One Year of Armed With Reason - Why Myth Busting Matters

GVPedia's founder lays out our progress so far, and our future plans.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

By: Devin Hughes

As we mark the first full year of this Armed With Reason (AWR) Substack, and more than six years of GVPedia, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on our progress and our future plans. 

Over the past year, AWR has grown to 900 subscribers, published 300 posts from dozens of contributors, released 19 episodes of our podcast, and received more than 200,000 views.

We’ve published articles from survivors, community leaders, grassroots activists, and researchers from  across the U.S. and internationally. We plan to continue and expand this work for years to come, and welcome new articles and ideas to feature. 

We also continue our work to serve as a bridge between the academic and advocacy worlds by collecting and disseminating important research and data about gun violence.

In the past year, we released a detailed investigation into the defensive gun use myth; released our data visualization project that allows you to search gun violence data down to the street level; provided direct assistance to state organizations battling attempts to weaken gun laws; and much more. 

All of these efforts further our core mission to counter the gun lobby’s Firehose of Falsehood, a disinformation campaign that has warped the public discussion on gun safety.

Our primary goal in the coming years is to develop a GVPedia AI that can draw on every aspect of GVPedia to provide a custom answer to any gun violence data question. We want GVPedia to grow into the central nexus for information on gun violence, a goal we can achieve with your help. 

Please help us continue growing the Armed With Reason community.

We would love to reach 1,000 subscribers by the end of the year. If you haven't already, please subscribe. If you have subscribed, please invite friends and colleagues  to join. Also, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to access our entire archive of articles. Every little bit helps us continue to grow.

You can also make a direct donation to GVPedia here. 

I’m proud of the incredible work GVPedia’s team has done to build the Armed With Reason community. My goal has always been to create a space where we can share information, counter discrimination, and elevate the voices of others in the gun violence prevention space.

None of this would be possible without the dedication of our Executive Director, Caitlin Clarkson Pereira; Senior Editor, Eric Davidson; and Research Director, Shannon Van Esley. I’m also truly honored by Po Murray, Patricia Oliver, Kristin Song, and Allison Jordan for serving with me on GVPedia’s board and providing invaluable insights. 

Finally, I want to thank all of you for following and supporting our efforts. All of you give our work meaning.

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Devin Hughes is the President and Founder of GVPedia, a non-profit that provides access to gun violence prevention research and data.