Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, released the following statements regarding President Joe Biden’s Safer America Plan, a proposed $37 billion investment to prevent gun crime, support community violence intervention programs, and keep guns out of dangerous hands, while calling on Congress to take additional action on gun safety.
“With his Safer America Plan, President Biden is sending a message to Washington: the landmark gun safety bill that recently passed Congress was a starting point, not the finish line,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “The Biden-Harris Administration can count on Everytown’s full support as it works to build on the gun safety movement’s growing momentum.”
“Our grassroots volunteers left it all on the field to help elect Joe Biden because we knew he’d prioritize gun safety, and he continues to keep that commitment,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “Coming just weeks after the signing of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the Safer America Plan is an important proposal that will save lives and help address our nation’s gun violence epidemic.”
“As someone who has seen the pain of gun violence first-hand, I know ending this epidemic requires using every tool available to us,” said Crystal Turner, a Moms Demand Action volunteer whose son Donell McDonald Jr. and daughter Jenea Harvison were shot and killed in 2015. “While we fight for more gun safety legislation at every level of government, I’m glad to see President Biden leaving no time to waste by detailing his Safer America Plan at the same time that he implements and enforces the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.”
“Too many young people like myself can’t even remember a time when we could go to school or the mall without the fear of gun violence,” said Avery Hamill, a volunteer with Students Demand Action in Pennsylvania and member of the Students Demand Action National Advisory Board. “We have waited our entire lives for laws like the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, showing us that progress on gun safety is not only possible, but inevitable, as our leaders hear from us.”
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act establishes an enhanced background check process for gun buyers under age 21, provides federal funding to implement state Red Flag laws, disarms domestic abusers by addressing the dating partner loophole, and funds community violence intervention programs, among other items.
The Biden-Harris Administration continues to be the strongest gun safety administration in history, as evidenced by President Biden’s signing of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, having a Senate-confirmed ATF Director for the first time in seven years, historic executive actions to address gun violence, the President’s 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 issuing a new, annual comprehensive report on firearms trafficking, to launching a comprehensive strategy to address gun violence that includes investments in community violence intervention programs.
