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18 October 2025

Mississippi Shootings Spark Debate Over Gun Policy Shift

A deadly week in rural Mississippi, a major court ruling in Virginia, and a controversial pivot by Everytown for Gun Safety highlight the deepening divide over how to address America’s gun violence crisis.

In a tumultuous week marked by deadly shootings, shifting advocacy strategies, and legal battles over gun regulation, America’s struggle with firearms violence and policy has once again surged to the forefront of national attention. From the rural towns of Mississippi to the courtrooms of Virginia and the boardrooms of gun safety organizations, the debate over how best to address gun violence is as heated and complex as ever.

In the early hours of October 17, 2025, tragedy struck the small Mississippi town of Leland. Shortly after midnight, as crowds gathered downtown following Leland High School’s homecoming football game, multiple shooters opened fire, killing six people and injuring 26 others. The violence didn’t stop there. That same night, in Rolling Fork, a person was shot and injured at South Delta High School after a football game. Meanwhile, in Heidelberg, two—including a pregnant woman—were killed by gunfire and a third person died from unrelated fatal wounds during Heidelberg High School’s homecoming festivities. These communities are tiny by any standard: Leland’s population is about 3,700, Rolling Fork’s 1,500, and Heidelberg’s just 700.

According to NBC News, these shootings highlight a stark and often overlooked reality: rural America is now a significant epicenter of gun violence. Nick Wilson, senior director of gun violence prevention at the Center for American Progress (CAP), remarked, “Even for me, it was very surprising to see just how much Mississippi and other kind of more rural places top the list” for gun homicide rates. CAP’s analysis, using CDC and hospital data, found that 11 of the 20 U.S. counties with the highest annualized gun homicide rates from 2021 to 2024 are rural. Mississippi counties make up eight of the top 20 and five of the top 10. Washington County, where Leland is located, had the second highest per capita gun homicide rate in the country during that period.

Sociologist James Tuttle coined the term “Murder Valley” to describe a 21-county region stretching across Memphis, Tennessee, Jackson, Mississippi, and much of the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta. If this region were a country, its homicide rate would rank fifth in the world—worse than Ecuador and South Africa, and only slightly better than Haiti. Despite these grim statistics, local officials sometimes offer a different narrative. Leland Mayor John Lee asserted the day after the massacre, “We all get along, and everybody knows everybody. So this is definitely a tragedy to us.” But as NBC News pointed out, the absence of reliable crime data—Mississippi’s law enforcement agencies have been slow to report crime statistics—makes it difficult to challenge or verify such claims.

The violence in Mississippi is not an isolated phenomenon. Fred Womack, founder of Operation Good in Jackson, described the state’s gun culture succinctly: “In the South, guns is like having a bottle of water. Everybody got it. And then it’s a right-to-carry state. It’s a castle doctrine state. It’s constant gun shows every other week in Mississippi somewhere. So guns are just bloody in Mississippi.” Wilson echoed this, noting that the ability to carry a gun without a permit can turn minor disputes into deadly encounters. While homicide rates have fallen in many big cities, rural and Southern regions are not seeing the same decline, according to CAP’s findings.

Against this backdrop of violence, the nation’s largest gun-violence prevention organization, Everytown for Gun Safety, has made a controversial pivot. On September 2, Everytown, funded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg and long known for its advocacy of fewer guns and stronger regulations, announced a new firearms training initiative called Train SMART. The program, developed by veterans, promises to bring “the military’s proven principles of firearms training, safety, and responsibility to the civilian market.” Courses range from $20 for a 90-minute session on gun safety and secure storage to $100 for more advanced safety and marksmanship instruction.

Everytown’s leadership frames Train SMART as a pragmatic response to political gridlock. With federal gun-violence prevention efforts stalling—President Donald Trump, in the early days of his administration, dismantled the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and slashed grant funding from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act—Everytown argues that reaching gun owners with safety training is a necessary step. The program emphasizes de-escalation and secure storage, targeting both new and experienced gun owners interested in self-defense or recreational shooting.

However, this shift has sparked outrage among many of Everytown’s original supporters, especially survivors of gun violence. For years, the organization’s message was clear: fewer guns mean fewer deaths. Decades of public health research support this, showing that firearm injuries are the leading cause of death among children and teens in the U.S., and that more guns in homes—even with safety training—raise the risk of accidental shootings, domestic violence, and suicide. Research also suggests that firearm safety training does not significantly improve secure-storage practices or reduce gun deaths.

For survivors and longtime activists, Everytown’s new direction feels like a betrayal. Andy Parker, whose daughter was killed on live television, wrote, “Everytown has ‘pour[ed] millions into weapons training programs’ while treating survivors as ‘props’ and ‘expendable assets.’” He added, “Right now, the answer is clear: they’re failing.” Skye Thietten, a former Michigan Everytown leader, said she experienced “shock” and “deep disappointment,” and has since left the organization, stating she would no longer “put in [the] time for an organization that supports investment of any kind in the gun industry.” Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, whose daughter died in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, commented, “If you can’t defeat your opponent, then you might as well work alongside them or do what they do. Nobody is doing that better than Everytown.”

Meanwhile, the legal fight over gun regulation continues apace. On October 16, 2025, Gun Owners of America secured a significant court victory in Virginia. In Wilson v. Hanley, the Twenty-Fourth Judicial Circuit blocked enforcement of the state’s universal background check law for handgun sales. Judge F. Patrick Yeatts, in his order, criticized the law’s arbitrary age distinctions—exempting 18- to 20-year-olds from background checks while requiring them for older buyers. He wrote, “The Court finds no legitimate government interest in exempting individuals ages 18 to 20 from background checks while requiring them for those over the age of 20. Such a distinction would be as arbitrary as exempting any age range, such as 57 to 59, without justification.” While the judge left room for the legislature to revise the law without disparate age treatment, enforcement remains barred for now.

This legal setback for gun control advocates, combined with Everytown’s pivot and the persistent, deadly toll of gun violence—especially in rural America—paints a sobering picture of the nation’s struggle to find effective solutions. As political, legal, and grassroots efforts collide and evolve, the stakes remain heartbreakingly high for communities across the country. The week’s events serve as a reminder that the battle over guns in America is far from settled, and the path forward is as contested and complicated as ever.