Michael Bloomberg's group and other advocates are also claiming victory in gun lobby losses. | Getty Everytown claims state wins on gun control

While Republicans in Washington keep promising rollbacks of gun control laws — though they so far haven’t taken action on any on it — Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety group is claiming another round of success in new restrictions passed at the state level.

Much of that, the group points out, came with the support of Republicans and the signatures of Republican governors.


"When you look at what's happening in statehouses across the country, the gun safety movement is winning in state after state — even in this challenging political environment — because volunteers and gun violence survivors have become the counterweight to the gun lobby," said Shannon Watts, who founded Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown.

Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Tennessee and Utah all passed new restrictions on firearms for domestic abusers. Of those, only Louisiana has a Democratic governor to sign the bill. According to a new “report card” from Everytown, out Thursday, that brings to 23 the number of states that have enhanced the laws around domestic abusers since 2013.

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Hawaii, Washington state and deep red Tennessee all passed new laws requiring that law enforcement be notified when anyone who fails to pass a background check tries to purchase a gun, while attempts to repeal background checks in Iowa and Nebraska both failed.

Everytown and other advocates are also claiming victory in gun lobby losses, noting that 17 of 18 states rejected bills to allow guns in schools and 14 of 16 states rejected bills to allow guns on college campuses. The report card tracks 20 of 22 states that didn’t pass bills that would have eliminated requirements for permits to carry guns, a top priority for the National Rifle Association.

“The NRA counts as ‘wins’ bills that lower permitting fees for veterans, allow people to hunt on Sundays and create an official NRA license plate,” reads part of the report card. “Don’t be misled into thinking these bills are losses for the gun safety movement; they aren’t.”