America remains in the midst of a gun violence epidemic, and every year, 46,000 people die from this crisis. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Of course, there wasn’t just forward progress. Many states took steps to weaken existing gun laws and enact the types of policies that only make gun violence more prevalent: Texas made it significantly harder to enact or enforce red flag laws, while Tennessee broadened gun industry immunity.

States will kick off their new legislative sessions in January, once again offering lawmakers the opportunity to save lives in their communities. And GIFFORDS will be on the ground, ensuring that gun violence prevention remains a priority across America.

In 2025, 33 states passed 89 strong bills, bringing the total number of significant gun safety laws passed since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 to more than 820.

Following nine other states that havecreated a clear civil pathway to hold manufacturers and sellers liable in court, Connecticut enacted a new firearm industry responsibility law (HB 7042). Laws like this allow litigation against gun companies when they fail to exercise reasonable control over their products. 

Colorado was also a true trendsetter in 2025. Among other new laws, the state enacted an innovative industry accountability measure (SB 158) that requires the state to review dealers’ safety and compliance records—including trace data, theft/loss incidents, inspection results, and anti-trafficking policies—before contracting with them.

Many states significantly improved their gun laws this year to prevent the industry from profiting from the sale of guns to unqualified individuals.

In 2025, states continued closing dangerous gaps that allow domestic abusers to access firearms, strengthening surrender processes and expanding protections for victims. 

States took action to prevent the proliferation of the most dangerous weapons.

Illinois (SB 8) and Hawaii (HB 125) strengthened safe storage requirements and expanded rules for securing firearms around minors and prohibited persons. The Hawaii law also requires retail sellers to provide purchasers with notice regarding the law on firearms storage. In addition, New York passed laws calling for a public awareness campaign related to the safe storage of firearms (AB 814) and requiring gun dealers to post notices about the risk of suicides, domestic disputes, and unintentional deaths of children (SB 743).

Other states took more modest steps to encourage the safe storage of firearms. 

For the first time, Texas (SB 1) provided $2 million in funding for community violence intervention (CVI) programs. In total, 22 states included funding for CVI or similar programs in their state budgets this year: California (SB 101), Colorado (SB 104, SB 206), Connecticut (HB 7287), Delaware (HB 225), Florida (SB 2500), Illinois (SB 2510), Maine (HB 377, HB 132), Maryland (HB 350), Massachusetts (HB 4240), Michigan (HB 4706, SB 166), Minnesota (HB 2432), Missouri (HB 11), Nebraska (L. 261), New Jersey (SB 2026), New Mexico (HB 2), New York (SB 3003), Pennsylvania (SB 160), South Carolina (HB 4025), Texas (SB 1), Virginia (HB 1600), Washington (SB 5167), and Wisconsin (SB 45). 

A few states also took additional actions to strengthen the infrastructure for community violence intervention work. 

Lawmakers in several states acted to ensure law enforcement agencies have strong intelligence capabilities for the fight against gun violence.

Minnesota (HB 2432) enacted legislation that will ensure all law enforcement agencies in the state are enrolled in and using eTrace, the system that can use a firearm’s serial number to identify where it was first sold at retail, and who it was sold to. Through this new law, they will also share the information they receive from the program with their partner agencies in the state. Lawmakers in Illinois (HB 1373), Connecticut (HB 6859), and Rhode Island (HB 5130) enacted related legislation this year. 

As political violence has escalated and threats to election workers and voters continue to rise, several states took meaningful steps to reduce the risk of armed intimidation in civic spaces. 

A handful of states, including Alabama (SB 40), Arkansas (HB 1067), Maine (LD 1174), and Nevada (AB 451), enacted an important suicide prevention measure: laws to create a process for “firearm hold agreements.” 

Firearm hold agreements involve an at-risk individual voluntarily relinquishing their firearms to an authorized party—usually a law enforcement agency or a firearm dealer—for a temporary period. Individuals might enter into these agreements because of known mental health challenges, the presence of children or other prohibited people in their household, or some other reason. The law also includes limited immunity from civil liability for the party that agrees to hold the firearms. 

