--- description: Find out why Shannon Watts is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Shannon Watts: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee7ec0b0ff0507ca/698a3bf086f68e68cf6f251b/Shannon-Watts-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Shannon Watts by Lucy McBath  Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, speaks at a rally near the U.S. Capitol on June 8, 2022, calling for Congressional action on gun safety in the wake of continued mass shootings (Photo by Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto)NO USE FRANCE Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, speaks at a rally near the U.S. Capitol on June 8, 2022, calling for Congressional action on gun safety in the wake of continued mass shootings (Photo by Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto)NO USE FRANCEBryan Olin Dozier—NurPhoto/Reuters Shannon Watts has taken up the mantle of gun-safety advocacy with the hope that in a generation, this uniquely American crisis will be an appalling relic of the past. In 2012, after 20 first-graders had been gunned down in their school, she started [Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America](https://momsdemandaction.org/ "undefined"). It is now one of the largest grassroots organizations in the nation. After my son, Jordan, was murdered at 17 by an act of gun violence, it was Shannon who encouraged me to share my story. She knows the power that a mother’s love has to change a devastating status quo. Now, change is happening. For the first time in nearly three decades, [a meaningful gun-safety package](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/03/14/executive-order-on-reducing-gun-violence-and-making-our-communities-safer/ "undefined") became law, and now more than a hundred gun-safety candidates have been elected. It is an honor to work alongside her as we create a safer country for future generations and for the American people. _McBath, a Democrat, is a U.S. Representative for Georgia and a former spokesperson for Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269829/shannon-watts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269829/shannon-watts/"},"headline":"Shannon Watts","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:06.101Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269829/shannon-watts/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023","T100ICONS2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee7ec0b0ff0507ca/698a3bf086f68e68cf6f251b/Shannon-Watts-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee7ec0b0ff0507ca/698a3bf086f68e68cf6f251b/Shannon-Watts-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269829/shannon-watts/","name":"Shannon Watts"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269829/shannon-watts/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269829/shannon-watts/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```