WASHINGTON – March For Our Lives, the group founded by survivors of a 2018 high school shooting rampage in Parkland, Florida, has thrown its weight behind Democrats in two contentious races in Arizona.

In the fight for an open U.S. Senate seat, the group is backing U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Phoenix over Kari Lake, and former state Sen. Kirsten Engel of Tucson, who is challenging first-term U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, a Tucson Republican.

March for Our Lives lauded Gallego’s support for universal background checks, expansion of mental health resources and a ban on “assault-style” weapons such as AK-47s and AR-15s.

“We’re really excited about getting involved in Arizona and we really think that young people are going to make a big difference in this race,” said Alexa Browning, the group’s policy manager.

She cited Engel’s support for expanded background checks and “safe storage” mandates to keep guns away from minors and anyone who might be a danger to themselves or others.

”That can really help with the suicide issue that’s going on in Arizona,” she said.

Lake and Ciscomani are staunch critics of gun control. Both enjoy backing from the NRA. Neither responded to requests to discuss the March for Our Lives endorsements and their views on gun policy.

Lake, a former Phoenix TV news anchor, has toyed with aggressive rhetoric when it comes to gun rights.

She created a stir in April when she told supporters to “strap on a Glock” to prepare for an “intense” election. At a rally last Friday in Chandler, she told supporters, “Thank God for the Second Amendment,” after asserting that Venezuelan gangs are taking over Colorado.

In a June 2023 speech to Republicans in Georgia, Lake implied that she and tens of millions of other Trump supporters are willing to use guns to protect him from federal prosecutors or even mainstream journalists.

“Most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA. That’s not a threat. That’s a public service announcement,” she said.

Ciscomani opposes restrictions. During the 2022 race, his website touted a promise to “fight against any infringement on an individual’s constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

Gun rights no longer appear among the priorities listed on his campaign website.

Gun Owners of America, a group that portrays itself as a better defender of gun rights than the NRA, gives Ciscomani a B+. Gallego gets an F. The group has no grades for the candidates’ opponents.

March for Our Lives – one of the largest youth-led movements in the country – had refrained from direct involvement in campaigns before this election cycle. Its first endorsement came on July 24, when it announced support for Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat.

Since then it has issued three endorsements in Arizona – Gallego, Engel and U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Tucson, who holds a safe seat – plus three others in Michigan. The group said earlier this year that it would also target elections in New York and Florida where the youth vote could make a difference.

The organization was created in the aftermath of the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead and 17 wounded.

Parkland survivors have led marches and advocated for measures aimed at reducing gun violence at all levels of government.

Gallego, a Marine Corps combat veteran, has long supported such measures while emphasizing that he supports “responsible gun ownership.”

“The vast majority of Arizonans agree we need common sense gun reform to keep our communities safe, and I’m committed to getting it done,” he told Fox News in August 2023, after the network dug up video of comments he’d recently made while stumping in Gilbert.

“We don’t focus on trying to stop everyday gun violence because a lot of politicians are afraid of the NRA and the gun lobby,” Gallego said at that event, at which he mockingly compared Republicans who collect guns to pickup drivers with “little cow nuts hanging in the back.”

He also voiced support for universal background checks for gun buyers and red flag laws, which allow authorities to take guns from people deemed a threat to themselves or others.

“Bad people should not have weapons,” he said.

In 2022, Gallego co-sponsored the Protecting Our Kids Act, which would have banned the sale of AK-47s and similar guns to anyone under age 21, beefed up penalties for gun trafficking, regulated untraceable “ghost guns,” banned large capacity ammunition magazines and curbed the use of bump stocks, devices that allow near-continuous fire with a semi-automatic.

Other gun violence prevention groups also support Gallego and Engel. Among them are Giffords, founded by former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived a 2011 shooting in Tucson; and Brady, named for White House press secretary James Brady, who was paralyzed in an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

It’s unclear how much impact the gun issue will have on these races.

Polling four years ago commissioned by Everytown for Gun Safety found that 85% of likely voters in Arizona said a candidate’s position on gun policy would be an important factor when deciding who gets their vote.

Arizona ranks 12th among states with the most gun deaths per capita in 2022, and also 12th for deaths by suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Firearms are the third leading cause of death among Arizonans under age 20, according to a 2023 report on gun violence from the Arizona Public Health Association.

Numerous studies have shown a close relationship between suicide and access to guns. A 2022 study from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that states with the most relaxed gun laws had twice as many suicides by firearm as those with the most restrictions on guns.

Arizona allows open-carry, meaning an unconcealed gun may be carried in public without a license. Since July 29, 2010, under a “constitutional carry” law, the state has also allowed anyone 21 or older to carry a concealed gun in public, with exceptions that include schools and bars.

On June 25, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared firearm violence a public health crisis, the first such declaration at the federal level.

“I am running for the seat once held by Gabby Giffords,” Engel said, “and firmly believe that whoever holds this seat has a special responsibility to be an advocate for the common sense measures that will help end the senseless gun violence that continues to take lives and rob our kids.”

Among other policies, Engel supports red flag laws, a ban on assault weapons, and an end to the gun show loophole that lets some buyers avoid background checks.

“We’re getting as many gun violence prevention supporters on the ground in Arizona (as possible) engaged in the legislative process,” Browning said. “We know that this fight for gun violence prevention doesn’t just start and end at elections. It’s a much deeper and long-term process.”

For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.