With More Gun Safety Majorities in State Legislatures, Giffords Recommends Comprehensive Action to Save Lives from Gun Violence
The recommendations include implementing and investing in community violence intervention programs and strengthening background checks.
Washington DC— Today, Giffords published a new memo highlighting critical policies that states should prioritize to keep communities safe from violence. Recommended actions include implementing crucial community violence intervention programs, fighting armed extremism, and strengthening background checks.
According to recently released CDC data, nearly 49,000 Americans died from gun violence in 2021. In 2022, Americans watched in horror as ceaseless mass shootings took place in Buffalo, Uvalde, Highland Park, and many other cities across the country. Following November’s midterm elections, exitpolls showed gun violence as a top issue for voters. Further compounding the dangers faced by communities across the country, this past summer the Supreme Court struck down a provision of New York State’s concealed carry law that required a person who wished to carry a gun in public to have a proper justification to do so. This radical and dangerous decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen jeopardizes commonsense gun laws across the country.
In 2023, with voters firmly behind lifesaving gun safety legislation and states adjusting to the new post-Bruen landscape, Giffords expects to advance meaningful legislation across the country while pushing back against the gun lobby’s dangerous advances.
Sean Holihan, Giffords State Legislative Director:
“As the world reopened in the wake of a pandemic and life returned to a new normal, Americans also saw the return of mass shootings that captured national attention. Over the last two years, communities across the country in places as small as Charlottesville, Highland Park, Uvalde, and Dumas and as large as Boulder, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and San Jose have experienced the tragedy and trauma of multiple lives lost to gun violence.
“We are still in the midst of a gun violence emergency. Nearly 49,000 people lost their lives in 2021 to this preventable crisis—and that is too many lives. We can and must do everything in our power to tackle gun violence. That includes investing in community violence intervention programs in the communities most vulnerable to gun violence, prohibiting individuals convicted of domestic violence from accessing firearms, banning ghost guns, and strengthening background checks. It’s time for legislatures and governors to advance gun safety legislation and save lives.”
In the memo, Giffords details how implementing and strengthening universal background checks prevents people prohibited from purchasing firearms from doing so. State laws that require handgun purchasers to obtain permits or otherwise undergo background checks have been associated with lower rates of gun homicides, suicides, and gun trafficking. In 2022, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) ran over 31 million background checks, making 2022 the third-largest year for gun sales. This makes strong background check laws even more important.
The memo also encourages legislators to fund community violence intervention (CVI) strategies, which can include street outreach work, hospital-based violence intervention programs, and other approaches that work with credible messengers to directly address the root causes of violence and intervene with individuals at the highest risk. In 2021, there were 20,958 gun homicides, the highest number in at least four decades. Community violence is a daily tragedy in neighborhoods across the country, a pain disproportionately experienced by communities of color. Giffords Center for Violence Intervention’s ongoing advocacy—and that of its many partners—has helped establish these solutions as priorities for the Biden administration and for states across the country. Between 2017 and 2021, annual state investments in CVI strategies increased by more than $600 million.
Additional policy priorities to fully address gun violence include:
- Banning Ghost Guns
- Passing Extreme Risk Laws
- Passing Legislation to protect victims of Domestic Violence
- Civil Liability for Gun Manufacturers
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