A first in Maine

First successes ever! announced the Maine Gun Safety Coalition.  After a ton of good pressure, the Maine Legislature has formed a gun safety caucus and subsequently passed a safe storage bill AND a requirement that their Maine version of CDC is to compile an annual report on gun violence incidents (injuries and deaths) along with demographic data.  The Maine CDC can require law enforcement and hospitals who receive state funds (all of them do) to provide data.

Nebraska flips the script

Surprising Nebraskans Against Gun Violence, Nebraska's Attorney General pointed out serious problems with the permitless concealed carry bill, so the bill sponsors changed it into a version of a Safe Storage bill!  As a non partisan organization willing to work with any senator, NAGV went to the Capitol and had pictures of themselves taken with the Senate sponsor and then sent out a mailer to all  county commissioners sharing their delight and thanks to the Senator for moving gun violence prevention forward in Nebraska.

Six Bills Passed - Colorado Ceasefire

Unfortunately, says Colorado Ceasefire, good bills seem to pass only after tragedy.  Colorado Ceasefire was working on 3 bills when the mass shooting occurred in the Boulder supermarket on March 22nd.  3 more good bills were introduced and all were signed and passed into law. These bills cover safe storage laws, extended background checks, reporting lost and stolen guns, relinquishing guns in domestic violence cases and getting rid of preemption so cities and others can pass their own laws.  Click below to learn more.

Work with Youth

Many of our state affiliates are involved either directly working with youth or by advocating for state legislation to fund violence intervention efforts with youth.  This year States United  received grant money to have the leader of the youth based program run by the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort develop a curriculum for work with youth to share with other states.  Many of our affiliates already run a variety of other youth programs as well.  Check out their Websites to learn more.