BRADY APPLAUDS “HISTORIC” FUNDING PROPOSAL FOR COMMUNITY VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS BY GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM

 

https://www.bradyunited.org/press-releases/newsom-california-historic-funding-calvip-violence-prevention

 

Washington, D.C., May 14, 2021 - Today, Brady applauds Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed $200 million in funds for the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program (CalVIP), which would more than quadruple the grant program’s existing funds. This funding would go to critical, evidence-based programs that heal communities to reduce violence and support Californians, a common-sense and public health approach to addressing gun violence.

Brady President Kris Brown shared:

“Gun violence is a complex public health crisis that requires a multifaceted solution. Community violence intervention and prevention programs are an essential component to that strategy. These evidence-based programs help to provide support and resources to those communities and individuals affected by gun violence, addressing the source of conflict and working to stop violence from ever occurring. Gov. Newsom’s commitment to preventing gun violence is proven and today’s historic funding proposal is another example of his leadership on this issue. Particularly as California’s businesses and economy re-open, this funding will help programs continue their life-saving work in communities most affected by gun violence exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Thank you, Gov. Newsom for this historic commitment to preventing gun violence in California.”

Brady Oakland Program Manager Erica Rice shared:

“Murders increased by 35 percent in the Bay Area last year - gun violence being the cause of 84 percent of the killings in Oakland. Those communities - our communities - are still reeling from that trauma. Programs funded by CalVIP help to address the root cause, mediate conflict and start the healing process by working with and within communities to reduce violence. This funding is a historic and clear demonstration of Gov. Newsom’s dedication to reducing violence in our state. Such an increase would allow community-led organizations across California to continue reaching communities that experience the disproportionate impact of gun violence, particularly Black and Brown communities. Brady thanks Gov. Newsom for his commitment to this important program. The State Legislature must include this funding in its final budget. It will save lives.”

Team ENOUGH Executive Councilmember Stephan Abrams shared:

“As a Californian and a young person, I have watched as Gov. Newsom and California’s State Legislature have taken forceful action to address gun violence in all of its forms, even as extremists and the gun lobby opposed them at every turn. I remember when our California members first lobbied for an increase in CalVIP funds and have seen firsthand those funds put to great use. I am thrilled that more groups would be able to use CalVIP funds to uplift communities across our state. The funding proposed by Gov. Newsom would help to catalyze the important work of community violence prevention programs across our state that prevent violence and work with communities to resolve conflict and create healing. Thank you Gov.Newsom for calling on our State Legislature to include this historic funding for CalVIP. These funds will create change in our state.”

About CalVIP:

Established in 2019, the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program (CalVIP) supports evidence-based urban violence prevention programs such as hospital and community-based violence interventions. These programs are proven to reduce the incidence of homicides, shootings, and aggravated assaults, especially in communities of color, often black communities, that are disproportionately affected by gun violence. 

BRADY APPLAUDS PROPOSED DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RULE REGULATING GHOST GUNS: "THIS WILL SAVE LIVES"

https://www.bradyunited.org/press-releases/biden-garland-department-justice-ghost-guns-rule

Washington, D.C., May 7, 2021 - Today, Brady applauds President Biden and the Biden Administration for issuing a proposed rule to regulate ghost gun kits and parts as firearms. This action, when in effect, will have an immediate and tangible impact on the effort to prevent gun violence. This proposed rule will require that unfinished frames and receivers be serialized and their sale subject to a background check from a licensed dealer. This regulation will help stop the continued proliferation of unregulated and untraceable ghost guns into communities all over the country.

Brady President Kris Brown said:

“President Biden has once again demonstrated his understanding of America’s gun violence epidemic and his commitment to addressing gun violence in all of its forms. Ghost guns undermine nearly every gun law in the country, and they are marketed and sold for that purpose. The rule proposed by the Justice Department today will have a tangible impact. Unregulated access to ghost guns is a threat to public safety, which is why gun violence prevention advocates, community leaders, and law enforcement have all called for their regulation. Currently, any person can purchase a ghost gun without any background check or safeguard. This loophole has been exploited and utilized by individuals who are prohibited from purchasing a firearm, circumventing the base principles of our gun safety laws. Today’s action ends that. In requiring background checks and the serialization of these parts, President Biden and the U.S. Department of Justice will ensure that any individual who should be prohibited from purchasing a firearm has no legal avenue to do so. At long last these weapons will be treated as the firearms we know they are. This will save lives.”

