Jimmy Kimmel marked Gun Violence Awareness Day on Monday by publicly directing his followers to call elected representatives and demand action on gun reform legislation.
The ABC late-night host posted on Instagram, urging his audience to “push them to do SOMETHING to pass sensible gun laws.” He also tagged two prominent advocacy organizations: Everytown for Gun Safety and Giffords.
Gun Violence Awareness Day is observed annually on June 1. The date was first designated in 2015 to honor Hadiya Pendleton, a Chicago teenager shot and killed in 2013. She had performed at President Obama’s second inauguration just days before her death. The #WearOrange hashtag started with her friends. They chose orange, the color hunters wear for safety, as a tribute on her birthday. It’s now the primary visual symbol of the annual campaign.
Kimmel’s post opened with remembrance. Then it moved to a direct ask. “On Gun Violence Awareness Day we remember those children and adults who violently and senselessly lost their lives and the loved ones left behind,” he wrote on Instagram. He then called on his audience to contact their elected officials.
Everytown for Gun Safety is one of the two organizations Kimmel tagged. It describes itself as the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country and focuses primarily on background check legislation and red flag laws. Giffords is named after former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords. She survived an assassination attempt in Tucson in 2011. The organization focuses on litigation, research, and state-level policy work. Both groups pursue incremental legislative goals. Their priorities typically include expanded background checks and safe storage requirements.
Kimmel has spoken publicly about gun violence before. His most widely discussed monologue came in October 2017, after the Las Vegas mass shooting. He cried on air and criticized members of Congress by name. He returned to the topic in May 2022, after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Gun violence has been a recurring subject on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for nearly a decade.
The phrase “sensible gun laws” is worth a closer look. It’s broad by design. Both advocacy organizations Kimmel cited and most Democratic politicians use it. The phrase signals alignment without specifying a particular piece of legislation. That flexibility is sometimes strategic. It also draws criticism from advocates. They want public figures to commit to specific policy positions.
What Monday’s post makes clear is where Kimmel stands. He named the organizations, used the official hashtag, and gave a direct instruction. There was no hedging. Whether posts like this translate into constituent phone calls is hard to measure. Researchers have struggled to quantify the link between a celebrity’s social reach and legislative pressure.
Gun Violence Awareness Day will return next June 1. The organizations Kimmel amplified would say the only measure that counts is what happens in Congress before then.
