Gabrielle Zwi-Guns to a Playground Fight

The mass shootings keep coming and innocent people keep getting gunned down. In fact, every day 110 people are killed by guns. On Feb. 14 it will be the five-year anniversary of the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, when 17 people were murdered and 17 others injured. Yet, the politicians do nothing. Today’s podcast episode looks at that through the eyes of a young woman who wrote a song she created from her own experiences.

Late last year Gabrielle Zwi, a 22-year-old singer-songwriter, educator, and community organizer based in Rockville, MD, graduated from college, having safely made it through elementary and secondary school without being murdered, gunned down, in her classroom.

The day after the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people, including 19 third and fourth grade children and two teachers were killed and another 17 wounded, Zwi was moved to write a song, a folk-pop protest tune, “Guns to a Playground Fight.”

It examines what it means to grow up as a member of the “school shooting generation.”It was just a week after she graduated, and was never meant to be released publicly. But then, Gabrielle changed her mind and her song was released December 9, just before the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting – you know, the one that Infowars founder Alex Jones claimed never really happened and since has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to the families of victims there.

Gabrielle’s song was released in partnership with Lives Robbed, an organization founded by the parents and grandparents of children whose lives were lost to the shooting at Robb Elementary. All of the profits from streaming/downloads and associated performances are being donated to them.

The shootings never seem to stop. Less than a week into 2023, a six-year-old student allegedly shot his teacher with a handgun at a Virginia elementary in what police described as an “intentional” shooting. He reportedly used his mother’s legally purchased handgun to shoot his 25-year-old teacher, who led her students out of the classroom after being shot.

Gabrielle, thanks for joining us on the Lean to the Left podcast.

Q. Tell us why you write this song.
Q. Why did you decide to release it and make it public?
Q. Can you perform it for us?
Q. As a member of Gen Z, what was it like going to school and having to undergo active shooter drills? What did that do to you psychologically?
Q. You are no stranger to activism as a Jewish Brazilian-American, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, who is autistic and disabled. You say your life is “inherently politicized.” What do you mean?
Q. What actions do you think should be taken to curtail these shootings?
Q. What are your plans going forward?
Q. Where can people find your song?