Gun safety group March for Our Lives makes its first endorsement, backs Harris

Gun violence prevention group March for Our Lives endorsed Vice President Harris’s presidential bid Wednesday, marking its first endorsement ever.

“We need an ardent defender of democracy, a gun violence prevention champion, and a leader who will listen to young people, give us a seat at the table, and fight for our future,” the group said in its endorsement. “We believe that Kamala Harris is that candidate, and the right person to stand up for us and fight for the country we deserve.”

March for Our Lives was created following the 2019 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., and previously had a policy that it didn’t endorse candidates.

The group was behind much of the pressure on President Biden to establish an office focused on curbing gun violence, which Biden did in September. Harris oversees the office.

The group touted Harris’s work as a champion for gun safety and said she has met regularly with advocates and survivors of gun violence as vice president.

“Kamala Harris has proven herself to be a thoughtful and forceful leader on gun violence, who has time and again listened to young people and fought for our lives,” said David Hogg, co-founder of March For Our Lives and survivor of the Parkland shooting, in a statement.

The group also noted that Harris hosted the 2020 Presidential Gun Safety Forum before becoming vice president with the gun violence prevention group Giffords to outline a plan to tackle gun safety.

Giffords was founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), a gun violence survivor, and her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), who is considered a top pick for Harris’s running mate in November.

The vice president stepped in as the likely Democratic presidential nominee after Biden announced he would withdraw from the race and endorsed her in his place.