Everytown for Gun Safety Releases 2024 State Gun Law Rankings, North Carolina Drops From 21 to 23 in National Rank for the Strength of its Gun Laws

RALEIGH, N.C. – Today, Everytown for Gun Safety launched the updated “Gun Law Rankings” for 2024, an online tool and website that ranks all 50 states based on the strength of their gun laws and catalogs gun safety laws state by state. This year, Everytown’s state gun law rankings also shows whether states’ rankings increased or decreased over the past year, reflecting progress made by passing common-sense gun safety policies or setbacks as a result of enacting dangerous measures backed by the gun lobby. Everytown’s analysis found that North Carolina ranks 23 in the nation for its gun laws, dropping from a rank of 21 last year. 

While gun-sense legislators in states like Minnesota and Michigan passed gun safety policies last year, including extreme risk laws and background check requirements on all gun sales, North Carolina went in the opposite direction. Gun lobby-backed legislators in North Carolina passed SB41, which repealed the state’s 100-year-old background check requirement for purchasing a handgun. 

“Lawmakers are more focused on playing party politics and blatantly ignoring life-saving legislation than protecting their constituents from being shot dead – this kind of inaction and misdirected attention is a grave danger to North Carolinians,” said Grace McLain, a volunteer with the North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We need legislators from both sides of the aisle to work on research-based solutions to reduce gun violence and protect North Carolinians.”

“I don’t know how many times our generation needs to say ‘this isn’t normal,’ before lawmakers respond to our demands for change,” said Emma Lewis, a sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill and a volunteer with the North Carolina chapter of Students Demand Action. “But I’m certain that even if our demands are ignored, we won’t back down. We deserve to be heard and to feel safe in our communities, at school, during sports games, and in our daily lives. We’ve taken the names of the politicians who’ve refused to keep us safe and are committed to replacing them with people who will.”

To speak with an expert about Everytown’s State Gun Law Rankings or gun violence prevention efforts in North Carolina, please contact [email protected]