Guns kill 125 Americans daily, and our national rate of gun homicide soars at 28 times higher than that of countries of similar economic status. For many, it can be hard to conceptualize the loss that these numbers represent, but Dean Sadowski ‘27 doesn’t have to imagine.
“I have family members that were shot. Recently, my family member was killed,” he said. “It’s a real thing. People die.”
Noting the intersectional impact of gun violence, he added, “There’s also dynamics to [gun violence] – we have how much of gun deaths are gang violence, how much of gun deaths are suicide, how much of gun deaths are school shootings. You have all these different layers to guns.”
He’s right. The American rate of gun suicides is twelve times higher than that of other countries. Since 1999, over 390,000 students have suffered gun violence at school. Additionally, guns have been shown to exacerbate violence against women, violence against Black Americans, and domestic violence.
Sadowski cites the violence that his family suffered as the most powerful inspiration for his activism.
Referring to the murder of his family member, he said, “That’s kind of where I got… ‘This is an issue that needs to be handled’. You cannot have absolute liberty to buy a weapon at any time.”
Expanding on his alarm at the ease with which Americans can obtain guns, he said, “[it’s] easier to get a gun when I turn eighteen than to buy a kitten. … Because they wanna make sure you don’t kill that cat – why is it not the same … to make sure you don’t…kill a person…?”
The legalization of Glock switches—a type of semi-automatic weapon—lies among Sadowski’s chief concerns regarding gun laws, along with a lack of background checks.
What makes semi-automatic rifles different from any other gun? Simply put, they do more damage faster.
“I think that Glock switches should be a federal crime.” Sadowski said. “…Conservatives are very against this, because … they don’t want to open the door and ‘oh, we got rid of glock switches, now let’s get rid of this…They don’t want to ever do that.”
Last year, Sadowski watched in person as the Pennsylvania Republican party succeeded at keeping that door closed—a moment during which he says the democratic party disappointed him. This moment occurred during a trip to lobby at the state capital, when the question of whether or not Glock switches would be illegal in Pennsylvania came down to one vote.
Sadowski said, “The Democrats were always disagreeing with each other, whereas Republicans all agreed. That dynamic of how much freedom and diversity of belief we have in the Democratic party … kills the Democrats. [Especially] on votes like that, ‘cause one wrong vote is gonna be the difference—because all of the [Republicans], you know where they’re going.”
Consequential moments like these made Sadowski focus on voting as a strategy for gun control. By using their vote to elect senators that support gun control, anyone can increase the likelihood that Senate votes like the one on Glock switches go differently.
“We try to make events …. to push people who are in the school or even outside the school: ‘hey, go vote’,” Sadowski said. “And you should vote … blue … because they’re gonna have stricter gun laws.”
Individuals below voting age can influence elections by lobbying senators to vote against guns. “You can make a difference if you can change that one person’s opinion,” Sadowski said.
Along with a ban on Glock switches, another goal that Sadowski hopes to achieve is a law that would require individuals to pass a background check before buying a gun.
“This may be a more conservative ideal, but I don’t think it’s the gun; I think it’s the person. And that’s why, for background checks, if we increase those, less deaths, right?” he said. “When I turn eighteen on December 9, I can go in that day and buy a gun. No background check, no nothing.”
Considering how staunchly Sadowski supports gun control, it may be surprising to learn that buying a gun isn’t just a hypothetical for him.
“I would wanna own a gun one day,” he said. “In Philadelphia…you can get robbed at any moment, someone can come … kill you.”
A significant portion of the gun control movement outright rejects this idea of guns as self-defense, believing either that guns are ineffective tools for self-defense or that an extreme model of gun control would eliminate the need for guns as self-defense. According to the Center for American Progress, “The truth is … guns are not typically used for self-defense…stronger gun laws make us safer.”
Taking this school of thought a step further, leftist TikTokker Jala Chantelle posted, “‘How would we protect ourselves without guns?’ You wouldn’t need to protect yourselves with guns if guns were not running rampant in the streets.”
Overall, Sadowski disagrees with this take. “If…there weren’t so many illegal guns…I [would] agree with that,” he said. “But…if you take away all the legal guns, you can’t stop…the illegal guns. So now, you’re…in a position where you have a home invader and he has a gun and you don’t.”
Sadowski’s belief may be controversial within the gun control community, but he has not come to these conclusions lightly.
“I used to feel like ‘Oh, we shouldn’t have them at all’… But like I just said, there’s so many illegal guns, how can you not?” he said, elaborating: “I do believe in the Second Amendment… that we should be allowed to have guns and bear arms. But you can’t have that without some form of restriction.”
It is with this conviction that Sadowski works with the Abington Friends School chapter of the national gun-control organization Students Demand Action (SDA) to fight for the model of gun control he believes in.
Sadowski stresses that SDA welcomes “…anybody at any time to …. be a part of the club.”
Additionally, he wants the club to be a safe space for his fellow students affected by gun violence.
“We have talked about potentially having some days when … people in this community who have family members who have died can talk about … how do you deal with that, how has that changed your opinion on gun violence,” Sadowski said.
Haley Hellmann, English teacher and faculty advisor for the AFS chapter of SDA, said, “I would say that Dean’s steadfast optimism and positivity and ability to bring … together … disparate groups [of] people—it’s … so important to our group.” She continued, “Dean has been an integral member of our team. He came as a freshman …and has remained somebody who shows up for every single meeting, talks it up with his friends…He’s such a positive, kind, welcoming person.”
Sadowski said that the goal of SDA is to “end gun violence completely,” adding, “… that might never happen, but if you don’t shoot for the stars, how are you gonna reach the moon?”
