Nine Years After the Deadly First Baptist Church Sutherland Springs Shooting, Everytown, Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action Urge the United States Supreme Court to[...]

AUSTIN - Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, released the following statements in honor of the nine-year mark of the mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on November 5, 2017, where a shooter armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle opened fire during Sunday worship services, killing 26 people and wounding 22 others. The tragedy remains the fifth deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, and is also widely recognized as the deadliest mass shooting at a place of worship in U.S. history.

Nine years later, the tragedy serves as a devastating reminder of what is at stake as the United States Supreme Court prepares to hear challenges to assault weapons bans in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins on December 2. A decision is expected by mid-2027 and could determine the ability of state and local governments to protect their communities from weapons frequently used in America's deadliest mass shootings.

"Nine years ago, a single shooter armed with assault weapons turned a Sunday service into a death sentence for over two dozen worshippers - a horrific reminder that assault weapons have no place in our churches or anywhere else in our communities," said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. "From Sutherland Springs to Uvalde, we have seen time and again how assault weapons can turn ordinary days into mass tragedies in seconds. Now, as the Supreme Court prepares to hear challenges to assault weapons restrictions in less than a month, the stakes could not be higher. The justices must uphold these life-saving laws and put our safety ahead of gun industry profits."

"Texans know all too well the heartbreak that follows a mass shooting. Nine years after Sutherland Springs, families are still living with the loss of loved ones who should have returned home from church that Sunday," said Leslie Morrison, a volunteer with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action. "Our state has endured far too many tragedies involving assault weapons, and communities across the country deserve the opportunity to take action before another one happens. The Supreme Court must not stand in the way of states and local governments working to protect their residents from these deadly weapons."

Assault weapons are military-style firearms designed for the battlefield to inflict maximum damage on the human body in the shortest amount of time. They are the weapons of choice for many mass shooters, they cause massive devastation, and they do not belong in the hands of civilians or in our neighborhoods, in our classrooms, or places of worship.

The presence of an assault weapon is a force-multiplier in lives taken. From 2016 to 2025, every single one of the ten highest-casualty mass shooting incidents in the United States involved both an assault weapon and a large-capacity magazine. In mass shootings, four times as many people are shot when an assault weapon or high-capacity magazine is involved compared with incidents involving neither. Research demonstrates that maintaining federal assault weapon restrictions from 2005 through 2022 could have prevented an estimated 38 public mass shootings.

Volunteers nationwide with Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action are urging the United States Supreme Court to let us keep these weapons of war off our streets. The High Court will hear oral arguments in this case on December 2, 2026, and will issue a decision by next summer.