WASHINGTON — Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, released the following statements applauding President Joe Biden’s significant gun safety achievements highlighted in his State of the Union Address this evening. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken lifesaving gun safety action, and has the opportunity to keep building on these victories in the coming year.
“President Biden has led the strongest gun safety administration in history, but there is so much more to do when it comes to keeping Americans safe from the horrors of gun violence,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “There are critical steps the Administration and Congress can take right now to save lives, and that starts with using executive action to close the gun seller loophole and ensuring ATF has the resources it needs to hold the gun industry accountable.”
“After breaking a nearly 30-year logjam of federal inaction on gun safety, our grassroots army stands firmly behind President Biden and joins his call to keep going,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “As a candidate, Joe Biden ran on the strongest gun safety platform in history and his Administration continues to follow through on that promise as we remain committed to ending the gun violence epidemic in this country.”
Last week, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) released a new report, at President Biden’s direction, that presents and analyzes data on “crime guns” — the first time such a report has been issued in over 20 years. The report highlighted Glock as the number one maker of traced crime guns — matching an Everytown finding last month — and the speed with which guns are trafficked into the wrong hands and used in crimes (“time-to-crime”).
This report is the second of four volumes, and it’s crucial that the next volume of this report:
- Name dealers and distributors connected to crime guns, analyze which gun dealers are connected to crime guns, especially those with short time-to-crime, and break down crime gun manufacturers by region, dealer distribution, time to crime, and volume of sale.
- Identify rogue gun dealers, including a record of their compliance history and any compliance efforts to reform or revoke their licenses.
- Highlight the role of unlicensed sales without background checks in fueling gun trafficking channels, including online and at gun shows.
- Identify how many guns are imported into the U.S. annually, broken down by importer, to provide a better picture of the gun industry and firearms in circulation today.
- Publish a query system to allow users to access ATF trace information and data on FFLs in a manner consistent with how other federal agencies present sensitive data; and create a data dashboard to easily visualize trace data.
This continues to be the strongest gun safety administration in history, as evidenced by President Biden’s signing of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, confirmation of an ATF director for the first time in seven years, historic executive actions to address gun violence, his long record of taking on the NRA and passing life-saving laws, Vice President Kamala Harris’ years of gun safety advocacy, and the unmatched gun sense cabinet they have built. President Biden has prioritized gun safety since entering office, from combating deadly, untraceable ghost guns to the Department of Justice’s development of a strategy on reducing violent crime, to finalization of the stabilizing arm brace rule, to the comprehensive strategy to address gun violence that includes efforts to fight gun trafficking, investments in community violence intervention programs, and more.
Everytown, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action continue to work with the gun safety majority in the Senate, gun sense champions in the House, and the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure robust implementation and strong enforcement of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and our gun laws as a whole.
To speak with an Everytown expert on the roadmap for gun safety progress in 2023, do not hesitate to reach out.
