2025 Year’s End Final Exam
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The Campaign mobilized this year to make our case in the field, to “take the pulse” across a nation experiencing seismic change, and to weigh the best options going forward. It has been a year of internal shift by design for this organization.
In 2025, Campaign co-founder Andy Pelosi migrated from his role as Executive Director to the Board of Directors. Under new leadership, The Campaign made profound investments this year in our capacity to preserve, protect and defend students, faculty and community member from the needless and dangerous arming of American college and university campuses.
Meanwhile, the defunding of federal gun violence prevention programs has greatly accelerated combined with a radical redirection of this nation’s political and social priorities. While it has been an uncertain year in some circles, The Campaign has never been more forthright in our commitment to the hundreds of campus communities facing more frequent occurrences of direct and threatened acts of gun violence every day.
On December 13th, Brown University joined the list of over 50 colleges and universities having suffered varying degrees of gun violence and the collective community trauma that comes with it. iIn response, The Campaign has made its presence known at many colleges, universities and advocacy focused conferences. From NetRoots in Louisiana to Atwood in Virginia, Wesleyan’s Center for the Study of Guns & Society to the Research Conference at Arizona State, The Campaign has been there.
In addition, The Campaign visited over 20 college and university campuses, from Michigan State to Virginia Tech, Rutgers to Arizona State. And as our final act for the year, The Campaign stood together with hundreds of fellow gun violence prevention advocates at the Annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence in Washington, DC.
Today, The Campaign is well positioned to lean into the new year with added zeal and purpose. In 2026 there will be much to defend but much more to build. If our time in the field has inspired us to be imaginative and proactive. We are mindful keeping guns off campus is not a finish line nor an isolated strategy – it is a value and our guiding principle.
Thank you for keeping your light on and your spirit up – and for continuing to march onward with The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus towards a day when college campuses are safe and gun free places for education and personal growth.
John McKenna, Executive Director
The Campaign To Keep Guns Off Campus
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1) John McKenna with Eckerd College’s Dr. Marjorie Sanfilippo.
2) John McKenna with Brian Malte, Hope and Heal Fund and Dr. Woodie Kessel, University of Maryland, at the Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms National Conference, Arizona State University.
3) John McKenna at Rutgers University
4) John McKenna and guests at RE:IMAGINE Event
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Make Your Year End Gift Today
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Your year end gift to The Campaign To Keep Guns Off Campus is needed now more than ever. New threats to campus safety are emerging every day and we need resources to continue the fight. Make your tax-deductible donation today to keep our college and university campuses safe and gun free. Thank you so much.
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HB 193 – allowing employees and volunteers to carry concealed guns in private schools; Governor Josh Stein’s veto was overridden in July and went into effect December 1.
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Legislators updated state law governing concealed weapons which went into effect May 7; individuals 18 years old or older with a Utah concealed carry permit may carry on campus.
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HB 172 – repealing gun-free zones/providing for the carrying of concealed weapons as specified; enacted without signature of the governor; went into effect July 1.
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HB 100 – limiting imposition of restrictions on the carrying of concealed pistols while on the campus of a public institution of higher education; signed by the governor March 24, went into effect July 1.
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SB 1020 – Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed the bill which sought the forcing of Arizona universities, colleges and community colleges to let anyone with a concealed carry permit to carry a concealed gun on campus – including classrooms, dorms and sporting events. This is the third straight year the governor has rejected allowing guns on campus.
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HB 321 – prohibiting persons from carrying weapons or firearms into certain locations (including campuses) providing criminal penalty; filed in House November 4; HB 133 (for 2026 legislative session) lowers the minimum age for firearm purchases from age 21 to 18.
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S 1531 & HR 3115
Supporting the Assault Weapons Ban
(Adam Schiff – CA/Lucy McBath – GA)
S 2514 & HR 4821
Supporting the Gun Violence Prevention Research Act
(Ed Markey – MA/Marilyn Strickland – WA)
KGOC is one of over 200 organizations officially in coalition support LINK TO LETTER
S 65 & HR 38
(John Cornyn – TX/Richard Hudson – NC)
Opposing the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act which overrides strong state gun laws while imposing the weakest national standard across all 50 states.
