in favor of preventing mentally ill people from buying guns and 79% wanted the minimum age for gun purchases to be raised to 21.

Ferrell-Zabala said most aspects of gun violence prevention should not be considered political, including requiring gun owners to secure their guns to prevent them from falling into the hands of children or people intent on harming others or themselves .

“They’re being used as political issues, but they’re not. The majority of people, polls show time and time again, are in favor of common sense gun laws because they know they’ll save lives in this country,” Ferrell-Zabala said. . “And what you’re seeing is a product of the gun industry and extremist politicians trying to support this gun-everywhere culture where guns are everywhere for anyone at any time. That’s unacceptable, frankly.”

Hockley said that many of the the children who survived the Sandy Hook massacre that took the life of her 6-year-old son, Dylan, has now turned 18 and will be voting in their first presidential election.

“I think they’re going to vote very strongly to stop this epidemic,” Hockley told ABC News. “I’m sure they will have other concerns, women’s rights, human rights. Preventing gun violence is also a human right, the right to live to your full potential. These students have seen the worst of what our country has to offer. in terms of school violence and I very much believe and hope that they will vote that as one of their main issues.”