Gun Violence

News Featured Charities Fact Sheet Resources Publications and Articles Challenges How to Get Involved Upcoming Events Recommended Media

“Gun violence feels too big, too powerful to stop. But it’s not too big for you to take some real, meaningful actions. You control what you decide you can live with, and what you can't. You can choose whether you do something, or do nothing. You are not powerless.”

— Jennifer Rosen Heinz

“Probably fewer than 2% of handguns and well under 1% of all guns will ever be involved in a violent crime. Thus, the problem of criminal gun violence is concentrated within a very small subset of gun owners, indicating that gun control aimed at the general population faces a serious needle-in-the-haystack problem.”

— Gary Kleck

“Only with gun violence do we respond to repeated tragedies by saying that mourning is acceptable but discussing how to prevent more tragedies is not. But that’s unacceptable.”

— Ezra Klein

“There is a problem here in America when it comes to police violence and gun violence, that I believe is being ignored by not giving the proper resources to communities.”

— Jumaane Williams

Gun Violence News

Supreme Court declines to review Illinois assault weapons ban, leaving it in place

July 9, 2024

By Melissa Quinn Updated on: July 2, 2024 / 1:42 PM CDT / CBS News To watch video report, Click Here. Washington — The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away a challenge to…

June 12, 2024

5.10.2024 DENVER — This week, the Colorado legislature adjourned the 2024 legislative session. The Colorado chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s…

The Riley Howell Foundation Fund Supports Gun Violence Victims

April 29, 2024

Sofia DiStefano Apr 27, 2024 In honor of Riley Howell, the Howell family created the Riley Howell Foundation Fund (RHFF) in 2020 to raise awareness and help those affected by…

Friday night lights under fire: High school football games are being blitzed by gun violence

September 20, 2023

“It’s definitely the worst I can remember in 35 years as a teacher, coach, leader in sports,” said Karissa Niehoff of the National Federation of State High School Associations. By…

Sandy Hook Promise is a national nonprofit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. Based in Newtown, Connecticut, our intent is to honor all victims of gun violence by turning our tragedy into a moment of transformation. By empowering youth to “know the signs” and uniting all people who value the protection of children, we can take meaningful actions in schools, homes, and communities to prevent gun violence and stop the tragic loss of life.

Gun violence touches every town in America. For too long, life-saving laws have been thwarted by the gun lobby and by leaders who refuse to take common-sense steps that will save lives. But something is changing. Nearly 10 million mayors, moms, teachers, survivors, gun owners, students, and everyday Americans have come together to make their own communities safer. Everytown starts with you, and it starts in your neighborhood. By introducing evidence-based solutions in every town, we can end gun violence.

A problem with so many root causes, requires us to address it from all angles. Brady therefore emphasizes education, litigation, and legislation to ensure that every community is safe, not only from mass shootings, but also from the daily toll of gun homicide, domestic violence, suicide, unintentional shootings, and police violence that plagues so many communities.

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Fact Sheet

136,000 Americans are shot each year — over one million in the past decade.
Giffords Law Center
Americans are 25 times more likely to be killed in a gun homicide than residents of other high income countries.
Giffords Law Center
Across 29 high-income countries, 93% of children ages 0 to 14 years killed with guns are from the United States.
Giffords Law Center
36,000 Americans are killed by guns each year — an average of 100 per day — and 100,000 are shot and injured.
Giffords Law Center
More than half of all suicides in the United States are carried out with a firearm. White men comprise 74% of gun suicide victims.
Giffords Law Center

Gun suicides also have a disproportionate impact on young adults, older Americans, and veterans.
Giffords Law Center
Access to a gun triples the risk of suicide death.
Giffords Law Center
Gun homicides are concentrated in cities, and within cities, gun violence is further clustered among racially segregated, economically disenfranchised neighborhoods.
Giffords Law Center
Each year, nearly 1,500 minors are killed by guns, and three million children are directly exposed to gun violence.
Giffords Law Center
Economists estimate that gun violence costs the American economy at least $229 billion every year, including $8.6 billion in direct expenses.
Giffords Law Center

