Everytown for Gun Safety opens first Philadelphia field office
Volunteers with grassroots gun violence prevention groups Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action kicked off the opening of a Philadelphia field office on Saturday. The Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund field office will be one of three in the country where volunteers can gather in a get-out-the-vote effort for the upcoming November General Election.
Addressing the crowd, a Moms Demand Action volunteer said, "I live here in Philly, I love Philly and I want to end gun violence."
She was joined by other volunteers who will fan out across the city to educate voters on public safety measures related to gun violence.
Yoonie Yang, a University of Pennsylvania Students Demand Action campus elections organizer, spoke to the importance of a physical office in the city.
"Having this field office right in Center City really shows us as students that this issue is not just a generation issue, it's not a campus issue," Yang said. "It's very much a citywide, statewide, nationwide issue and also in Philadelphia, there are so many instances of gun violence that never make the news."
"Having one of the three field offices nationally located in Philadelphia reinforces that this is an issue that matters to us and to the communities that are right here," she said.
Yang, who regularly pamphlets on her campus, said gun violence is top of mind for college-aged voters.
"As a generation that has lived with gun violence, there's truly not a time when we weren't talking about Sandy Hook, where we weren't talking about Parkland, where we weren't talking about El Paso Texas and so we are so well positioned to be impacted by these issues not only in the short term, but long-term," she said.