Leaders from the world have tech have ramped up calls for gun control in the United States, following a gun attack at the headquarters of media firm YouTube. The attack, during which a woman shot and wounded three people before taking her own life, was met by yet another call for “thoughts and prayers” by US President Donald Trump.
But Silicon Valley heads, joining millions of young people campaigning in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida, this February, showed they want real action. “We can’t keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it won’t happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots,” wrote Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on his own platform. “It’s beyond time to evolve our policies.”
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Box chief Aaron Levie, who have stepped up assaults on the current White House administration’s economic policy of late, tweeted the hashtag #EndGunViolence and #NeverAgain. Apple’s Tim Cook took a less political stand, tweeting his company’s “sympathy and support” to survivors.
America has long been divided by the gun control debate, and has by far the largest rate of gun violence in the developed world. Student survivors of the Parkland murders have marched on Washington DC to demand greater limits on gun ownership. Conservative media outlets have rounded on them, amid claims of unconstitutionality and a misunderstanding of the debate.