For the gun safety movement, 2024 was a year of taking action.
Since our founding, Everytown’s supporters have grown to nearly 11 million mayors, parents, teachers, survivors, gun owners, students, and everyday Americans who are committed to coming together to make their communities safer.
There are now more than 850 Students Demand Action groups across the country, and Moms Demand Action has chapters in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. And thanks to their tireless advocacy, we saw major wins for gun safety in 2024, including:
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In Legislatures
In state legislatures, we helped pass 107 life-saving gun safety policies. We also played defense, defeating 254 gun lobby-backed bills that would have put our communities at risk.
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On the Ballot
3,300 Gun Sense Candidates were elected into office up and down the ballot during the 2023-24 election cycle—including 333 of our very own Moms Demand Action volunteers.
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Online—and on Billboards
Students Demand Action launched a new campaign calling out gun industry leaders for prioritizing their profits over our safety. Using dark humor, gun industry caricatures, and ripped-from-the-headlines themes, the campaign presents young people with an urgent message: The gun industry is selling your safety. Are You Good With That?
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In Communities
The Everytown Community Safety Fund, a program of the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, awarded over $2 million to 34 community-based violence intervention organizations to help sustain critical gun violence prevention work nationwide. Community-led violence intervention programs contributed to a 12 percent decline in gun crimes in 2023.
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In the Courts
- In a life-saving ruling, the Supreme Court confirmed: Domestic abusers under restraining orders do not have a constitutional right to own guns.
- Separately, Everytown Law, the litigation arm of the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, filed its 19th and 20th lawsuits to hold the gun industry accountable.
- Finally, we sent our thoughts and prayers to the NRA as its doom spiral continued, this time in the courtroom. The NRA was held accountable by a judge who found the NRA liable for financial mismanagement. The same ruling also found certain NRA executives liable for improperly diverting funds to benefit themselves.
Keep reading to learn more about these victories—and to see how you can be part of the fight in 2025.
Making Gun Safety a Priority in Our Nation and Communities
Our national movement to end gun violence has grown tremendously over the past decade, and gun safety is no longer a third-rail issue. This summer, on the two-year mark of the signing of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the Surgeon General declared firearm violence in America to be a public health crisis—a historic first. The landmark advisory is a critical step forward for gun safety and the evidence-based policy recommendations it offers are proven to save lives.
In 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration cemented its status as the strongest gun safety administration in history.
The administration announced new executive actions to keep communities safe from gun violence. These included actions to:
- Promote the secure storage of firearms;
- Crack down on 3D-printed guns and machine gun conversion devices; and
- Improve school-based active shooter drills.
The White House also leveraged its historic Office of Gun Violence Prevention—overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris—to implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA). These implementation efforts included:
- Highlighting a national Extreme Risk Protection Order resource center made possible by BSCA and the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions; and
- Announcing $285 million to hire and train mental health professionals in schools.
Investing in Our Communities
This year, the Everytown Community Safety Fund, a program of the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, awarded over $2 million to 34 community-based violence intervention organizations to help sustain critical gun violence prevention work nationwide. Community-led violence intervention programs contributed to a 12 percent decline in gun crimes in 2023.
The Biden-Harris Administration hosted multiple events highlighting the important role Community Violence Intervention (CVI) organizations play in the public safety ecosystem as part of their Black History Month programming in February. The White House’s “Community Violence Awareness Week” included participation from the Everytown Community Safety Fund and multiple of the Fund’s current and former grantees. The White House’s prioritization of CVI organizations in its Black History Month programming highlighted the important role these organizations play in gun violence prevention, and the need to resource and sustain these violence interrupters.
In May, Students Demand Action partnered with the What I Wish I Knew Foundation (WIWIK) to bring violence interruption strategies to five high schools in the Philadelphia area. The “Don’t Get Tricked Out Ya Spot” Conflict Resolution Tour had one mission: To teach students critical conflict resolution skills to reduce violence in their lives and their city.
Gun Sense University
Early in June, we hosted our 11th annual Gun Sense University. Thousands of volunteers and gun violence survivors gathered in Washington, D.C., for a weekend of programming, training, and community building.
At the conference, volunteers heard live remarks from President Biden at Gun Sense University. Immediately after his speech, hundreds of volunteers from all 50 states and D.C. took to Capitol Hill for our largest federal advocacy day. They demanded that every member of Congress take meaningful action to address our nation’s gun violence crisis.
