Our collective power is mighty, and when we work together, the impact is clear. Learn about the federal policies we’ve already won and the bills being marked up as we speak. Celebrate the huge victory our entire coalition achieved in this year’s Pennsylvania state budget. Hear from our staff about the work we’re doing, and find out exactly how you can remain involved in the coming weeks and months, so we can keep this momentum going for as long as it takes.

A Pennsylvania free from gun violence. That’s our final destination, and we won’t slow down the work until we get there.

This effort was the result of the monumental commitment from dozens of partners across the Commonwealth, and our executive director, Adam Garber, estimates that sustained funding like this toward these community-based, evidence-proven models could reduce gun violence by as much as 30%. 

These efforts alone will not end gun violence once and for all, but it is a huge deal. Click here to read our full statement.

Adam Garber, our executive director, at the White House with other advocates for gun violence prevention, in celebration of the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act marks the first piece of substantive gun legislation to be passed into law at the federal level in 28 years. This bill is now law in because you convinced Senator Pat Toomey and Senator Bob Casey voted for it.  This law works to address a few of the direct sources of gun violence in our communities. 

It creates stricter and more thorough background checks for gun purchasers under the age of 21. (Six of the nine deadliest mass shootings in America since 2018 were committed by assailants under the age of 21, according to the New York Times.)

It provides $750 million to implement extreme risk protection orders, increasing the likelihood of intervention before a life is lost. (Note: we’re one of those states that does not have an ERPO law yet…so these funds could be made available to us if the General Assembly takes action.)

It further disarms domestic abusers by helping close the “boyfriend loophole”. It prohibits non-spouses convicted of domestic abuse for current or recent dating partners from buying or carrying a gun.

It clarifies the definition of what a gun sale means, which means that the requirement for a background check has now been broadened to more circumstances. 

It establishes the first ever law in our nation’s history to prohibit illegal arms trafficking across state lines. It allocates school safety funding, investment in mental health services, and $250 million in community violence prevention funds.

This bill was passed because of you. You did that.

You drove in calls and messages along with gun violence prevention advocates from all over the country, and despite years and years of political obstruction, we now have a fully Senate-confirmed and highly qualified leader to champion the enforcement powers of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. We haven’t had that since the Obama administration, and the impact on our communities has been horrific.

We sounded the alarm a few months back about the real lack of enforcement of rogue gun sellers not following the law. A recent report conducted by Brady using Attorney General Shapiro’s publicly available data showed that thousands and thousands of crime guns, guns used in acts of violence in our communities, were sold by just six gun shops. With President Biden’s nominee, Former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach, now confirmed by the Senate, the ATF can now get to work on reversing this sobering trend and getting these guns off the street and out of the hands of those who would inflict harm on us all.

The September session is coming, the final opportunity for the public to drive forward state-level policy change before the midterm elections. We’ll be sharing opportunities throughout the rest of the summer for you to reach out to lawmakers and share where you stand, so make sure to open our emails when you get them!

Federal funds are now available to states that adopt extreme risk protection order legislation, and Pennsylvania could be one of those states! ERPO laws allow a judge to temporarily remove a gun from a person who has shown clear and convincing evidence of being a danger to themselves or others.

Are you looking for new ways to deepen your impact to end gun violence? Consider becoming a sustaining donor of our work. All of our donors, and most especially our recurring donors, help to protect the strength of our work into the future so we can end this crisis, once and for all.

CeaseFirePA
P.O. Box 60095
Philadelphia, PA 19102
United States

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