Exploring Common Ground on Gun Violence Prevention

On Sunday, March 30, Builders, local leaders and Overture Center co-hosted a documentary film screening of “The Tennessee 11,” bringing Wisconsin citizens across the ideological spectrum together for a multi-partisan panel discussion exploring the hidden common ground on the prevention of gun violence in schools and the community. This event came three months after a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison.

Panelists representing the Tennessee 11 included Alyssa Pearman, a high school teacher who has lost students to gun violence, and Adam Luke, a Second Amendment supporter who grew up hunting. They joined leaders from the Badger State, including government scholar and director of the Marquette Law School Poll Charles Franklin and nationally recognized changemaker, entrepreneur and speaker Steven Olikara, as well as Steve D’Orazio, founder and president of Max Creek Outdoors, a gun shop and range in Oregon, Wis.

The panel was moderated by Dane County’s Ali Muldrow and Milwaukee County’s Bria Halama in partnership with Builders, a nonpartisan movement to equip citizens to overcome toxic polarization. The event aimed to broaden the often-binary conversation on guns and empower Wisconsinites to find a way forward together.

“We are more interesting than the binaries presented to us,” said Steven Olikara, CEO of Bridge Entertainment Labs and University of Wisconsin graduate.

The Tennessee 11 is a documentary about a group of citizens of various political and social views brought together after a school shooting in Tennessee in 2023. The documentary follows the group over the course of three days as they work to form a consensus on proposals related to gun violence and gun control to share with lawmakers. They created five proposals, one which has been introduced to the Tennessee State Legislature and is currently under consideration.

Builders and their affiliate Citizens Solutions hold these sessions across the United States, including one recently in Wisconsin about abortion. Co-host Ali Mudrow and other Wisconsin citizens and leaders worked together to have these difficult conversations and create proposals to share with Wisconsin lawmakers and keep the conversations going.

While closing the event, Mudrow shared an African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

The panel explored topics relevant to this moment in Wisconsin and American political life, including public consensus on the issue, how to balance public safety with Second Amendment rights and how citizens can replace an “us vs. them" mindset with problem solving and flexible thinking.

When asked by an audience member how they can get involved in seeking change, Pearman answered, “This is hard work. This is heart work. Show up. Keep showing up even when people get in your way.”

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