Resources, Publications, & Articles

• American Psychological Association

• National Institute of Justice

• Violence Policy Center

• Giffords Law Center

• Education Fund to Stop Gun Violence

• Coalition To Stop Gun Violence

Major Gun Violence
Challenges in 2023

In 2022, legislation introduced which purports to control gun violence has historically focused on regulating high-capacity ammunition clips and certain types of semi-automatic firearms. Polling shows that these types of regulations are generally popular, and therefore proposals to ban the sale of these types of weapons and weapon accessories makes political sense. But legislation to control sales of weapons doesn't address the biggest hurdle to effective gun control -- the guns that are already in circulation.
"The biggest problem for gun control today is a number: 300 million," UCLA law professor Adam Winkler said. "That's roughly the number of guns there are in civilian hands today. Any new law you pass confronts the reality of 300 million guns already in circulation."
"You can outlaw assault rifles for instance, say that anyone who has one, it's illegal, you have to turn it in," Winkler said. "You could do that, but they won't be turned in. It's not that you can't outlaw them, it's just that practically speaking you can't get rid of them."

Get Involved

Ways to Take Action

Buying a gun should be like buying a car

Lawmakers can learn lessons from auto safety. To start, they can put in effect more rigorous requirements for owning firearms. “For the most part, it is much easier to be a legal gun owner in America than it is to be a legal driver,” says David Hemenway, director of the Injury Control Research Center at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Pass gun laws that actually reduce gun violence

Researchers are also finding links between right-to-carry laws – which require governments to issue concealed - carry permits to citizens who meet certain requirements–and spikes in firearms crime. Another measure that has attracted lawmakers’ attention is extreme-risk protection orders, also known as gun-violence restraining orders. These allow family members or law enforcement to petition a court to temporarily bar an at-risk person from buying firearms. Evidence suggests that these orders save lives. A 2017 study in Law and Contemporary Problems estimated that in Connecticut, every 10 to 20 gun seizures averted a suicide.

Doctors can help reduce gun violence

Doctors can play a key role in educating families about gun safety, particularly when it comes to keeping guns out of the hands of young children. Studies show that some 3-year-olds are strong enough to shoot a gun. By the time they reach school age, about 75% can fire a weapon. As a result, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that pediatricians start asking about firearms in the home when children are 3 years old and curious about the world – and objects – around them.

Upcoming Events

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Recommended Media

Trigger: The Ripple Effect Of Gun Violence

This documentary frames gun violence as both a disaster and a public health issue through the eyes of its victims. It addresses the critical issue of gun violence prevention by moving the conversation away from the polarizing extremes that have long dominated the debate and lifting up the voice and experiences of those who seek common ground and a new way forward.

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, The Roku Channel

Under The Gun

Under the Gun examines the events and people who have kept the gun debate fierce and the progress slow, even as gun deaths and mass shootings continue to increase. Through the lens of families impacted by the mass shootings in Newtown, Aurora, Isla Vista and Tucson, as well as those who experience daily gun violence in Chicago, the documentary looks at why politicians are finding it difficult to act and what is being done at the state and local levels. The film is executive produced and narrated by Katie Couric and directed by Stephanie Soechtig.

Where to Watch: The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime

Behind The Bullet

Every year, almost 40,000 people are killed by guns in America. Each shooting devastates and forever changes the victim’s family and friends. The new feature documentary, Behind the Bullet, explores a side of gun violence that’s rarely talked about- the impact a shooting has on the shooter. The film answers the question, what does shooting and killing someone do to a person whose intentions are good.

Each subject in the film tells the story of how the pull of a trigger, changed them emotionally, physically, psychologically, and spiritually. The complexity of each scenario plays out as they describe the conflicting emotions and moral injury that comes after a self-defense shooting, an accidental shooting or an unintentional shooting.

Where to Watch: Tubi, The Roku Channel, Vudu