Mass Shootings
Mass Shootings
What does it solve?
In the eight years between 2015 and 2022, over 19,000 people were shot and killed or wounded in the United States in a mass shooting. The reach of each mass shooting stretches far beyond those killed and wounded, harming the well-being of survivors, their families, and entire communities.
Mass shootings do not need to be an inevitable element of American life. Just like all other tragic forms of gun violence, we can prevent them through common-sense policy solutions.
The Disaster Distress Helpline is a 24/7, 365-days-a-year, national hotline dedicated to providing immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. Call 1-800-985-5990.
What are the solutions?
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Background Checks on All Gun Sales
Background checks are the foundation of any comprehensive gun violence prevention strategy. Current federal law requires that background checks be conducted whenever a person attempts to buy a gun from a licensed gun dealer. This is to ensure that the buyer is not legally prohibited from having the gun.
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Extreme Risk Laws
When a person is in crisis and considering harming themselves or others, family members and law enforcement are often the first people to see the warning signs. Extreme Risk laws, sometimes referred to as “Red Flag” laws, allow loved ones or law enforcement to intervene by petitioning a court for an order to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing guns.
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Prohibit People With Dangerous Histories From Having Guns
People with dangerous histories should be prohibited from having guns. Federal law prohibits gun possession by certain categories of people. States also set standards for who is too dangerous to have guns. People prohibited by federal or state law will fail a background check if they try to buy a gun from a licensed dealer.
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Prohibit Assault Weapons
Assault weapons are exceptionally deadly firearms commonplace in mass shootings. They are generally capable of firing far more bullets, far faster than manual-action hunting rifles. Prohibiting assault weapons can prevent mass shooting injuries and deaths.
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Prohibit High-Capacity Magazines
Firearms equipped with high-capacity magazines make instances of violence exceptionally deadly. High-capacity ammunition magazines, commonly defined as those capable of holding more than 10-rounds, are a threat to public safety and should be prohibited.
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Prohibit Bump Stocks and Other Conversion Devices
Machine guns have been tightly regulated under federal law since the 1930s, but bump stocks and other conversion devices are designed to skirt the law and mimic automatic gunfire. Guns equipped with bump stocks were used in the largest and deadliest mass shooting in modern American history in 2017 in Las Vegas, in which 60 people were shot and killed and hundreds more were wounded.
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Block Silencer Deregulation
Silencers pose a significant danger in the wrong hands. They make it harder for bystanders or law enforcement to identify and react quickly to gunshots. Efforts to deregulate silencers should be blocked.
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Disarm Hate
Guns and hate are a fatal combination. In an average year, more than 25,000 hate crimes in the US involve a firearm—69 a day.[mfn]Everytown Research analysis of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). A yearly average was developed using 12 years of the most recently available data: 2010 to 2021.[/mfn] In parts of the US, some people convicted of hate crimes can still legally buy and have guns. Congress and state legislatures should pass laws that keep guns out of the hands of those who have been convicted of hate crimes.
Featured Resources
Mass Shootings in the United States
Mass shootings haunt our nation’s collective conscience. Each breaking-news alert results in grief at the acts of preventable violence.
Armed Extremism in Buffalo: Online Gun Communities Provide a Path of Radicalization and Training to a Racist Shooter
The Buffalo, NY mass shooting in May 2022 at Tops Friendly Market was an act of white supremacist, hate-motivated violence.
Misogyny, Extremism, and Gun Violence
The impact of violent misogyny, combined with the unique harm of violence involving guns, makes addressing it an urgent issue.
Gunfire on School Grounds
Since 2013, Everytown has tracked incidents of gunfire on school grounds to learn how often youth are affected by gun violence.
Remembering and Honoring Pulse: Anti-LGBTQ+ Bias and Guns are Taking the Lives of Countless LGBTQ+ People
Pulse is a reminder of the work that remains to end the acts of gun violence that wound and kill LGBTQ+ Americans today.
Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines
Many of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States have been carried out with assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
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Mass Shootings
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Recordando y honrando a Pulse: El sesgo anti-LGBTQ+ y las armas están acabando con la vida de innumerables personas LGBTQ+
Pulse es un recordatorio del trabajo que queda por hacer para poner fin a los actos de violencia con armas de fuego.
