The corporate gun lobby is engaged in a systematic effort to undermine sensible state gun regulation, putting profit ahead of public safety, despite the overwhelming support that smart gun laws have from the American public. Loosening gun laws has deadly consequences—over the course of two decades of studying trends in gun laws, we’ve identified a powerful correlation: states with stronger gun laws have fewer gun deaths per capita, and states with weaker gun laws have more gun deaths. These attempts to relax gun laws put guns in the hands of more people, regardless of whether they are violent felons, domestic abusers, or experiencing a mental health crisis, increasing the gun industry’s profits at the expense of public safety.

However, there is a powerful movement of advocates and lawmakers working to defeat this alarming agenda in statehouses across America—since 2012, more than 180 smart gun laws have passed and been enacted in 42 states and Washington DC. And, perhaps even more importantly, the gun violence prevention movement has consistently defeated gun lobby–sponsored legislation that would allow hidden, loaded weapons into public spaces like schools, government buildings, and even bars, as well as many other similarly dangerous bills. While the gun lobby achieves some wins each year, an overwhelming majority of its legislative efforts fail. Defensive victories, like stopping bad bills from advancing through the legislature, are a significant part of the progress the Law Center and our allies make each year.

In 2017, gun violence prevention advocates have achieved a host of defensive victories against the gun lobby that will help save lives in states across the country. Our movement defeated bills that would allow hidden, loaded guns in public without a permit in at least 10 states and bills that would have allowed guns on college and university campuses in nine states. In Iowa and Nebraska, activists defeated efforts to repeal permit-to-purchase laws, and in Arizona and Texas, bills died that would weaken rights of business owners to exclude guns from their premises. Stay tuned to Gun Law Trendwatch throughout the year for timely, detailed updates on the ways in which the Law Center and the rest of the gun violence prevention movement are blocked the gun lobby’s deadly agenda in state after state.

http://smartgunlaws.org/resources/trends/