Parkland Survivors Activism Spurred Wave of Gun Control Laws in 2018
An examination by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence found that of the dozens of gun safety bills passed in 2018, 67 measures would have an impact on gun-related deaths and injuries.
Florida Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo made an impassioned speech calling for action days after a mass shooter shot and killed 17 people at a Florida high school.
Gun Safety Laws
An examination by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence found that of the dozens of gun safety bills passed in 2018, 67 measures enacted in 26 states and Washington, D.C. would have an impact on gun-related deaths and injuries. Click on one of the red or blue colored states for more.
Source: Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Credit: Kelly Zegers/NBC
After a gunman killed 17 students and adults last year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, young survivors declared #NeverAgain and demanded action on gun control legislation.
With support the of their peers, parents, advocates and celebrities, they rallied at statehouses across the country, called out lawmakers by name and marched for their lives, applying unwavering pressure on elected leaders to enact stronger gun control laws.
Hear some of the most emotional moments from student speeches at the Washington, D.C., March for Our Lives rally on March 24.
In the months following the Valentine’s Day massacre in Parkland, lawmakers at the state level passed a slew of gun control measures ranging from increasing criminal penalties for gun-related crimes to banning lethal accessories like bump stocks, according to the gun control advocacy group co-founded by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who survived a 2011 shooting.
An examination by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence found that of the dozens of gun safety bills passed in 2018, 67 measures enacted in 26 states and Washington, D.C., would have an impact on gun-related deaths and injuries. Among those are raising the minimum age to buy guns, keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, expanding background checks and "red flag" laws allowing law enforcement to take away guns from people deemed at-risk.
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Students hold up signs with names of victims of the massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during a rally in front of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 14, 2018.
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Students march up Pennsylvania Avenue toward Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Students walked out of school to protest gun violence in the biggest demonstration yet of the student activism that has emerged in response to last month's massacre of 17 people at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
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Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School gather on the football field to honor the memories of 17 classmates that were killed during a mass shooting at the school on March 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida. They were joined in spirit by students around the country to mark the one month anniversary of the shooting with a day of walk outs and protests.
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Students raise their fists during a walkout to protest gun violence at Lincoln Park High School, Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Chicago, one month after a deadly shooting inside a high school in Parkland, Florida.
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Students at the Philadelphia High School of Creative And Performing Arts gather for a walkout to address school safety and gun violence on March 14, 2018, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Students from surrounding schools gather at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan to mark one month since the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, and to demand an end to gun violence on March 14, 2018, in New York City, New York.
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Students at Yarmouth High School participate in a walkout to protest gun violence, Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Yarmouth, Maine. Leaders of the rally address the crowd from the back of a pick-up truck in front of the school. Yarmouth is one of the few schools in Maine that did not cancel school on Wednesday as the state digs out from the third major winter storm in two weeks.
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Students from Douglas Freeman High School walk out of school to protest gun violence in Richmond, Virginia, March 14, 2018.
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Students hold their lighted cellphones at a rally at Parkland High School outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018.
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Students walk out of Zionsville High School during a student walkout, Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Zionsville, Indiana.
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Students from Miami County Day School walk out to protest gun violence in Miami Shores, Florida, Wednesday, March 14, 2018.
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Students from Westglades Middle School walk out of their school as part of a nationwide protest against gun violence, Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida. Students across the country participated in walkouts Wednesday to protest gun violence, one month after the deadly shooting inside a high school in Parkland.
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Students hold a sign during a student walkout outside Perry Hall High School in Perry Hall, Maryland, Wednesday, March 14, 2018.
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Students exit the building before gathering on their soccer field for a 17-minute walkout protest at the Stivers School for the Arts, Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Dayton, Ohio.
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Students rally in front of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Students walked out of school to protest gun violence in the biggest demonstration yet of the student activism that has emerged in response to last month's massacre of 17 people at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
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Students from James Ferris High School assemble outside the school during a student walkout, Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Jersey City, New Jersey.
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Students, aged 17 and 18, hold a banner outside the front of the American School in London, after taking part in a 17-minute walkout in the school playground, Wednesday, March 14, 2018. From Maine to Hawaii, students planned to walk out of school Wednesday to protest gun violence in the biggest demonstration yet of the student activism that has emerged in response to last month's massacre of 17 people at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Many of these passed in states dominated by Republicans. The GOP-controlled legislature in Florida passed a gun safety reform package with the support of its Republican governor that expanded background checks and added a waiting period for firearm purchases, among other changes. The move was atypical for a state with a history of "recklessly weak gun laws," the Giffords Center noted.
Still, gun advocates made gains in weakening or expanding laws in some states. Idaho and Wyoming passed Stand Your Ground legislation, the controversial law removing the duty to retreat from a conflict before using deadly force. South Dakota and Wyoming approved bills allowing firearms in houses of worship, while West Virginia passed a law that forces private business owners to allow guns in their parking lots. Other enacted measures ranged from lowering the age for a concealed carry permit to allowing firearms on the grounds of private schools and expanding the ability of a person to subjecting all gun laws to the strictest form of judicial review, as was done in Iowa.