Following the gathering, we also presented our annual Gun Sense Lawmaker of the Year award to the federal, state, local, and Demand a Seat gun sense champions who helped us make progress in 2024:
- Federal Gun Sense Lawmaker of the Year: Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries
- State Gun Sense Lawmaker of the Year: New Mexico State Representative Andrea Romero
- Local Gun Sense Lawmaker of the Year: Cleveland, Ohio, Mayor Justin Bibb
- Demand a Seat Lawmakers of the Year, Rhode Island State Senator Pam Lauria and State Representative Justine Caldwell
Life-Saving Decision at the Nation’s Highest Court
In June, the United States Supreme Court upheld the longstanding federal law that prohibits abusers subject to protective orders from possessing guns in United States v. Rahimi. In doing so, it reversed an extreme and deadly lower-court decision. The Supreme Court’s life-saving decision confirmed that domestic abusers under these protective orders do not have the constitutional right to possess guns.
The stakes of this case could not have been higher for the millions of women, families, and communities across the U.S. who are impacted by the crisis of domestic violence—including the widespread use of guns by abusers.
Gun Safety in the States
In state legislatures, we helped pass 107 life-saving gun safety policies. We also played defense, defeating 254 gun lobby-backed bills that would have put our communities at risk.
Key State Victories
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California
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed numerous gun safety bills into law to take action on gun safety by:
- Protecting democracy,
- Disarming hate,
- Addressing the mental health impacts of gun violence,
- Promoting responsible gun ownership,
- Addressing irresponsible gun industry practices,
- Keeping guns out of the hands of people posing a serious risk to public safety, and
- Blocking illegal gun access.
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Florida
The Sunshine State allocated $2.5 million in the state budget toward community violence intervention and grant programming. These grants will allow the increased support, the development and delivery of intervention-based strategies to interrupt cycles of violence, reinjury, and retaliation; and support programs that seek to reduce violence among individuals who have the highest risk of perpetrating or being victimized by violence in the near future.
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Hawai‘i
Hawai‘i Governor Josh Green signed a bill into law to raise the age of purchase for ammunition to 21. The law also requires ammunition sellers to check the government-issued ID of purchasers to verify their age.
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Maine
In the first legislative session since the mass shooting in Lewiston, lawmakers enacted two life-saving gun violence prevention bills and funded an office of violence prevention. Measures included requiring background checks on firearm purchases and requiring 72-hour waiting periods between the purchase and acquisition of a firearm.
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Massachusetts
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed an omnibus gun safety bill into law. The bill included life-saving, common-sense provisions such as:
- Raising the age to own a semi-automatic rifle or shotgun to 21;
- Prohibiting the carrying of all firearms in government buildings, polling places, and schools; and
- Strengthening the state’s existing “red flag law.” The strengthened measure enables school administrators and licensed healthcare providers, in addition to family members and law enforcement, to petition the court for an Extreme Risk Protection Order.
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Mississippi
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill to prohibit machine gun conversion devices. Machine gun conversion devices, including “Glock switches,” are third-party aftermarket devices that allow users to convert semi-automatic firearms into illegal fully automatic machine guns. These devices pose a particular threat to law enforcement officers. Republicans in both the House and Senate were the primary authors of legislation to regulate these devices.
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Nebraska
Despite nearly a dozen dangerous gun bills being introduced in the Nebraska legislature, thanks to the tireless advocacy from volunteers with the Nebraska chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, lawmakers adjourned without passing any dangerous gun bills. Failed legislation included proposals to:
- Repeal the state’s critical background check requirement for unlicensed purchases of handguns, and
- Change the state’s traditional self-defense law to a shoot first law—allowing an individual to kill another person outside of their home, even if they could safely avoid doing so.
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New Mexico
The New Mexico legislature passed a bill to implement waiting periods for firearm purchases, becoming the 12th state to do so.
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Rhode Island
Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee signed life-saving secure storage legislation into law. It expands and strengthens the previous statewide firearm storage law by requiring all gun owners to securely store their guns when not in use, either in a locked container or with a safety device that prevents unauthorized access.
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Vermont
The Vermont legislature passed a life-saving measure to help cut off the flow of unserialized, untraceable “ghost guns” into Vermont. The measure will also prohibit firearms at polling places. The measure passed through both chambers of the legislature with bipartisan support.
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Wyoming
Following tireless advocacy from Moms Demand Action volunteers, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon vetoed a measure to repeal “gun free” zones. The measure would have advanced the gun lobby’s dangerous “guns everywhere” agenda by pushing guns into government meeting spaces, schools, universities, and sporting events, while punishing anyone who refuses to allow guns in those places.
