Shannon Watts, founder of major gun control group Moms Demand Action, to retire from organization

Shannon Watts, the founder of the grassroots gun control group Moms Demand Action, will retire in 2023 from her role heading that organization, she said this week. 

Watts revealed her impending retirement from Moms Demand on Twitter. "After starting [the group] and serving as a full-time volunteer for a decade, I’m stepping back from my leadership role at the end of 2023," she wrote. "It's been the honor of a lifetime to lead this organization and fight for gun safety while empowering women to lead."

Watts started the group the day after the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in which 20 young children were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., along with six school staff.

Watts originally launched the effort as a Facebook group, and by the end of 2013 it had developed chapters in all 50 states with well over 100,000 members. 

The group in the intervening years has become a fixture in the U.S. gun control debate, partnering with Michael Bloomberg's group Mayors Against Illegal Guns to form the super-activist group Everytown for Gun Safety.