Read This: Preventing Gun Violence

Our hearts are breaking with the families of Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia today as they grieve in the aftermath of a tragic mass shooting. Every day, more than 120 Americans are killed with guns and more than 200 are shot and wounded.¹ Yesterday, at least four of those killed and nine of those injured were at Apalachee High School. We can’t stop thinking about them.

Guns are the leading cause of death for American children and teens.² It’s a shocking statistic and a uniquely American problem. How much of this can our hearts take? Most of us agree, we can’t let this stand.

The term “gun violence” quickly brings to mind the horrors of mass shootings in our communities and schools like Apalachee, but it also includes other violent crime, domestic violence, suicide, and unintentional shootings. Gun violence can impact any of us anywhere at any time.

That’s why the majority of Americans, regardless of political party or whether they own a gun or not, support policies that help reduce gun violence.³ We all want to keep our families and our communities safe.

To do so, we need a wide range of solutions to tackle every cause of gun violence. To that end, the Biden-Harris administration has invested $30 billion in gun violence prevention efforts and have already:

• Passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in 30 years.
• Signed dozens of executive orders that address both the supply of guns and the behavioral causes of gun violence.
• Created the first ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention (OGVP), overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Suburban Women Problem podcast recently spoke with the OGVP’s director, Stefanie Feldman, and deputy director, Greg Jackson, who told us just some of the things these historic efforts are accomplishing so far:

• Promoting and incentivizing secure gun storage. Secure storage is vital to protecting our families because:
  • 30 million children live in homes with firearms in the U.S. – nearly 5 million of those in homes where guns are loaded and unlocked.⁴
  • 76% of school shootings are committed with guns from the shooter’s home.⁵
  • 80% of youth suicides by gun are committed using guns from the home.⁵
  • 76% of unintentional shootings of children are committed using unsecured guns found in homes.⁵
• Providing resources and funding to schools for youth mental health initiatives through the Stop School Violence Act, the American Rescue Plan and the BSCA.
• Expanding the federal definition of who is a gun dealer. Now, previously unlicensed private sellers (online and at gun shows) have to get licensed like traditional gun stores and conduct background checks on gun buyers. This is the largest expansion of the background check system in 30 years and is keeping guns out of the hands of youth, felons, domestic abusers, and other people who may be a risk to themselves or others.
• Creating the Safer States Agenda for state legislatures which outlines 15 different measures individual states can take to reduce gun violence — measures like Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO), also known as “red flag” laws — and providing model legislation for states to use.

This is only the beginning of the bipartisan, common sense work that can be done to reduce gun violence. We obviously need more solutions to help make our kids, families, and communities safer. We owe it to the victims and survivors of yesterday’s horrific mass shooting at Apalachee High School to keep this momentum going to prevent future tragedies.

1. Gun Violence in America, Everytown, May 7, 2024.
2. Firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and teens, Everytown, May 7, 2024.
3. National Survey of Gun Policy, 2023 Results, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Gun Violence Solutions, July 21, 2023.
4. Unintentional Firearm Injury Deaths Among Children and Adolescents Aged 0–17 Years — National Violent Death Reporting System, United States, 2003–2021, CDC, December 15, 2023.
5. White House Announces New Actions to Promote Safe Storage of Firearms, whitehouse.gov, January 25,2024.