“This may not be your dinner table video but it gets the point across, and it gets people talking which is the ultimate goal.” Thus proclaims Women Against Gun Violence board member Josh Stepakoff describing the “edgy” production, titled Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger,” the anti-gun org has recently released. In their attempt to catch the attention of millennials, the video features bushels of severed digits, flicked fecal matter and plenty of appropriately sad faces. But I’m not sure what it is they’re actually trying to say other than “guns suck.” Full press release after the jump . . .
Women Against Gun Violence, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public, policymakers and the media about the human, financial and public health consequences of gun violence, released a new public service announcement titled “Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger.” The PSA is a provocative animated video aiming to engage the millennial generation about an important topic: gun violence.
Directed and animated by Johnnie Semerad of Quiet Man, the superbly-crafted video is complimented by an unforgettable folk song, scored and performed by singer/songwriter, Stephen Krauss.
The bold nature of the video aims to leave a lasting impression with millennials, a generation whose attention the gun violence prevention movement doesn’t have right now.
“This may not be your dinner table video but it gets the point across, and it gets people talking which is the ultimate goal,” says Josh Stepakoff, gun violence survivor and WAGV’s youngest board member. “I want my peers, the millennial generation, to use their power to affect change, and I believe this PSA will help get them engaged in the conversation.”
WAGV especially hopes to engage America’s youth in the conversation regarding guns on college campuses. In the wake of campus shootings like UCSB in 2014 (7 dead and 7 wounded) and Virginia Tech (32 dead and 17 wounded in 2007), the debate has escalated about whether or not to permit guns on college campuses.
“College campuses throughout the United States remain extremely safe environments without the presence of concealed handguns,” says Margot Bennett, Executive Director of WAGV. “And data shows that college campuses where concealed carry of guns is permitted, the crime rates actually increased while the student population decreased.”
WAGV hopes those still on the fence about whether guns will make you safer, will remember to “keep your finger off the trigger” and keep guns off campuses.