A new generation of young political leaders is gaining power in the US by using their personal experience with gun violence to push for reforms they say the US is ready for.

Their ascent is part of a nearly decade-long shift, from gun violence prevention being a third-rail issue in politics that was rarely spoken about on campaign trails, to one that candidates, most of them Democrats, are now running – and winning – on.

This shift is due in part to a collective exhaustion with gun violence, whether mass shootings – like the recent ones at Brown University in Rhode Island and at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia – firearms suicides or community violence, that continues to tear apart the lives of too many Americans, said Justin Pearson, a Tennessee state representative who’s running for US congress.

“It’s been an issue that has impacted my life,” Pearson, 30, said. “There was something about being a state representative and in a position, witnessing the government inactions and remembering the effects it has in my community, that pushed me to say this is an issue we need to prioritize.”