OUR MISSION

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​Our mission is to revolutionize gun culture
by empowering and uplifting youth
disproportionately impacted by its consequences. 

revolutionize

/ˌrev·əˈlo͛o·shə·nīz/  ·  verb

To revolutionize means to completely and fundamentally change the way something is done, thought about, or structured, causing a sweeping or radical shift from the status quo.

Similar transform, overhaul, reinvent, reshape, shake up

Definition from Vocabulary.com

We approach gun violence as both a public health crisis and a structural issue that shapes, and is shaped by, the conditions in which young people live, learn, and grow. Our work acknowledges that safety, stability, and opportunity are crucial to achieving long-term well-being.

An explainer

What is gun culture?
And why are we trying to change it?

In America, gun culture doesn't just mean owning a firearm. It's a mindset. One that glorifies guns as symbols of power, status, and protection.

It's pushed in our politics, praised in our music, and present in our neighborhoods, often leaving Black and Brown youth to face the harshest consequences. This culture has made guns look like the answer, while ignoring how often they're the cause.

It has led to a deadly cycle:

young people criminalized for surviving,

desensitized to gun deaths,

growing up in communities where violence is normalized.

Not by choice.
By design.

When we say we are revolutionizing gun culture, we mean we are reclaiming the narrative. We are challenging the systems, messages, and myths that have made gun violence seem inevitable, and building a future where safety doesn't come at the barrel of a gun.

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The Problem

Gun violence in America is not a random tragedy. It is a predictable consequence of America's current gun culture and the systems that have long failed Black and Brown communities — underfunded schools, over-policed neighborhoods, a lack of mental health resources, and decades of economic divestment. The conditions that make gun violence possible are built. And what is built can be changed.

4,450+ children & teens killed by guns in America in 2023 alone

4 consecutive years firearms have been the leading cause of death for ages 0–19

22,000 youth shot, killed, or wounded every single year

Black and Brown children bear the heaviest burden of this crisis. In every city, in every state, the weight of America's gun violence epidemic falls hardest on the communities already failed by the systems meant to protect them.

Youth Over Guns exists because that is not acceptable. And because the young people living closest to this crisis are the ones most capable of ending it.

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What We Believe

Gun violence is preventable.

It is not an inevitability or a fact of life. It is the outcome of policy choices, and it can be changed through policy choices.

Policing won’t solve this epidemic.

Carceral responses to gun violence have consistently failed the communities most harmed by it, criminalizing young people rather than investing in their safety, healing, and futures.

Young people are not the problem.

They are the most powerful force for solving it. When young people are equipped with tools, trust, and community, they become agents of change — not just for their own futures, but for the health and safety of everyone.

Survivors deserve to lead.

The people closest to the harm are closest to the solution. Youth Over Guns centers young survivors not as recipients of services but as organizers, advocates, and decision-makers.

Healing and organizing are not separate.

You cannot ask young people to fight for their lives without also creating space for them to process the harm they have survived. Both are necessary. Both are our work.

Race is central, not contextual.

Gun violence falls hardest on Black and Brown communities because of deliberate policy choices, not coincidence. Any solution that does not name and address that reality will fail the people who need it most.