Fact Sheet
How Can We Prevent Gun Violence in American Schools?
School leaders and policymakers must support and implement strong gun safety laws and school-based interventions.
Fact Sheet
Promising Approaches for Implementing Extreme Risk Laws: A Guide for Practitioners and Policymakers
This guide details the best available practices and promising approaches to effective implementation of extreme risk laws.
Report
Beyond Measure: Gun Violence Trauma
This study focuses on trauma from gun violence by listening to the voices and experiences of those directly impacted.
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Sobrevivientes de violencia con armas de fuego en los Estados Unidos
Esta encuesta explora la amplitud de la violencia con armas de fuego en los Estados Unidos y su impacto en los sobrevivientes.
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Gun Violence Survivors in America
This survey explores the breadth of gun violence in America and how it impacts survivors.
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Cómo detener los tiroteos y la violencia armada en las escuelas: Un plan para mantener seguros a los estudiantes
Necesitamos acciones significativas para mantener nuestras escuelas y las comunidades circundantes seguras en los Estados Unidos.
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How To Stop Shootings and Gun Violence in Schools: A Plan to Keep Students Safe
We need meaningful actions to keep our schools safe, actions that address what we know about gun violence in America’s schools.
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The Economic Cost of Gun Violence
In an average year, gun violence in America kills 40,000 people, wounds nearly twice as many, and costs our nation $557 billion.
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When the Shooting Stops: The Impact of Gun Violence on Survivors in America
The trauma of gun violence doesn’t end when the shooting stops. Experiencing gun violence has a lasting impact on survivors.
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Cuando el tiroteo se detiene: El impacto de la violencia con armas de fuego en los sobrevivientes de los Estados Unidos
El trauma de la violencia con armas de fuego no termina cuando se detiene el tiroteo.
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Armed Extremism Primer: Sovereign Citizens
Sovereign citizens fall under the umbrella of the wider right-wing anti-government extremist movement, which can include fixation on guns.
Fact SheetThe Impact of Gun Violence on Latinx Communities
Latinx people in the United States are dying from gun violence every day and at rates disproportionate to their white peers.
Fact SheetEl impacto de la violencia con armas de fuego en las comunidades latines
Las personas latines en los EE UU mueren a causa de la violencia armada en tasas desproporcionadas con respecto a los blancos.
Fact SheetCalculate the Economic Cost of Gun Violence
Examining the economic consequences of gun violence is paramount to understanding just how extensive and expensive this crisis is.
Data ToolThe Danger of Guns on Campus
Guns on campus are likely to lead to more shootings, homicides, and suicides, and they’re unlikely to prevent mass shootings.
Fact Sheet
Armed and Dangerous: How the Gun Lobby Enshrines Guns as Tools of the Extreme Right
For decades, the gun lobby has enabled extremists to access guns through its opposition of common sense gun laws.
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The Impact of Active Shooter Drills in Schools
Since the 1999 Columbine shooting, active shooter drills have proliferated in America’s school systems at an exponential rate.
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Gun Violence in America
We have gathered the most comprehensive, publicly available data to illustrate the magnitude of everyday gun violence.
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Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Plan for Preventing Mass Shootings and Ending All Gun Violence in American Schools
The failure of our leaders to address the root causes of school gun violence is having lasting consequences for millions of children.
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Extreme Risk Laws Save Lives
Extreme Risk laws, or “red flag” laws, empower family or police to intervene and temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing guns.
Fact Sheet
The Impact of Gun Violence on Children and Teens
Children's exposure to gun violence has far reaching effects: An estimated three million children witness a shooting each year.
Fact Sheet
Disarm Hate: the Deadly Intersection of Guns and Hate-Motivated Violence
Easy access to firearms gives a hate-filled individual the means to shatter numerous lives and whole communities.
Fact SheetFatal Gaps
Progress Toward a Stronger Background Check System More than ten years after the Virginia Tech shooting, progress in closing the gaps in state mental…
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