State Gun Control Laws

Maggie Astor and Karl Russell at NYT:

After the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February, Congress did not act. But state legislatures did, passing 69 gun control measures this year — more than any other year since the Newtown, Conn., massacre in 2012, and more than three times the number passed in 2017.

According to an end-of-year report by the national advocacy group Giffords, provided to The New York Times before its publication this week, more than half of the states passed at least one gun control measure in 2018.

The report also found a decrease in measures enacted to expand access to firearms — a major change from the year after the Newtown shooting, when a surge in gun control laws was matched by a surge in gun rights expansions.

This year, legislators rejected about 90 percent of state-level bills backed by the National Rifle Association, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control group created by Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire and former New York City mayor.

Data provided by the N.R.A. shows a similar overall trend this year, with gun control measures passed overtaking pro-gun measures for the first time in at least six years, though to a lesser extent than the Giffords data shows. The N.R.A. also said that nearly 200 gun control measures were rejected this year, but did not provide a list of specific legislation backing up their claims.