#March for Our Lives: Health Activism, Diagnostic Framing, Gun Control, and the Gun Industry

ABSTRACT

This article investigates #March for Our Lives as health activism. Students organized a social media campaign, major marches and other events after surviving the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Many commentators praised the group’s success in rallying public attention to gun violence, promoting gun safety legislation, and challenging the National Rifle Association. This critical analysis sheds light on how the students’ Twitter activism addressed longstanding framing and attribution practices that impede structural and policy responses to gun violence, including efforts to address the gun industry. We investigated how the activists’ diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing attributed the causes of gun violence, promoted solutions, and fostered support. The conclusion discusses the implications of #March for Our Lives strategies for our understanding of health social movements, challenges to corporate power and influence, and the politics of framing and illness attributions.