Hey John, 

Your power is incredible. At the end of March we emailed you asking you to take action on gun violence prevention at all levels of government—including contacting President Biden.

Last week the Biden-Harris administration announced a number of executive actions to address the gun violence epidemic, including a $5 billion investment in community violence intervention programs; rules to help stop the spread of untraceable “ghost guns” and regulate stabilizing braces, which modify a gun to make it more lethal; and a plan to publish model state legislation for extreme risk protection orders (ERPO).

The president has set the tone. Send a thank-you email to the Biden-Harris Administration for these momentous initial steps, and email your representatives to demand that they also take action now.

These historic actions are a testament to the hard work of young advocates, particularly Black and Brown community organizers, who have advocated for a public health and community violence intervention approaches to ending the gun violence epidemic for decades.

Over the past few weeks, we have seen several horrific, high-profile shootings. Even when they don’t make the headlines, senseless gun tragedies take lives every day and leave lasting trauma in communities, especially communities of color. In the past year alone, an estimated 43,000 people were killed using guns.

To end this crisis, we must continue to address the root causes of gun violence and treat the gun violence epidemic as a symptom of a larger issue. We need lawmakers to follow in the footsteps of President Biden and take bold action to reduce gun violence, make our communities safer, and save lives.

While we celebrate last week’s important actions and encourage Congress to follow suit, we recognize that these actions would not have saved Daunte Wright’s life. The work to end gun violence must include efforts to end police violence.

Generation Progress will continue working with partners to end this state-sanctioned violence.
 

In solidarity,

Hassen Bashir
Advocacy Associate 
Generation Progress