TAPP partners with TOMS Shoes for gun control canvassing event


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Since December, TOMS has collected over 700,000 postcards in support of gun control legislation. (Julia Rosher/Daily Trojan)

The Trojan Advocates for Political Progress are fighting for gun control legislation with the help of snail mail. Partnering with shoemaker TOMS, student volunteers gathered near Alumni Park Tuesday and urged passersby to sign postcards to send to Congress.

TAPP is supporting a measure introduced to Congress earlier this month that would require background checks on all gun sales and most gun transfers, according to President Alec Vanderberg, a junior majoring in public policy.

TOMS, which announced its campaign in December, has collected over 700,000 signed postcards to show support for the bill, H.R. 8. According to Vandenberg, TOMS reached out to TAPP and other university organizations to reach more supporters and achieve their goal of sending one million postcards to Congress.

TOMS giving coordinator Mo Dugan said that pushing for background checks is the first step in solving gun violence issues.

“[TOMS] has a history of philanthropy in trying to better the world through business,” Dugan said. “We know that gun violence is an issue that touches a lot of communities … We are starting with universal background checks, because it is something that is supported by a large majority of Americans.”

Dugan said TOMS also wanted to gather support from younger demographics who could have a significant impact on public policy.

“Young people are so important in politics in general and especially right now,” Dugan said. “We want to be addressing something that matters to them and also including them in the conversation. [We don’t want to make] it talking at young people, but really engaging them in the conversation and hearing what young people care about and how this issue affects them personally.”

TAPP volunteer Anisha Anisetti said she thinks universal background checks are essential to protect against gun violence. Anisetti said she joined TAPP because the organization provides hands-on volunteering experiences to students who want to be engaged in politics and create change.

“I think a really great thing about TAPP is that it is super direct involvement,” said Anisetti, a freshman majoring in economics. “It’s not like we donate for other people to go out and do the work; we do the work ourselves, which is really cool.”

Vandenberg said TAPP hopes to help make universal background checks a legal requirement.

“We know that over 50 Americans die due to some form of gun violence every single day, and any policy that lowers that at any degree will make a great difference that we definitely want to be a part of,” Vandenberg said. “Especially [since] H.R. 8 was just introduced in Congress, we really wanted to make sure there is enough of a solid backing of grassroots effort to get this bill across the finish line.”