Guns in Public Places

In recent years, the gun lobby has promoted a state legislative agenda that would ultimately allow anyone to carry a gun anywhere. As a result, legislators have considered bills that remove any and all limitations on gun carrying, which would allow guns in some of society’s most vulnerable spaces, like schools, public parks, and bars, and would let anyone carry a concealed handgun in public without a permit, even if they have a violent criminal record and haven’t undergone any training.

Everytown’s research has shown that expanding the areas where guns can be carried and the circumstances in which they can be used is only associated with greater harm. So-called Stand Your Ground laws, which encourage the use of deadly force outside the home, are associated with significantly higher justifiable homicide rates. After Georgia passed its Stand Your Ground law, the number of justifiable homicides in the states increased by 83 percent. In Florida, it tripled. This push towards allowing easy access to guns in a growing variety of public places has only resulted in a greater risk of gun violence, often justified by increasingly permissive laws.

Guns in Public Places

guns in public places
Fact Sheets

Arming Teachers Is a Dangerous Proposal

39 Items
Litigation Documents • Guns in Public Places • August 31, 2017

Everytown Files Brief in Support of a Rehearing En Banc for the District of Columbia’s Public Carry System (Wrenn v. D.C.)

Everytown for Gun Safety filed this amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a case challenging the District of Columbia’s concealed carry licensing system. This brief calls for the full D.C. Circuit to review the 2-1 decision striking down D.C.’s public carry licensing regime and criticizes the failure of the panel majority to engage in the historical analysis required by Heller.

Also featured in:  Litigation & Enforcement  

Litigation Documents • Guns in Public Places • February 24, 2017

Everytown Files Brief in Support of California’s Restrictions on Open Carry (Nichols v. Brown)

Everytown for Gun Safety filed this brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, urging the Court to uphold California's restrictions on Open Carry.

Also featured in:  Litigation & Enforcement  

Litigation Documents • Guns in Public Places • January 15, 2016

Amicus Brief: Grace v. District of Columbia

Everytown for Gun Safety filed this amicus brief in the federal trial court in Washington, D.C., in support of the District's concealed carry permitting law. The brief demonstrated that the law's "good reason"/"proper reason" standard is consistent with centuries of Anglo-American tradition, and does not violate the Second Amendment.

Also featured in:  The Gun Lobby  

Litigation Documents • Guns in Public Places • January 4, 2016

Amicus Brief: GeorgiaCarry.org v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Everytown for Gun Safety filed this amicus brief in a case challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ regulation of guns in recreational areas administered by the Corps. Everytown’s brief provided the court hearing the challenge with previously overlooked materials regarding the history of regulating guns in areas, like the Corps’ recreation areas, where members of the public congregate.

Also featured in:  The Gun Lobby  

Reports • Guns in Public Places • December 31, 2015

Analysis of School Shootings

In 2013, Everytown began tracking gunfire in schools and at college and universities — public reports that a firearm was discharged inside a school building or on school or campus grounds — and have since identified qualifying incidents that included fatal and nonfatal assaults, suicides, and unintentional shootings.