A year in review for the gun safety movement, bump stocks, 3D printers, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Tree of Life Synagogue, 14,154 Number of Deaths with Guns & Bullets This year

In 2019, we're going to need your continued support as we take more actions and promote a comprehensive gun safety agenda, but it's important to look back on an incredible year that would not have been possible without you.

The Federal Government

After the Las Vegas shooting, our country loudly demanded that something must be done about bump stocks — the accessory used by the shooter to kill 58 people and wound hundreds more. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) opened up a public comment period to the public, asking the American people to weigh in on a proposed rule clarifying federal law to regulate bump stocks. At first, the gun lobby's extremist supporters hastily flooded the ATF comments opposing action on bump stocks. But the overwhelming majority of Americans who support common-sense gun measures — people like you! — demonstrated their power, and with more than 72% of comments in support of this regulation, the federal government has indicated that it will prohibit bump stocks!

And that's not all. This year, the State Department recklessly allowed a private company to distribute online code that would enable anyone with a 3D printer — including terrorists, felons, and domestic abusers — to print their own untraceable guns. And because many of these guns could be printed entirely in plastic, they would be undetectable by metal detectors — leaving our airports, our music festivals, and our government buildings less safe. But thousands of gun sense supporters reached out to the State Department directly, and demanded that it protect our communities and STOP downloadable guns from becoming our new reality. And after the State Department was taken to court, a federal judge granted a temporary injunction that prohibited the online distribution of downloadable gun blueprints.

On the Ground Across the Country

After the devastating school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, more than two million students, gun violence survivors, gun safety advocates, and concerned citizens participated in March For Our Lives events in Washington, D.C. and more than 750 cities and towns across the country. And as we marched and used our powerful voices, we gave the politicians in office an ultimatum: Reject the NRA and do more to protect us from gun violence or we'll vote you out in November.

And it worked. In states like Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, we helped enact a number of life-saving gun safety bills that protect survivors of domestic violence from gun violence at the hands of their abusers. Through our efforts, places like Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island now have Red Flag laws in place — laws that help prevent tragedies like mass shootings, gun suicides, and other acts of gun violence. And in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, we STOPPED the gun lobby's efforts to pass Permitless Carry laws — laws that drastically lower the bar for who can carry a concealed firearm in public. These are just a few of the victories we're celebrating this year and it's because we showed up in force in state houses and at town halls across the country, ensuring that our elected officials reject the NRA leadership's extreme "guns everywhere" agenda.

Electing A Gun Sense Majority

This midterm election, Moms Demand Action launched an ambitious campaign to highlight candidates running for office who would commit to fight for gun safety and to replace politicians beholden to the gun lobby. With more than 3,000 candidates earning the Gun Sense Candidate distinction, we worked hard to change the future of gun violence prevention. We held hundreds of events, talked to our neighbors, knocked on doors, made phone calls — and so much more — all to ensure we won BIG and elected a Gun Sense Majority into office.

And on Election Day, we elected a new wave of leaders who are committed to ending gun violence at every level of government. We elected Gun Sense Champions to critical seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. We secured key governorships in states like Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, and Nevada. We proved that the American people support a future that's free from gun violence, that gun safety is no longer a liability, and in fact it's a platform candidates are proud to run on.

The Fight Ahead

Though we experienced incredible achievements at the ballot box, the recent mass shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA and at a bar in Thousand Oaks, CA are reminders of the threat of gun violence in our daily lives and the work that remains to be done. For too long, a tragic pattern has emerged after incidents of gun violence: our country mourns, politicians offer platitudes while the gun lobby impedes progress, time passes, and eventually our elected officials move on without taking any meaningful action to stop gun violence. But last month, America elected a new wave of leaders who will help break the pattern of inaction to prevent gun violence. And in 2019, when the new Congress convenes in January, we will demand comprehensive gun safety laws.

Next year, we will focus on strengthening the background checks system, protecting kids and communities, disarming dometic abusers, combating daily gun violence, and holding the gun industry accountable. And if 2018 is anything to go by, we're looking forward to another incredible year for gun safety in 2019. 
Gun violence  and crime incidents are collected/validated from 2,500 sources daily – incidents and their source data are found at the gunviolencearchive.org website.
1: Actual number of deaths and injuries
2: Number of INCIDENTS reported and verified

22,000 Annual Suicides not included on Daily Summary Ledger
Numbers on this table reflect a subset of all information
collected and will not add to 100% of incidents.
www.gunviolencearchive.org  www.facebook.com/gunviolencearchive
Data Validated: December 22, 2018