Kansas City Shooting Highlights Missouri’s Pro-Gun Laws in “Pro-Life” State

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In the first 46 days of 2024, there have been 49 mass shootings in the United States — nearly one per day. In total, almost 5,000 people have died from gun violence this year, including Elizabeth "Lisa" Lopez-Galvan, a radio host and mother of two who was shot and killed Wednesday at a rally held after the Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City, Missouri. Twenty-two others were wounded, many of them children, when the shooting broke out near the end of the rally. Missouri has some of the weakest gun control laws in the country, with no universal background checks, no assault weapon restrictions, no ban on large-capacity magazines, no waiting periods to purchase a gun and no domestic violence gun laws. "This, unfortunately, is not surprising," says Missouri-born activist and host of the Undistracted podcast, Brittany Packnett Cunningham. Last year, Kansas City set a new high for gun violence, and the city has one of the country's highest murder rates. Packnett Cunningham traces this violence to the influence of the powerful gun lobby, and calls on lawmakers to refuse funding from pro-gun groups like the NRA.

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