Cameron Kasky

Advocacy

Kasky had just left drama class when the shooting began at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018. After he met his younger brother at a different classroom and exiting the school, the fire alarm sounded. With other students, they were instructed to go back inside. They waited an hour in a classroom until they were rescued.

After the shooting, Kasky brought several school friends to his house and with them founded Never Again MSD (#NeverAgain), a student-led gun control advocacy group. Kasky came up with the name "Never Again" while the group stayed up through the night to make plans, and he posted "Stay alert. #NeverAgain" to Facebook. The group works to create a national movement against gun violence, including an effort to publicize legislators receiving money from the NRA and persuading people not to vote for them. It promoted and led a massive rally called March for Our Lives in Washington, DC, on March 24, 2018.

According to a report in The New Yorker, it was Kasky's idea to found the activist group along with fellow students David Hogg, X González, Sarah Chadwick and others – a group described by reporter Michael Schulman as having "moral clarity and vision" in the gun control debate. Kasky wrote an op-ed on the CNN website describing the events of the massacre and his reaction to it. In an interview, Kasky told the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that "my generation won't stand for this." Although known as a "theatre kid" with a reputation for being the class clown, Kasky's experience after the shooting was primarily one of anger:

Can't sleep. Thinking about so many things. So angry that I'm not scared or nervous anymore ... I'm just angry. I just want people to understand what happened and understand that doing nothing will lead to nothing. Who'd have thought that concept was so difficult to grasp?

At a televised "Stand Up" town hall session sponsored by CNN with Senator Marco Rubio, Kasky asked the senator whether he would continue receiving money from the National Rifle Association (NRA): "Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA?" Rubio responded by saying, "I will always accept the help of anyone who agrees with my agenda." Kasky repeatedly questioned Rubio about whether he would continue receiving NRA money. The senator did not offer a definitive response but appeared to soften his positions regarding some gun restrictions.

Kasky temporarily stopped utilizing Facebook as a result of death threats. When later Kasky was accused of being a crisis actor, he replied to CNN's Wolf Blitzer that "if you had seen me in our school's production of 'Fiddler on the Roof,' you would know that nobody would pay me to act for anything."

Kasky announced the March for Our Lives rally on February 18, 2018. Later that week, Kasky appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show with X González and Jaclyn Corin to discuss their advocacy and march. Kasky said, "The thing that inspired us to create the march was people saying, 'This is not the time to talk about gun control, this is the time to mourn.' We understand that, so here's the time to talk about gun control. March 24th."

In March 2018, he appeared on the cover of Time magazine along with fellow activists Jaclyn Corin, X Gonzalez, David Hogg, and Alex Wind.

Kasky called President Donald Trump a "professional liar" on CNN after Trump delivered a pro-gun speech at the annual NRA convention in Dallas in May 2018, in contrast to Trump's prior call for gun control reform in the wake of the Parkland shooting. Kasky criticized the president to point out Trump said what he needed to say to appease the NRA.

In May 2018, Kasky's father registered a super PAC, Families vs Assault Rifles PAC (FAMSVARPAC), with intentions of going "up against NRA candidates in every meaningful race in the country".

New laws

In March 2018, the Florida Legislature passed a bill titled the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. It raises the minimum age for buying firearms to 21, establishes waiting periods and background checks, provides a program for the arming of some teachers and the hiring of school police, bans bump stocks, and bars potentially violent or mentally unhealthy people arrested under certain laws from possessing guns. In all, it allocates roughly $400 million. The governor signed the bill into law on March 9. He commented, "To the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, you made your voices heard. You didn't let up and you fought until there was change."

Departure from March for Our Lives

On September 19, 2018, Kasky announced his decision to leave March for Our Lives in an interview with Fox News Radio. He expressed regret for some of his past actions, including confronting Rubio at the "Stand Up" town hall session and saying the name of the Parkland shooter aloud in his question to Rubio. However, Kasky said his decision to leave March for Our Lives was not due to a change of heart or political views. Instead, he wants to take responsibility for his actions and encourages others to seek mental health services when necessary. Moving past March for Our Lives, Kasky is working on improving himself personally and a new podcast, "Cameron Knows Nothing". However, in an interview with Insider in 2022, Kasky has revealed the reason why he left March For Our Lives was because of his ongoing struggle with his mental health which further took a toll on him during the time he was part of the organization.

Reactions

In The New Yorker, journalist Evan Osnos singled out Kasky's direct questioning of Marco Rubio at the CNN town hall as significant and as something no journalist had ever been able to do. People magazine stated that as founder of the #NeverAgain movement, and despite death threats from NRA supporters, "Kasky has committed himself to advancing legislative changes that will make it more difficult for people to get guns, and in the process, has helped inspire advocacy around the cause".

Politics

Kasky endorsed Andrew Yang in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, claiming to be "very tired of... the same nonsense that's been failing the American people for generations. Yang is offering up solutions that change the game." Upon Yang dropping out, Kasky threw his support behind Bernie Sanders, and subsequently endorsed Joe Biden in the general election.

Personal life

Kasky is Jewish, and he identifies as queer. In his coming out as queer, reported by Out on September 14, 2021, Kasky said that his "ability to proudly share who I am today only exists due to queer activists, specifically queer activists of color, giving their lives for our right to exist...To those of you who are also struggling to find an identity that you find authentic, take your time. Look inwards and indulge in your beauty and light." Kasky has been open about his struggles with mental health over the years (particularly with his struggle with depression and bipolar disorder) and has used his platform to open up about his struggles with mental health.