Angela Ferrell Zabala

Angela Ferrell-Zabala

Executive director, Moms Demand Action
Washington, D.C.

In 2023, Angela Ferrell-Zabala took the helm as the first-ever executive director of Moms Demand Action, one of the nation’s largest gun safety organizations, amid a surge in gun violence in the U.S.

The nation saw more than 650 mass shootings last year, based on figures from the Gun Violence Archive. This has been the pattern for the last three years, with more than 600 mass shootings. That’s on average two shootings a day. And guns are now the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States, having surpassed car accidents in 2020.

Such troubling statistics indicate how much gun violence is “a public health crisis that is preventable,” said Ferrell-Zabala, who, in 2019, joined Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action’s umbrella organization that was formed following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.

Ferrell-Zabala, 49, pointed out that the figures are even more staggering for Black and brown communities, serving as reasons why she has focused on further broadening their efforts. That includes making gun makers accountable for gun safety, supporting programs and initiatives in communities most impacted by gun violence and building up the next generation of leaders.
“As a nation and society, we are all indirectly and directly impacted by this violence. We are all traumatized people,” said Ferrell-Zabala. “But I absolutely know we can do better than this.”