In September, Everytown and other leading gun violence prevention groups celebrated the launch of Legislators for Safer Communities (LSC). LSC is an independent, nonpartisan coalition of 171 state legislators, representing 43 states across the country, committed to reducing gun violence. LSC is led by six co-chairs and 22 steering committee members who are champions of gun violence prevention in their states. The slate of leaders embodies a representative and geographically diverse group who have varied experiences surrounding gun violence, including many of whom are survivors and who represent communities disproportionately impacted by gun violence.
Holding the Gun Industry Accountable
The Everytown Action Fund and Support Fund continued to hold the gun industry accountable in the court of law and the court of public opinion in 2024.
Students Demand Action volunteers, in partnership with the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, led the way in our grassroots industry accountability work. They organized divestment campaigns on college campuses across the country and launched an innovative new accountability campaign. This year, young leaders continually reminded the gun industry that there is a human cost to their greed—and we refuse to pay the price with our lives.
Our industry accountability efforts are making a difference. Due in part to Everytown and the Everytown Support Fund’s advocacy, early this summer, YouTube changed its content policy to age-restrict certain firearm content for viewers under the age of 18. The policy also prohibits videos demonstrating how to remove a safety device from a firearm for users of all ages.
In a major win for gun safety, Polymer80—the nation’s largest producer of ghost gun kits and component parts—shuttered in 2024. For years, ghost guns have represented the fastest-growing gun safety threat to our communities. And Polymer80 was an industry leader in finding ways to skirt the law, making it easier to get more ghost guns into the hands of felons and minors.
Everytown has led the effort to hold the ghost gun industry accountable for its illegal and life-endangering conduct—starting with Polymer80. Soon after ghost guns started turning up at crime scenes, Everytown and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund launched a multi-pronged effort to:
- Hold Polymer80 accountable in court;
- Confirm that these weapons are regulated like other guns; and
- Pass state laws banning ghost guns outright.
In 2023, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund launched a first-of-its-kind online hub, “The Smoking Gun,” dedicated to holding the gun industry accountable. This year, The Smoking Gun released nearly 90 reports and/or new releases exposing the gun industry’s role in America’s gun violence epidemic.
Separately, Everytown Law continued its efforts to advance gun safety in the courts and through the civil and criminal justice systems. In September 2024, Everytown Law filed its nineteenth and twentieth lawsuits seeking to hold members of the gun industry accountable for unlawful and reckless conduct contributing to gun violence across the country.
The nineteenth lawsuit was filed in September in Maryland with the Attorneys General of the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland to hold three Maryland-based gun dealers accountable for allegedly facilitating interstate gun trafficking. The twentieth, also filed in September, was brought in Minnesota against a large, midwest retail chain alleged to have negligently entrusted a handgun to an underage teenager, resulting in his death by suicide.
The NRA’s Doom Spiral
When Michael Bloomberg and Shannon Watts combined Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action in 2013, they created Everytown for Gun Safety—a group they hoped could “eventually outmuscle the National Rifle Association.” Eleven years later, we did just that.
On Friday, February 23, the jury in the trial of Attorney General of the State of NY v. NRA returned a verdict. They found the NRA liable for mismanagement and certain executives liable for improperly diverting funds from the non-profit to benefit themselves or others close to them. And this ruling includes former NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, who resigned just days before the trial began.
2024 Elections
We know that the 2024 election results at the top of the ticket were not what we had worked so hard for. But we did make a positive impact in the 2024 elections, sweeping 3,300 Gun Sense Candidates to victory during the 2023-24 election cycle, including hundreds of our own volunteers.
Candidates like gun violence survivors Shaundelle Brooks and Lucy McBath, who have turned their pain and anger after their sons were killed into purpose and action. Candidates like Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks, who made history: for the first time, there will be two Black women in the U.S. Senate! And candidates like Rep. Sarah McBride from Delaware, who will serve as the first openly transgender U.S. Congressional Representative.
Leaders at the local, state, and federal levels are ready to fight to protect our families and communities from gun violence. And many of them are in office thanks to the hard work of everyday Americans across the country. Together, volunteers with Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action, and the Gun Sense Action Network made over 12 million voter contacts this election cycle. Those phone calls, text messages, door knocks, postcards, and conversations were not in vain.
Over the last decade, we’ve achieved victories we never dreamed possible because we keep pushing forward—no matter what. And this hard work saves lives.
2025 will be challenging. But challenges are nothing new for our movement, and we’ve proven that we have the resolve to win tough fights.
We’ve got a lot of people power—but we need you with us in this fight for the year ahead.
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