When it comes to killing brain cells outright in mass, likely the only thing that could beat a three-day tequila bender is the so-called Everytown for Gun Safety’s annual gun law rankings.
Everytown recently released its 2026 list, and I feel dumber just for reading the report. But I decided to take one for the team, since now you won’t feel compelled to spend more than a few seconds on it.
“We compared gun policy across the country, scoring every state on the strength of its gun laws and comparing it with its rate of gun violence,” Everytown crowed in the report titled ‘Gun Polices Save Lives.’ “In states where elected officials have taken action to pass gun safety laws, fewer people die by gun violence. Choose a state to see how it stacks up on the 50 key policies, or explore a policy to see how much of the country has adopted it.”
From looking through the report, it’s easy to see that Everytown made its list of criteria so some states would finish high and others would finish low. It then used cherry-picked crime statistics to determine how a state’s “rate of gun violence” compares to that of other states.
In reality, Everytown just produces the ranking every year to try to push some of its pet anti-gun proposals, all of which would infringe upon the rights of lawful American gun owners.
“All states should start with a core group of five foundational laws—passing background checks and/or purchase permitting, along with Extreme Risk laws and secure gun storage requirements; and rejecting Shoot First (also known as Stand Your Ground) and permitless carry laws. While each of the top 16 states in the gun law rankings has all five of these policies in place, only one of the bottom 18 states has even one of these critical protections.”
Everytown even admits that its rankings are meant for comparison purposes, but are an advocacy tool to try to further restrict lawful American gun owners.
“Our gun law rankings are a roadmap for how to build the ideal state system,” the report stated. “They will walk you through the most important polices and help you compare these protections across the country.”
About the only thing I can agree with Everytown on is that gun polices do save lives. However, only when those policies are less restrictive and make it easier for lawful Americans to acquire, use and carry firearms for the defense of self and others.
Ultimately, Everytown’s gun rankings are as worthless as the report released each year by the gun-ban group Giffords. About the only thing either one is good for is to look at the “top” states and vow once again to never live there.
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