Because the best way to prove that guns shouldn't be regulated is to use them to kill anti-gun activists.Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg said he has been he target of seven assassination attempts in the last year.
After surviving the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018, which left 17 people dead, Hogg and other students launched " Never Again MSD," a student-led group that pushes for gun-control legislation and urges other teens to register and vote for candidates who support stricter gun control.
But because of his platform, Hogg has faced death threats and "swatting" attempts, in which police received prank calls claiming a gunman had taken his family hostage.
"In the past year, there have been seven assassination attempts," he told the Washington Post. "I realize that it's horrible that I have to live through this, and it is traumatizing. But you eventually become desensitized to it. Like, oh, your house got 'swatted.' You got a call from the police saying someone said that everyone in your family had been killed and that you are being held hostage for $100,000 ... That becomes part of daily life."
Hogg, 19, did not detail any of the assassination attempts but said that killing him would be "the stupidest thing they could do to try to end the movement."
"Because that would make it even more successful in the end," Hogg told the Post. "Because it would invigorate us and create f---ing change."
Hogg is expected to attend Harvard University in the fall.
He said he plans to continue to use his public platform to promote activism as the 2020 election approaches.
"I want to go to school and, for lack of a better word, weaponize my knowledge and learn as much as possible to end violence," he said.
Some will doubtless quibble over whether SWATTing counts as attempted assassination, but given the tendency of US police towards itchy trigger-fingers, it is at the very least showing a reckless disregard for the life of the target.