Students Demand Action Organizes Divestment Week of Action Across University Campuses, Demanding Schools Divest from Gun Industry 

Students Held Campus Activations Nationwide Calling on Universities To No Longer Invest in the Gun Industry; Showed up in Las Vegas, Nevada in Protest of SHOT Show, the Gun Industry’s Largest Annual Trade Show 

NEW YORK – Last week, Students Demand Action, a grassroots network of Everytown for Gun Safety, mobilized all over the country and held campus activations to demand their universities divest from the gun industry – an industry that continues to put profits over the lives and safety of students across the nation. Students raised awareness on their campus communities to call out colleges for fueling the gun industry’s financial empire through their investments and asked peers to pledge their support for Students Demand Action’s #KillerBusiness campaign. 

“The consequences of gun manufacturers championing their irresponsible practices will ripple across the country as guns continue to be the number one killer of our generation,” said Drew Spiegel, Divestment Coordinator for the Vanderbilt Students Demand Action chapter and a gun violence survivor. “We will not succeed in the fight to end gun violence if we fail to look at the bigger picture. It’s not just the gun. It’s not just the shooter. It’s the entire firearms industry that has avoided responsibility for their part in creating a nation of gun violence survivors.”

“If gun manufacturers are going to keep putting their profits over our lives, then we’ll come for their paychecks,” said Avi Rubin, a volunteer leader with the Arizona State University Students Demand Action chapter. “Students Demand Action launched our #KillerBusiness campaign because we know the most important thing to these companies is money and we refuse to let our colleges contribute to their cash flow. Colleges have an obligation to invest in our futures, our success — not the gun industry.”

Students Demand Action chapters that held activations on their campuses include, but are not limited to: 

• Arizona State University
• Boston University 
• Hope College 
• University of Alabama 
• University of California, Los Angeles 
• University of California, Davis
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 
• University of Vermont 
• Vanderbilt University

During the Divestment Week of Action, students also made their presence known in Las Vegas, Nevada, to host a press conference in protest of SHOT Show, the gun industry’s largest annual event that’s hosted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and held just two miles from the site of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. In Las Vegas, students made their demands clear: The gun industry must be held accountable for their deadly practices and exacerbating America’s gun violence crisis. 

To speak with a Students Demand Action volunteer or an Everytown expert on the firearms industry and university divestment, please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected].