Twenty-one states enacted new laws to curb gun violence, according to the 2013 State Gun Laws Scorecard jointly released Monday by the Brady Campaign and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The profusion of gun reform measures amounts to a broad shift in momentum on the gun debate that has often flown under the radar.
“A year ago, not only were we swimming unsuccessfully against the tide of these dangerous laws, there really wasn’t much hope at all that people felt in terms of passing meaningful laws that would actually save lives,” Brady Campaign president Dan Gross said during a press call on Monday morning.
Gross added that the country has made “unthinkable progress” during that time.
The scorecard described eight of the new state laws as major. Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, and New York all closed a loophole that had allowed for the sale of firearms from private dealers without background checks. Additionally, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, and New York required gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms.
But this wasn’t just a blue state phenomenon. There were also constructive measures passed in some states with historically weak gun laws, including Florida, Missouri, and Texas.
