Survivor of Two School Shootings Becomes Gun-Safety Advocate as Rhode Island Passes Assault Weapons Ban

Mia Tretta, a Brown University student and leader of Brown's Students Demand Action, survived two school shootings and is turning those experiences into advocacy as the United States reckons with gun violence in classrooms and on campuses. Tretta survived the Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, California, on Nov. 14, 2019, when an older student opened fire in a quad, killing her best friend Dominic and injuring others. She later endured the Brown University campus shooting on Dec. 13, 2023, in which two students were killed and nine wounded while they studied. The two incidents, separated by years and geography, form a throughline: safety and learning are inseparable in American schools, Tretta has said, and the country must act to protect students. The episodes come as gun-violence debates play out across the United States and the world, prompting survivors to push for policy change and accountability for the weapons involved.

Tretta recalls the Saugus day in blunt, human terms. She was 15, a freshman worried about a Spanish grade and whether someone would ask her to the next school dance. A loud bang shattered the campus, followed by more shots. The force knocked her to the ground. When she stood, disoriented and terrified, the quad that had been filled with laughter hours earlier was nearly empty. She ran across campus and up several flights of stairs to her Spanish classroom, only recognizing what had happened when she found shaking classmates around her. A bullet had torn through her stomach, and she was rushed to a nearby park, then airlifted to a hospital with a .45-caliber bullet lodged inside her. Emergency surgery saved her life, but the friendship she cherished—the one with Dominic—was gone beside her. The scene at Saugus High School on Nov. 14, 2019, captured the chaos and shock that followed, a moment many students know only from headlines and the memories that linger long after.

Months later, Tretta began her college life at Brown University, where the routine of studying can still feel tethered to the threat of violence. On Dec. 13, 2023, a shooting occurred on Brown’s campus while students were quietly studying. Two students were killed and nine were wounded. Tretta recalls the way a campus familiar to scholars and researchers suddenly became a scene of fear and disruption: desks remained empty after winter break, questions outpaced answers, and the community found itself forced to process grief in public, sometimes at press conferences rather than in classrooms. She says the experience underscored a simple, painful truth: the threat of gun violence alters the daily rhythm of education and erodes trust in safety on campus. The trauma, she has said, is not something you leave behind with the closing of a school year; it follows students home and into every new semester.

Tretta has translated that trauma into organized action. She leads Brown’s Students Demand Action chapter, building coalitions to advocate for safer gun laws and accountability for the gun industry. Her organizing work extends beyond campus walls; earlier this year she joined Rhode Islanders across the state to push for and secure an assault weapons ban. The passage of the ban, celebrated at the Rhode Island State House on June 21, 2025, marked a milestone in a years-long effort to curb high-powered weapon sales and reduce the risk of mass-casualty violence in schools and public spaces. Tretta says the moment demands more than thoughts and prayers; it requires sustained, concrete steps that protect students today and in the future. Her message resonates with families and students nationwide who have endured similar traumas and now seek reforms that could change the equation of safety and education.

"This moment demands more than thoughts and prayers. Our grief must turn into action," Tretta has said, speaking publicly about her motivation to keep pushing for policy improvements. She often speaks of her younger brother, now 12, whose life and safety she says are inseparable from the work she does. "We should not have to survive school to graduate from it, and I refuse to accept a future where surviving is the best America can offer its students." Her story, shared across media and at statehouses, highlights the enduring impact of gun violence on communities and the urgency of turning personal loss into collective protection for future generations.

As the country debates how best to reduce gun violence, Tretta’s experience adds a personal dimension to policy discussions and underscores the need for practical safeguards, community support systems, and accountability for weapon sales. The Brown narrative, and the Rhode Island outcome, reflect a broader, ongoing movement within the United States to translate grief into legislative action and to insist that schools be places of learning, not fear. With ongoing activism and continued outreach, Tretta and her fellow students aim to sustain momentum beyond isolated incidents, pressing for measurable changes that can protect students across the country.