Congress Must Work with Biden Administration to Take Action on Gun Violence

Washington DC — Today, Peter Ambler, executive director and co-founder of Giffords, the gun violence prevention organization led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, released the following statement on President Biden’s State of the Union Address.

“In 2021 nearly 49,000 people died from gun violence, a devastating and record-breaking number. The gun violence epidemic in the United States is only worsening, and we need comprehensive action across the federal government to address it,” said Peter Ambler, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Giffords. “President Biden has been a stalwart leader on gun safety, from pushing ATF to regulate ghost guns to signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law, but more must be done. Tonight, President Biden called on Congress to act and save lives. Bipartisan success is possible, and it is urgent that Congress comes together.”

Last week, Giffords released its priorities for the Biden administration and Congress. 

• Pass the recently introduced Bipartisan Background Checks Act
• Fund community violence intervention
• Invest in gun violence research
• Disarm individuals who have committed domestic abuse
• Ban bump stocks

• Define what it means to be “engaged in the business” of selling firearms when implementing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
• Direct ATF to conduct an updated examination of the sporting purposes test and issue new criteria to enforce the sporting purposes requirement
• Direct ATF to issue another open letter addressing the enforcement of the ghost gun rule to account for hammer-fired pistols and AR-type receivers and rescind its previously-issued open letter from September 27, 2022
• Direct ATF to take action to address auto sears and other conversion devices

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