CLAIM:
The United States is a nation of gun violence survivors. More people die from gun violence in the United States by early February than during an entire calendar year in other high-income countries.1 In addition, millions more are shot and wounded, threatened with a gun, or witness an act of gun violence in their lifetime.
To understand the scope of how gun violence impacts Americans, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund worked with SurveyUSA to survey a nationally representative sample of 1,300 American adults in October 2022 to understand Americans’ experiences with gun violence. This survey explores the breadth of gun violence in America, how it impacts survivors, and whether their needs are being met through three components:
Key Survey Findings
Gun Violence:
- 59 percent of adults or someone they know or care about have experienced gun violence in their lifetime.
- 71 percent of Black adults, 60 percent of Latinx adults, and 58 percent of white adults or someone they know or care about have experienced gun violence in their lifetimes.
Gun Deaths:
- 1 in 5 adults know or care about someone who was killed with a gun.
- 1 in 3 Black and Latinx people know or care about someone who was killed with a gun.
Gun Suicide:
- 1 in 4 adults know or care about someone who attempted or died by suicide with a gun.
Trauma:
- 41 percent of those who have had personal experiences with gun violence say it has caused them trauma.
- 57 percent of Black survivors, 38 percent of white survivors, and 34 percent of Latinx survivors experienced trauma from the incident.
Risk:
- 77 percent of adults say they believe children today are more at risk of becoming a victim of gun violence than they themselves were as children.
Experiences with Gun Violence
59 percent of adults or someone they know or care about have experienced gun violence in their lifetime.
REBUTTAL:
The Moms Demand Action/Everytown for Gun Safety report relies on emotionally charged rhetoric, misleading statistics, and policy prescriptions that fail to address the root causes of gun violence. Below is a detailed response highlighting flaws in their methodology, data misrepresentation, and counterpoints with factual evidence.
1. Misleading Claim: “More people die from gun violence in the U.S. by early February than during an entire calendar year in other high-income countries.”
Rebuttal:
🔹 This claim misrepresents data by aggregating all firearm-related deaths (homicide, suicide, legal intervention, and accidents) without breaking them down.
🔹 The majority of U.S. gun deaths (over 60%) are suicides, which are not the result of criminal firearm use or mass shootings.
🔹 When adjusted for non-suicide firearm deaths, the U.S. does not lead all high-income countries in homicide rates—several nations with strict gun laws have comparable or higher homicide rates.
Sources:
- CDC Firearm Mortality Data, 2021
- World Population Review: Global Homicide Rates (2022)
- Heritage Foundation Report on Gun Violence in Developed Nations
2. Misleading Claim: “59% of adults or someone they know has experienced gun violence in their lifetime.”
Rebuttal:
🔹 This is an ambiguous and misleading statistic because it includes not only people directly shot but also those who know someone affected, have been threatened, or have witnessed gun violence.
🔹 By this logic, nearly every American is also a ‘car accident survivor’ or ‘violent crime survivor’ if they know someone who has been affected.
🔹 Survey methodology matters—this number is based on a self-reported survey from SurveyUSA, which is not a scientific or peer-reviewed study.
Sources:
- DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics: National Crime Victimization Survey
- Pew Research Center: How Americans View Gun Violence (2023)
3. Misleading Claim: “Firearm suicide is a public health crisis in the U.S.”
Rebuttal:
🔹 Gun violence and suicide are separate issues and should not be conflated.
🔹 Suicides account for nearly two-thirds (over 60%) of all firearm-related deaths in the U.S.
🔹 Many countries with strict gun control (e.g., Japan, South Korea, Belgium) have higher suicide rates than the U.S., proving that suicide is not necessarily linked to firearm access.
🔹 Addressing mental health, substance abuse, and crisis intervention is more effective than banning firearms.
Solutions:
✅ Expand mental health resources and suicide prevention hotlines
✅ Promote secure firearm storage for at-risk individuals
✅ Implement community crisis intervention programs
Sources:
- CDC National Violent Death Reporting System
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
- World Health Organization: Global Suicide Data (2022)
4. Misleading Claim: “Black and Latinx communities are disproportionately impacted by gun violence.”
Rebuttal:
🔹 This claim ignores the primary driver of gun violence in urban communities—gang violence.