The purely voluntary nature of firearm hold agreements means they do not disarm people who should not have guns but are unwilling to relinquish them, including domestic abusers, people experiencing a severe mental health crisis, and others. However, these laws can still complement more comprehensive gun safety policies like red flag laws and safe storage laws. In addition to the states that created a process for these agreements this year, Montana (SB 458) went one step further and also enacted a law allowing funding to be used to build facilities for firearm storage by the public pursuant to a firearm hold agreement.

In January, Michigan (HB 6144, HB 6145, HB 6146) took action to ensure that firearms in the possession of law enforcement are properly destroyed. Kansas enacted a weaker law on this topic (SB 137).

Despite these gun safety successes, the legislatures of some states continue to fail to protect their constituents from gun violence. Iowa, for example, enacted a law (HB 924) lowering its minimum age for the possession of a handgun to 18. 

Some states have passed laws that allow the firearm industry to avoid accountability for its reckless behavior. In response to firearm industry responsibility legislation that has now been enacted in 10 states, Tennessee (SB 1360), West Virginia (HB 2067), and Montana (HB 791, HB 801) enacted legislation with the opposite effect, narrowing the circumstances under which the firearm industry can be held responsible for its misconduct and providing immunity for nearly all negligent conduct that is not expressly illegal. 

Additionally, Louisiana passed a law (HB 289) expanding its existing firearm industry immunity to the manufacturers and distributors of ammunition, and New Hampshire (HB 551) eliminated the requirement for firearm dealers to obtain a license and gave dealers immunity from lawsuits for selling firearms with or without certain mechanical features.

Some states without red flag laws have gone even further to prevent their use and enforcement. Montana (HB 809) passed a law prohibiting local governments from enacting their own red flag ordinances, or enforcing an extreme risk protection order against a Montana resident. Texas (SB 1362) passed a similar law, but took it one step further and made it a felony offense to serve or enforce—or attempt to serve or enforce—an extreme risk protection order against a person in the state. 

This means that law enforcement officers in Texas and Montana, despite knowing that a judge in another state has determined that the person is a risk to themself or someone else and should not have access to firearms, cannot remove firearms from that person.

The gun lobby continues its attack on corporate responsibility by forcing businesses to work with the gun industry. This year, five states enacted bills to punish businesses that choose not to invest in firearm manufacturers and sellers: Arkansas (HB 1307, SB 565), Idaho (SB 1027), Oklahoma (SB 500), South Dakota (SB 81), and West Virginia (HB 3342). South Dakota (SB 81) and Arkansas (HB 1509) also prohibited credit card companies from using a merchant category code to identify gun sellers. 

In addition, the Arkansas legislature referred a proposed amendment to the state constitution to expand the state right to bear arms to cover firearm components and accessories, which will be voted on by the electorate in November 2026. The Missouri legislature also acted to exempt manufacturers of ammunition components from certain taxes (HB 329).

The gun lobby’s wins obscure an important fact: Gun safety is getting stronger, and the gun lobby is running up against more and more resistance to its proposals. For example, the Florida legislative session concluded without the enactment of proposals in Florida that would have lowered the age of firearm purchase to 18 (HB 759) and repealed the state’s red flag law (HB 31). 

Similarly, in Texas, strong and sustained gun violence prevention efforts led to the demise of harmful bills relating to lowering the age for carrying firearms (HB 2470) and allowing guns in polling places and other sensitive locations (HB 4201).

In North Carolina, Governor Stein vetoed permitless carry legislation (SB 50). In Arizona, Governor Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have taken away universities’ right to implement concealed carry policies on their campuses (SB 1020), as well as a bill that would have legalized dangerous gun silencers (SB 1014). Gun violence prevention groups also worked to stop an Arizona resolution from going to a ballot initiative which would have legalized machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and other extremely dangerous weapons. The measure passed the Arizona House but failed to make it to a vote on the state senate floor.