Our Beginning

On the morning of September 6th, 2018, I was immediately hit by bullets as I entered the revolving door at Fifth Third Bank headquarters. As I attempted to reach for my phone, I was shot again - 12 times in total. Resolving to play dead to increase my chance of survival, I slumped my body into the bottom of the revolving door and my mind started to race.

For months I had thought about volunteering with organized efforts to reduce gun violence. In fact, I received text messages and felt guilty that I signed up just to ignore them. As I crouched in that revolving door I thought about those text messages. I thought about how angry I was that I hadn’t done anything to prevent this exact situation from happening. Now, as a survivor, how do I reconcile that I lived as a result of nearly thousands of things going right and others died as a result of nearly thousands of things going wrong? I can’t. I can only say that I feel an undeniable force pushing me to tackle gun violence.

“How do I reconcile that I lived as a result of nearly thousands of things going right and others died as a result of nearly thousands of things going wrong?”

— whitney austin, co-FOUNDER

What is Whitney/Strong?  I can tell you what it’s not.  It is not another failed attempt to make progress on the issue of gun violence through partisanship or tone-deaf tactics meant to ostracize gun owners.  Our board consists of gun owners and non-gun owners, Republicans and Democrats. We do not believe that guns are bad or good. Those kinds of talking points are meant to divide us.  What we believe in is data and its ability to guide us in the right direction. We believe in conversations that unify. We believe we can do better, and we will do better together.

Read My Story →

Our Strategy

Whitney/Strong tirelessly pursues majority-supported and evidence-based solutions to reduce the number of lives impacted by gun violence through responsible gun ownership. We are actively partnering at the state and federal level to end the current stalemate gripping our country. With every bill we champion, we do it in memory of those who have died senselessly, dedicated to a future free of gun violence.

We’re also working with community leaders on non-legislative solutions including suicide prevention, firearm safety instruction, and more. There is no single reason why gun violence occurs, so we are committed to tackling this issue from multiple angles.

Read Our Mission Statement →