David Hogg Before Santa Fe Shooting: ‘There’s Somebody That Will Not Be Alive Tomorrow’

David Hogg, a student activist and school shooting survivor from Parkland, Fla., had a prescient message about the devastating effects of gun violence. During a conversation with other student activists at the Education Writers Association National Seminar, he said, “Right now what keeps me up at night is thinking that there is somebody alive right now that will not be alive at this time tomorrow, and has never even thought about gun violence. But everybody around them will have to for the rest of their lives, because they don’t even know that person is gonna die.” The next morning, a Texas student shot and killed 8 of his peers and 2 teachers. It was the 13th school shooting of 2018 with firearm-related injuries or deaths. Hogg became a national figure in debates about guns and school safety following the February shooting at his Florida high school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, that left 17 dead. On the panel, Hogg was joined by Emma González, also of Parkland, Fla., Alex King of Chicago, and Jackson Mittleman of Newtown, Conn., who discussed their roles in forging a forceful movement to stem gun violence.