GIFFORDS condemns Trump for standing by ICE after two deadly shootings
WASHINGTON — GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention organization led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, released the following statement in response to this morning’s Truth Social post from President Trump praising ICE and celebrating crime rates. The posts come after ICE shot and killed two people, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston. The murders prompted the agency to suspend vehicle stops as of yesterday.
“Nearly 7,000 Americans have been killed by guns this year and Donald Trump is cheering. In just the last week, ICE agents have shot and killed two people who should still be here, ripping apart families and injecting chaos into our communities,” said GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown.
“Adding to this administration’s disastrous public safety record, Republicans are taking orders from the gun industry CEOs who bankroll their reelection campaigns, making it even easier for dangerous people to get guns. This kind of DC corruption infuriates voters who are sick of leaders putting corporations and insiders ahead of the American people.” Brown added.
Since being sworn into office last year, the Trump administration has dramatically rolled back commonsense gun safety measures:
- In April, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) published 32 rules related to firearms, some of which will deregulate firearms by lowering standards for behavior among gun sellers, owners and industry members. Others will overturn rules established by the Biden administration to protect Americans from gun violence.
- In April, Trump put forward a proposed budget that will significantly weaken public safety if signed into law, including radical cuts to federal law enforcement and proven violence prevention programs.
- The Trump administration approved the sale of forced reset triggers, effectively legalizing machine guns.
- The Trump administration cancelled $1 billion in school mental health resources originally passed in a bipartisan vote after the Uvalde school shooting.
- The Trump administration reassigned thousands of ATF and FBI agents from their typical duties, including investigating gun crime, to immigration enforcement.
- The Trump administration cut hundreds of millions of dollars in grants for community violence intervention. Trump’s Department of Justice then made it significantly harder for these groups to access lifesaving grants.
- The Trump administration shuttered the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
You can view GIFFORDS’ comprehensive tracker of Trump’s most dangerous moves on gun safety HERE.
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