This may shock you, friend.
Cities across America spend more than $5 billion a year on guns — and your tax dollars are paying for them. This doesn’t even include ammunition and other supplies they purchase, which costs a few billion more.
These sales raise the question: Are firearm sellers, distributors, and manufacturers who are paid with taxpayer dollars, adhering to safe business practices?
State and local executives can — and must — take action to ensure members of the firearm industry operate in the public’s best interest. One way they can do this is through public procurement: how a government body purchases goods or services — like firearms. Government agencies and officials that procure firearms should be able to count on their firearm vendors to deal in a way that promotes public safety. Right now, in New Jersey, elected officials are using the power of procurement to ensure this happens.
In Brady’s newest report, we detail our findings on how New Jersey is leading the way to protect public safety through Executive Order 83. This order seeks to ensure that the state of New Jersey does not do business with the minority of licensed gun dealers that put profit over public safety. We found that EO 83 had both a positive impact in promoting gun safety among gun vendors and financial institutions, and that its influence will likely grow.
Will you read and share our new report right now? Sharing this information will help us show that even states with weak gun laws have the power to ensure firearm dealers, manufacturers, and distributors are following best practices and prioritizing public safety.
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Remembering Columbine 23 Years Later
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This week marked 23 years since our country was devastated by the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. Thirteen people, including students and a teacher, were shot and killed and 24 others were injured.
The Columbine community and the town of Littleton will forever live with this trauma. Team ENOUGH Executive Council Member Kaylee Tyner, who graduated from Columbine High School but was only a child at the time of the shooting, is often reminded of Columbine when other acts of gun violence are committed.
We also know that for victims of gun violence the impacts can last a lifetime. Austin Eubanks was only 17 years old when he was shot at Columbine High School. This tragedy led Austin to dedicate his life to helping people with addiction, after he became addicted to the opioids he was prescribed for his injuries from the shooting. But for many victims of gun violence, like Austin, the trauma continues after the bullets stop. Years ago, Austin died of an overdose.
It is important that we honor the victims and survivors of Columbine with action, and support all of those whose lives will never be the same. Read more about how you can support survivors of gun violence with our resources, tools, and tips.
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RSVP for the 2022 Brady Action Awards!
We’re less than two months away from the 2022 Brady Action Awards — and you’re invited to join us! Together, we will honor champions of gun violence prevention whose activism embodies the spirit and legacy of our namesakes, Jim and Sarah Brady. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Opportunities are still available but are going fast.
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You’re Invited to Our Virtual Event: Crime Guns Are Part of the Problem
We’re on track to have the deadliest year of gun violence in our nation’s history. As gun violence rises, communities are implementing violence intervention strategies to combat this uptick. These strategies help address the root causes of gun violence, support gun violence survivors and victims, and save lives.
But here’s the thing: Despite violence interrupters' tireless on-the-ground efforts, there are far too many guns moving from the legal to illegal market. Irresponsible and negligent gun dealers fuel the flow of illegal firearms into our communities, creating devastating cycles of violence, which makes it difficult for violence interrupters to do this work. We need to address the source of illegal guns.
You’re invited to our virtual event on Wednesday, April 27, at 5:15 PST. Will you RSVP right now? In recognition of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, we’ll discuss the state of community violence intervention in California, including the key players, and how Brady’s “supply-side approach” can help communities hold gun dealers accountable to prevent the flow of illegal firearms into California communities. And even if you don’t reside in California, you’re invited to attend. Parts of our event will be applicable to your community.
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Episode 181: Race, Stand Your Grounds Laws, and Gun Violence
38 states in the U.S. now have "Stand Your Ground” laws — statutes that allow anyone who believes their life to be in danger to use lethal force in the name of self-defense. Some of these laws even completely remove a duty to retreat. Yet lethal disparities exist in how these laws are used — disparities that are built on our nation’s history of racism, weak guns laws, and gun lobby rhetoric. This week Kelly and JJ are joined by Kami Chavis, Vice Provost, Professor of Law, and Director of the Criminal Justice Program at Wake Forest Law. Together, they discuss how these laws do, or rather don’t, work.
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BRADY APPLAUDS PASSAGE OF THREE LIFE-SAVING BILLS OUT OF KEY COMMITTEES IN CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATURE
“The bills being heard in committee today will build on California’s existing comprehensive gun violence prevention laws by taking a supply side approach. From banning unserialized ghost guns, which have proliferated exponentially across the state and the country, to improving safety standards for gun dealers to prevent gun trafficking and gun theft, these bills will help to stop the gun violence that harms every community in California. Importantly, one of these bills will allow Californians to hold the gun industry accountable for negligent, irresponsible or dangerous business practices creating a path to justice for victims and survivors and a powerful incentive for the industry and industry actors to enact reforms that stop gun violence and save lives. The California legislature must pass these important bills.”
— Brady President Kris Brown
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Thank you for supporting Brady and our work to prevent gun violence and save lives. We rely heavily on the generosity of activists like you to fund our work to create a safer America. If you're in this fight, please join Brady today by making a gift.
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