🔹 DOJ statistics show that over 80% of firearm homicides in major U.S. cities are linked to gang activity.
🔹 Strict gun laws in places like Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. have failed to stop high firearm-related crime rates because the issue is criminal behavior, not gun ownership.
Real Issue:
- Gun violence in minority communities is concentrated in urban areas with high gang activity and low police presence due to defunding efforts.
Solutions:
✅ Targeted gang intervention programs
✅ Increased law enforcement presence in high-crime areas
✅ Criminal justice reforms to keep repeat violent offenders off the streets
Sources:
- DOJ National Gang Center Report, 2022
- FBI Uniform Crime Report, 2021
- Bureau of Justice Statistics: Urban Gun Crime Data
5. Misleading Claim: “1 in 5 adults know someone who was killed with a gun.”
Rebuttal:
🔹 This statistic is highly misleading because it includes suicides, self-defense shootings, and police shootings.
🔹 When adjusted for criminal homicides, the number is much lower.
🔹 The vast majority of gun deaths occur in cities with strict gun control laws, undermining the claim that gun laws reduce violence.
Sources:
- CDC Firearm Deaths by Intent (2021)
- FBI Crime Data Explorer
- Heritage Foundation: The Myth of American Gun Violence
6. Misleading Claim: “77% of Americans believe children today are more at risk of gun violence than they were as kids.”
Rebuttal:
🔹 This is a perception-based statistic, not a fact.
🔹 Data shows that youth gun violence victimization rates have actually declined since the 1990s.
🔹 High-profile mass shootings contribute to a false perception of rising youth gun violence.
Sources:
- FBI Crime Trends Report, 1990-2022
- CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)
7. Misleading Claim: “Mass shootings in schools are at an all-time high.”
Rebuttal:
🔹 Mass shootings account for less than 1% of gun-related deaths in the U.S.
🔹 School shootings remain extremely rare.
🔹 Everytown for Gun Safety inflates school shooting statistics by counting incidents like suicides, gang-related violence near schools, and accidental discharges in school parking lots.
Sources:
- Secret Service Report on Mass Attacks in Public Spaces, 2023
- FBI Active Shooter Report, 2022
- Washington Post Investigation into Everytown’s Inflated School Shooting Data
8. Misleading Claim: “Police shootings disproportionately affect Black and Latinx communities.”
Rebuttal:
🔹 This claim ignores the fact that violent crime rates vary by demographic, leading to more police interactions in high-crime areas.
🔹 DOJ data shows that police use of force correlates with crime rates, not race.
🔹 Studies show that police officers are actually less likely to shoot Black suspects than white suspects.
Sources:
- DOJ Use of Force Report (2022)
- FBI Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Database
- Harvard Study on Police Use of Force, 2016
9. Misleading Claim: “We must require background checks on all gun sales.”
Rebuttal:
🔹 Background checks are already required on all firearm purchases from licensed dealers under federal law (Brady Act).
🔹 Most criminals obtain guns through illegal means (theft, straw purchases, or the black market).
🔹 Universal background checks would not prevent criminals from acquiring firearms.
Sources:
- DOJ Report: Firearm Acquisition by Criminals (2019)
- ATF Firearms Tracing Data
- FBI NICS Background Check Statistics
Final Takeaways:
The Moms Demand Action Report Misleads by:
❌ Conflating suicides, homicides, and self-defense shootings to inflate firearm-related deaths.
❌ Using perception-based survey results instead of hard crime data.
❌ Ignoring the impact of gang violence, drug trafficking, and repeat offenders.
❌ Promoting ineffective gun control laws instead of mental health and law enforcement solutions.
What Should Be the Real Focus?
✅ Expand mental health resources and suicide prevention programs.
✅ Increase law enforcement efforts in high-crime areas.
✅ Enforce existing firearm laws to keep guns out of criminal hands.
✅ Promote responsible firearm ownership instead of pushing ineffective gun bans.