Countering Disinformation to Prevent Gun Violence
A new Field Guide for collective action from GVPedia
Today, GVPedia announced the publication of our new report, which we hope can be a template for the gun violence prevention movement going forward. In it, we focus on what we believe is the main impediment to solid gun reform and the fuel for increasingly ill-informed firearm policy: disinformation.
Disinformation — splayed across social media outlets and biased news services — played a pivotal role in the 2024 election. In response, GVPedia launched a task force that included individuals from across the gun violence prevention community to identify strategic weaknesses in the movement’s response to disinformation and develop guidelines about how to strengthen our informational architecture.
We have developed this report based on more than a year of discussions with key contributors from several working groups. It lays out actionable steps that will change the narrative, counter disinformation, and save lives.
While gathering information, we identified five specific topics to explore:
The Impact of the Second Amendment
The Myth that Guns Make Us Safer
The Need for a Bold Long-Term Strategy
Collaborative Efforts to Advance Gun Violence Prevention
The Bridge Between Advocates and Academics
Starting from these five points, we hope this field guide can serve as an outline for GVP organizations to build their own campaigns to counter disinformation and coordinate with the broader movement to help enact sorely needed reforms.
New Field Guide Calls Disinformation a Root Cause of Gun Violence and Outlines Plan to Counter It
Washington, DC (5/7/26) – A new report calls disinformation a root cause of gun violence and calls for a national, coordinated strategy to counter false narratives that distort public understanding of gun safety.
It comes at a moment when disinformation about crime and gun violence has surged in the wake of the 2024 election. Countering Disinformation to Prevent Gun Violence: A Field Guide for Collective Action is the culmination of a year-long series of working groups convened by GVPedia, a gun violence prevention non-profit focused on countering disinformation (and parent to this Substack). GVPedia brought together survivors, researchers, advocates, and policy experts to address the rise in disinformation, policy gridlock, and public confusion.
“A key finding that emerged from the year of conversations was the importance of treating the threat of disinformation not merely as messaging, but instead as a structural driver of gun violence,” said Devin Hughes, President and Founder of GVPedia. “This report should not be seen as the final word, but rather as the first line in an ongoing conversation. At the end of the day, there isn’t one single fix to countering disinformation about gun violence. This report and its recommendations encourage collective response and shared responsibility for the many actions that will save lives.”
The Field Guide exposes how misleading narratives — from distorted interpretations of the Second Amendment to the myth that guns make individuals safer — have taken hold; and why traditional advocacy approaches have struggled to break through.
Survey data shows that 64% of Americans believe having a gun in their home will make them safer, yet the research shows that a gun in the home doubles the risk of homicide and triples the risk of suicide.
To counter this deeply held misbelief, the Field Guide calls for a coordinated shift in strategy from short-term legislative wins to investing in long-term cultural change, such as:
Reframing the Second Amendment
Dismantling the myth of guns as safety tools
Building a bridge between advocates and academics so that facts are part of the public narrative
It outlines concrete actions such as rapid-response research teams to counter viral claims, coordinated national campaigns to counter disinformation, and programs that translate complex research and legal developments into accessible public narratives. The Field Guide is intended to help gun violence prevention efforts move from reactive to proactive actions and ultimately reshape how Americans understand gun violence and prevention.
“The report calls on organizations within the movement to identify an action recommended in this report, take it on, make it their own, and bring it to life,” said Hughes. “If each organization takes ownership of just one action identified here today, we will see an entirely different landscape in a short time.”
You can read the full report online here.
About GVPedia:
GVPedia exists to recognize and interrupt disinformation as a root cause of gun violence. We collect, organize, synthesize, and translate credible research into accessible, defensible tools that help gun violence prevention advocates, researchers, journalists, and policymakers advance fact-based narratives, policies, and solutions. At our core, we serve as critical infrastructure for the gun violence prevention movement, ensuring evidence is not trapped behind paywalls, misused in public debate, or drowned out by disinformation, but instead informs life-saving action.
Armed with Reason is the Substack voice of GVPedia.