Momentum Grows For Gun Control As Average Americans Pour $1.2 Million Into Gabby Giffords’ Group

In the week since the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, fed-up Americans have poured money into organizations advocating for smarter gun laws.

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According to the Daily Beast, the gun control advocacy group founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (R-AZ) has raised a stunning $1.2 million since last week’s tragedy.

While the top-line number is impressive in itself, the report notes that it’s even more impressive given how it was raised.

More from the Daily Beast:

An official with Giffords told The Daily Beast that the money came from more than 43,000 donors, with the average donation being around $27. That was of Thursday morning. More than 450,000 people have also signed the organization’s “vote courage” pledge, which encourages electoral activism around the issue of gun control. Elections are the ultimate vehicle for political change. But money is the fuel for that vehicle.

The most effective way to use these funds is to help elect candidates who will finally stand up to the gun lobby and vote for common sense firearm regulations. Giffords plans to do just that.

As the report continues: “Giffords announced on Wednesday that it was going up with a six-figure ad buy attacking Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s record on gun safety issues. Scott is expected to soon announce a 2018 run for the Senate.”

The news that Giffords has raised more than a million over the past week comes after another gun safety group, Everytown for Gun Safety, announced they had raised $800,000 just days after the massacre.

The shooting in Parkland appears to have lit a spark under the push for common sense gun laws in America that wasn’t seen, even after recent massacres in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs took more lives.

As I wrote earlier: “In state houses and high schools across America, students are speaking out and demanding action. People are mobilizing. Politicians are listening. News cameras haven’t shut off – at least not yet. It’s only been a week, but there is something unique unfolding in the aftermath of this shooting.”

It’s no longer just political activists or victims of gun violence who want to see action taken to stop this madness. Average Americans all across the country are fed up with seeing their loved ones and fellow citizens die needlessly from guns.

The vast majority of American people who support tougher gun laws are finally putting their money where their mouths are, and that should terrify the NRA.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.