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Alarming Trend – Mandated Firearms Curriculum in Public Schools
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The Campaign is watching several states that have enacted mandated public-school instruction on the knowledge and handling of firearms. Starting this school year, K-12 schools in Arkansas, Tennessee and Utah will be required to provide a firearms curriculum for children as young as five years old. That’s right – starting in kindergarden. Arkansas and Tennessee do not offer a parental “opt-out” provision. Fortunately, Arizona recognized the dangers of “grooming” of the next generation endorsed by gun-rights advocates, resulting in its governor vetoing similar legislation.
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Armed With Knowledge – A Campus Safety Toolkit
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The Campaign’s, the new toolkit is meant as resource for college students, faculty, staff and visitors, as well as prospective students/applicants, where guns on campus laws are in force. The toolkit’s content includes Dominic Erdozain’s book One Nation Under Guns, a list of customizable sample questions and language for college admissions offices and media departments, template website postings and sample audio/visual content the institutions can use for their students, faculty, staff and community members to make themselves safe, keep them well informed and be advocates for change.
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RE:IMAGINE – The Campaign’s Annual Event in NYC – 10/27/25
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Taking a creative approach, KGOC attracted a wide spectrum of over 100 attendees for an evening of rejuvenation and reinvestment.
Securing in-kind host support from MG Studios and the Non-Violence Project, a slate of auction items elevated the outcome. Contributors to teh evening included author/historian Dominic Erdozain, legendary photographer Bob Gruen, artwork by Sir Paul McCartney and a special gun violence prevention-themed performance by Graham 2. We are pleased and grateful to report the event grossed in excess of $38,000 for the cause.
The Campaign thanks the many donors and supporters who made the evening such a success, including Premiere Sponsor Seta Nazarian & Family and Gold Sponsors Dina Siciliano and Dan O’Connell. Special thanks as well go to Amy Pines and David Kener for their immeasurable contribution of time, talent and gifts.
We are also grateful for being given the oppportunity to distribute Erdozain’s book, One Nation Under Guns, to identified colleges and universities along with the Armed with Knowledge Toolkit. These institutions include: Brown University, Virginia Tech, Claremont McKenna College, University of Washington, Vanderbilt University, Wake Forest University, Tulane University, and Michigan State University.
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Campus Champs – Faculty Making a Difference
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Dr. Danielle (Dani) Poole is the Director of Research at the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab and a Genocide and Atrocity Prevention Research Fellow at the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She is a population health scientist notable for her contributions to the evidence base for violence prevention and mitigation. Dr. Poole’s international work includes leveraging remote sensing to conduct humanitarian needs assessments and to quantify patterns of war, including attacks on healthcare. Domestically, Dr. Poole leads research identifying and mitigating risk factors for firearm injuries with a focus on children in Connecticut and Tennessee.
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Dr. Daniel Semenza is the Director of Interpersonal Violence Research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center (GVRC) and an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice and the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at Rutgers University. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology at Emory University in 2018 under the direction of Dr. Robert Agnew. He has published more than 75 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on gun violence, the health-related consequences of criminal justice contact and violence exposure, and the implications of these issues for racial and economic disparities in health. His research has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Newsweek, Prevention Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, NPR, PBS, The Trace, FOX, CBS Face the Nation, and NBC News.
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What We’ve Become
by Jonathan M. Metzl, MD, PhD
Vanderbilt University
U.S. Representative John Ray Clemmons calls “must-read material” for all “asking not just how do we protect our families, but how do we save our country?” A highly useful compendium is the pocket-sized book, The Myths We Carry – An Advocate’s Guide to the Gun Debate by GVPedia Founder Devin Hughes, a concise tool to understanding and navigating through our gun crisis.
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All the Empty Rooms
Directed by
Academy Award-nominee Joshua Seftel
The filmmaker shows his seven-year journey following CBS News veteran Steve Hartman visiting the families and entering the rooms of people most directly and profoundly impacted by gun violence.
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Stay connected with The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus
The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus • PO Box 658 • Croton Falls, NY 10519
EIN: 46-5621817 — CFC#: 83173
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