NEW YORK — Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action, and Students Demand Action today announced their gun safety priorities ahead of the upcoming 2022 legislative session, following another tragic year of gun violence and high profile shootings fueled by the gun lobby’s “guns everywhere” agenda in a press call with Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, Monisha Henley, Senior Director of State Government Affairs at Everytown, Missouri State Senator Brian Williams, New Mexico State Representative Pamelya Herndon, and Everytown Survivor Fellow Rovina Billingslea.
2021 was marked by alarming levels of gun violence, including record gun violence on school grounds — recently in Oxford, Michigan, and record homicide numbers in some cities. The high profile trials of Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers and Kyle Rittenhouse highlighted the dangers of open carry and stand your ground, and shootings across the country underscored the deadly effects of America’s lax gun laws.
In response, Everytown and Moms Demand Action will be doubling down on gun safety in state legislatures in 2022, prioritizing efforts to prevent school gun violence and unintentional shootings with secure firearm storage bills in states like Michigan and New Mexico, close the open carry loophole in Colorado, repeal dangerous and racist Stand Your Ground or “shoot first” laws in states like Georgia and Florida, keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers in Missouri and Wisconsin, hold the gun industry accountable in New Jersey, and fund life-saving local violence intervention programs in states across the country, including in Tennessee and Alabama — to name a few.
“The gun lobby’s agenda of ‘guns everywhere, any time, for anybody’ — no matter the death toll — has emboldened extremism, widened the partisan divide, and fueled our nation’s gun violence crisis,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “In red, blue and purple states, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers will be doing the unglamorous, heavy lifting of grassroots organizing to fight back and pass secure storage laws, prohibit open carry and repeal Stand Your Ground while continuing to advocate for common sense gun safety policies that are proven to save lives.”
“The call to action is clear,” said Monisha Henley, Senior Director, State Government Affairs at Everytown for Gun Safety. “We need to act at every level of government to pass common-sense measures that will save lives, and put an end to efforts to roll back our gun laws. And that starts at every statehouse across the country. “
“Missouri has witnessed firsthand the kind of devastation that comes from decades of the NRA and gun lobby using fear mongering and campaign donations to decimate our public safety laws and to deregulate guns. Now, our communities are paying the price with their lives.” said Missouri State Senator Brian Williams. “My colleagues and I will continue fighting against the gun lobby, and we’ll work hard to get real solutions that protect victims and survivors of domestic violence and gun violence across the finish line this upcoming session.”
“There has never been a more important time for our state lawmakers to take action to prevent gun violence at our schools and to create common sense policies that require parents, guardians, or people who occupy homes where minors are present to keep their guns securely stored,” said New Mexico State Representative Pamelya Herndon. “We cannot wait for another completely preventable shooting by a young person to be a wake up call for us. We must act now to pass secure storage legislation.”
“We will not stop fighting for common sense gun legislation across this country,” said Rovina Billingslea, Everytown Survivor Fellow. “We’ll continue telling our stories, forcing our leaders to recognize the human toll of this crisis, and taking the fight to statehouses across the country to call for common-sense gun safety laws — and an end to the gun lobby’s ‘guns everywhere’ agenda — until we put an end to gun violence.”
A recording of the call can be found here.