Millennials are tomorrow’s leaders. In some cases, millennials (those born 1980-1995) are already leading in workplaces, politics, and culture. But how do they view gun rights? And how will their views affect the future of the Second Amendment?

Gun Rights on College Campuses

While college is supposed to be a marketplace of ideas, this is not the case on most public university campuses. So across the country, student organizations and clubs are leading the fight for gun rights.  Consider just a couple of examples:

• Students for Concealed Carry at Central Michigan University is challenging the school administration for a change in the weapons policy on campus. 

• A student group at Liberty University, Students at Liberty for Gun Rights, with over 60 formal members, has presented high-profile speakers, and has hosted concealed carry and self-defense classes.

These groups are a voice for the neglected side of the argument. They are combating the liberal bias on campuses. And not surprisingly, a Pew Study shows more millennials oppose gun control than support it.

Rise in Shooting Sports

Off campus, millennial interest has skyrocketed in the shooting sports.

For example, in only six years, the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League championship grew from 30 competitors to over 5,000.  North Dakota and Wisconsin have also seen similar growth.

With more millennials shooting, it is changing the way their friends and family think about guns. One mother of a shooter from Minnesota actually changed her position on guns after seeing her son shoot. She even went so far as to buy him a gun!

Millennials in the shooting sports are a positive for the gun rights movement. Not only does it create a safe, fun recreational activity, it also instills an appreciation for the right to keep and bear arms.

Continuing the Movement

So how can you, as a GOA member, strengthen the gun rights movement of millennials?

Well, if you are a millennial, hit up the range and bring a friend! Shooting is a safe, fun experience that will definitely change the minds of even your most skeptical friends. Be active on social media and share the stories on GOA’s Self Defense Corner. Show your friends that guns aren’t the “evil killing machines” they see in movies. Join a gun rights group on your campus. If there’s not one, start one!

Even if you’re not a millennial, you can still help out. (You probably know one.) Invite him or her to a gun show, or perhaps responsibly show him or her a gun from your collection. Consider donating to a pro-gun student group at a nearby college.

It was Richard Henry Lee who said, “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them…”

That means it’s on you to teach the millennials in your life why our firearms freedoms are so important.

The future of gun rights is bright. However, gun owners, especially millennial gun owners, must remain steadfast in the fight to restore and protect our right to keep and bear arms.

Jordan Stein is the President of Students at Liberty for Gun Rights in Lynchburg, Virginia.