Everytown wants stricter laws on guns. Now, they'll also teach you to use one. Nick Penzenstadler and Trevor Hughes, USA TODAYSeptember 25, 2025 at 4:07 AM 0 Some activists devoted to ending gun violence had to look twice at the source of the ads for firearms training that flashed on their computer ...
- - Everytown wants stricter laws on guns. Now, they'll also teach you to use one.
Nick Penzenstadler and Trevor Hughes, USA TODAYSeptember 25, 2025 at 4:07 AM
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Some activists devoted to ending gun violence had to look twice at the source of the ads for firearms training that flashed on their computer screens. Everytown for Gun Safety, which has made its name advocating for stricter gun laws and preventing violence, is now offering courses for gun owners.
Organizers say the on-demand or Zoom-style sessions are aimed at responsibility and safety without any undertones of salesmanship.
Gun-rights groups reacted to the launch with derision for the newcomer to a space flooded with concealed carry and pistol programs run by the National Rifle Association and other groups.
The new program, Train SMART, also risks angering a network of grassroots chapters and gun violence prevention volunteers at Everytown. Some recoiled at the launch and others quit their positions.
But the program's creators say there's a place for Everytown's brand of gun-safety instruction.
A promotional photo for Train SMART, a new firearm training by Everytown for Gun Safety.
"It looks more like what a grandfather teaches a grandson than what you get in the back room of a gun shop," said Chris Marvin, Everytown's veterans advisor who helped create the program that costs $20 to $100 and has sessions lasting 90-minutes, 150-minutes and up to eight hours.
Marvin, a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army, said he and other military veterans designed the course to mimic military instruction from trusted sources.
The launch of the program comes at a time when the nation is reeling from political and everyday gun violence. Meanwhile, the group faces constant headwinds in Washington D.C. making any changes to federal gun laws.
The training could also signal a broader shift toward what researchers term a "harm reduction" model toward guns instead of "abstinence" messaging.
Gun sales only recently dropped off from a six-year streak of record-breaking figures. The industry saw 87 million background checks from August 2019 to July 2025 or more than a million each month. An estimated 26 million people became first-time gun buyers over that period.
"This is a signal to gun owners and prospective gun owners that you can own a gun and still be staunchly in favor of safety and vociferously against gun violence," Marvin, with Everytown said. They hope to add in-person and range sessions next year.
Violence prevention members 'shocked' at decision
In addition to mockery from gun groups, the program met stiff opposition from its own members and longtime supporters.
For Sandy Phillips, the training is offensive. Phillips, whose daughter Jessica Ghawi, 24, was killed in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, movie theater attack, has long battled firearms and ammunition manufacturers, even going bankrupt after losing a lawsuit against the companies that sold their daughter's killer ammunition, tear gas and body armor.
"What they're doing is so hurtful and so insulting to survivors. It's like 'oh my God, how could any survivor continue to support them?'" Phillips told USA TODAY. "People are hurt and confused. Our mission is to reduce gun violence and keep people from having guns in their homes and here you are giving a gun safety class that encourages gun ownership. You can't have it both ways."
Phillips has for years criticized Everytown, Brady and Moms Demand Action for what she sees as a top-down and ineffective model. She said she and her husband - after declaring bankruptcy - helped change Colorado law to make it easier to sue gun manufacturers. Phillips believes the large gun-violence groups are more interested in raising money and perpetuating their existence than in solving problems.
A promotional photo for Train SMART, a new firearm training by Everytown for Gun Safety.
"We should have made more inroads by now, gotten more done. There's just so much good they could do but repeatedly they don't do it," she said. "They didn't ask anyone for their input, and if they had, we would have told you 'don't do this.'"
Everytown sprung up in 2013 as the outgrowth of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and merged with Moms Demand Action — still an arm of the organization. The group is slowly closing the fundraising and lobbying gap with gun rights groups.
Last year, Everytown spent about $2.3 million on lobbying the federal government, according to Open Secrets. That's compared to $7 million by the National Shooting Sports Foundation or $2.4 million by the Gun Owners of America or $2 million by the NRA.
Deborah Parker, of Arizona, was so enraged by the Train SMART launch she resigned her position leading a local survivor group. Her daughter, Lindsay, 19, was shot and killed in 2006.
"I heard about the program on Facebook. It felt like a kick in the teeth," Parker said. "All of these years working on expanded background checks and how we know having a gun in the home won't make you safer… this doesn't make any sense."
Parker said she thought Everytown was wasting precious resources on "reinventing the wheel" on training when they could simply link out to politically neutral gun training programs that already exist.
Everytown hears criticism, unworried
John Feinblatt, president of Everytown, says any new program comes with a mix of "curiosity, enthusiasm and skepticism" and they'll be taking feedback from 10 pilots states and the 200 courses already taken.
He said Everytown was always meant to be a wide tent, including gun owners, which he says drove the name itself, as opposed to being painted as anti-gun or hardline gun-control.
John Feinblatt, President of Everytown for Gun Safety.
"We looked at the existing marketplace and it's primarily fear based," Feinblatt said. "When you boil it down it's marketing for the gun industry disguised as training."
Still, any gun training class will have to land on some key answers to thorny questions that will crop up from trainees.
Should I even buy a gun? Should I store my gun loaded near my bed? Will I be safer in my home with a firearm?
Marvin, the veterans trainer, said those answers are nuanced, but the Everytown training will focus on clear statistics: Yes, purchasing a firearm will increase the risk someone in your home could be shot; No, you should not keep a loaded pistol unlocked on your nightstand; No, you should not always assume buying a gun will be the key part of your home defense plan, Marvin said.
Marvin said instructors will describe a balance on storage that leans toward safes that could still be opened quickly— or for changing your storage options when someone in the home is struggling with mental health.
"Many people are taught a gun is the solution to your problems. Whether it's suicide, or conflict with a neighbor or the guy who cut you off in traffic," Marvin said. "But like the military, we'll talk about a continuum of force and resolving problems with non-lethal means."
NSSF, NRA react, others say any training is better than none
National Shooting Sports Foundation's Senior Vice President Larry Keane looked skeptically on the new program after word of it leaked in August.
In a blog post, he rattled off proposals supported by Everytown like more permitting, age restrictions, waiting periods, red-flag laws and gun-free zones.
"That's like getting barbecuing lessons from vegans," Keane said, arguing gun owners would be better served to visit their local firearm retailer or range.
Similarly, the NRA wrote derisively about the program and pointed out it has been teaching gun safety for 150 years and estimates it has 125,000 instructors nationwide that teach hundreds of thousands of classes each year.
"Our instructors won't tell you that you shouldn't have certain firearms that are legal to own," the organization posted, in reference to Everytown's proposals to limit high-capacity magazines and some semi-automatic rifles.
Firearms industry veteran Rob Pincus, who runs his own training regime, Personal Defense Network, looked skeptically at the new program, but was measured in his critique.
"They're trying to reinvent themselves and I think that's partially because they aren't getting anywhere with gun bans," Pincus said, questioning which firearms and ammunition dealers and ranges would opt to associate with the group.
"But I think the more opportunities for education in responsible firearms ownership and use the better," Pincus said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A new gun training program comes from an unlikely source
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