California Moms Demand Action Hold Virtual Town Hall on City Gun Violence to Ensure Violence Intervention and Prevention Funding is Protected Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Yesterday, more than 300 Moms Demand Action volunteers were joined by Assemblymembers Mike A. Gipson and Jesse Gabriel, gun safety groups and community organizations, as well as survivors of gun violence, in a virtual town hall urging Governor Gavin Newsom and the state legislature to protect and maintain funding for the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program (CalVIP). The virtual town hall was held as state lawmakers return to the legislative session, and amid anticipated significant budget cuts in the May budget revise. 

As cities and states consider budget cuts to fight the pandemic, it’s essential CalVIP grantees and local gun violence intervention groups continue to receive previously allocated funding from the state of California.  

There are nearly 14,000 gun homicides in the U.S. every year. In 2015, half of the gun homicides in the US took place in just 127 cities, which contain less than a quarter of the population. And while California has some of the strongest gun laws in the country, there’s still an average of more than 3,000 gun deaths in the state every year.  

CalVIP supports community-based violence intervention programs that apply a localized approach to reducing gun violence in California’s hardest-hit neighborhoods. These programs apply a public health model to ending gun violence and keeping Californian communities safe. Moreover, many community-based prevention and intervention programs in the U.S. have now adapted their strategies to inform community members about the risks of COVID-19.  

More information about violence intervention and prevention funding available here. Statistics about gun violence in California are available here, and information on how California’s gun laws compare to other states overall is available here. 

If you have any questions, or would like to speak with volunteers with California Moms Demand Action, please don’t hesitate to reach out.