Brady Program Manager and former Chief of the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Firearms Steve Lindley shared:

“Ghost guns are a clear and present danger to law enforcement, our communities, and any effort to reduce firearm violence in our country. These weapons undermine the many public safety laws that states have worked hard to pass - laws with overwhelming public support, such as background checks, that help to keep communities and law enforcement safe. This proposed rule will help keep all Americans safe and reduce gun violence and gun trafficking by ensuring that these weapons are serialized and regulated.This is a common-sense regulation and we are grateful to Attorney General Garland and President Biden for proposing this rule. This will save lives.”

Brady Senior Counsel and Director of Racial Justice Kelly Sampson shared:

“This proposed rule is part of President Biden’s plan to address gun violence in all of its forms, a plan that takes particular note of an unacceptable reality: Black and Brown communities in the United States are disproportionately affected by this epidemic. In America, Black people are ten times more likely to die from gun homicide than white people. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for Black Youth and Black youth are fourteen times more likely than their white counterparts to die from gun homicide. On the whole, gun violence decreases Black Americans’ average life expectancy by about four years. Ghost guns are a part of that gun violence and in the past few years we have seen an exponential rise in the recovery of ghost guns in Black and Brown communities nationwide. Unregulated access to unserialized ghost guns has further fuel gun trafficking into our communities, perpetuating violence into communities created by years of inequity, racism, and oppression. By regulating ghost guns as what they are --firearms, President Biden is reducing a driver of gun violence in our communities and building on his historic funding for community violence prevention. This rule will have an immediate and tangible impact.”

About Ghost Guns:

Ghost guns are unserialized and untraceable firearms that are often made from "ghost gun kits," that can be bought online, at gun shows or at gun stores and assembled at home. "Ghost gun kits," include all of the parts and often the equipment necessary to build these weapons at home. These kits are widely available and can be purchased by anyone, including prohibited purchasers, domestic abusers, and gun traffickers — without a background check. As these kits and guns are sold at gun shows and online every day throughout the country, they undermine all of the life-saving policies that state legislatures have fought so hard to put in place. We have seen ghost guns used in crimes already, such as in New York, where six-year-old Miguel Everson was shot in the back by his uncle, who was a prohibited purchaser but obtained a ghost gun, and in the 2019 Saugus High School Shooting, where a minor used a .45 caliber pistol that was assembled from a kit.

This is a growing concern, as:

·       The ATF estimated that in just 2019, over 10,000 ghost guns were recovered by law enforcement.

·       The CA Bureau of Firearms seized 512 percent more ghost guns from persons identified through the Armed Prohibited Persons System database in 2019 than in 2018.

·       In January 2020, the ATF’s Los Angeles Field Division reported that over 40 percent of its cases involved ghost guns.

·       In just one week in January 2021, 17 percent of firearms recovered by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC were ghost guns.

·       In San Francisco, the number of ghost guns seized by local law enforcement jumped 600 percent between 2017 and 2019

·       In Onondaga County, in New York State the number of ghost guns recovered jumped 188 percent between 2018 and 2019 and in 2020, the county was again on track to break their record for recoveries - halfway through the year, more ghost guns had been recovered than in all of 2019.

About Brady’s First-of-its-Kind Lawsuit, McFadyen v. Ghost Gunner Inc.

Represented by Brady and the international law firm Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe the survivors and the families of the people killed in the 2017 mass shooting in Rancho Tehama, California, recently brought forward McFadyen v. GhostGunner Inc., the nation’s first two civil lawsuits by victims of gun violence against the ghost gun industry.

Plaintiffs allege in the complaint that the defendants have chosen to engage in a business that utilizes online loopholes that enable prohibited purchasers to acquire weapons without a Brady Background Check or any interaction with a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL). In doing so, Brady alleges that the defendants have chosen to intentionally undermine federal and state gun laws by designing, marketing, and selling ghost gun kits and firearms parts, which allowed the Rancho Tehama gunman, who was barred from purchasing or possessing a firearm, to obtain two AR-15-style ghost guns. During the gunman’s shooting spree in November 2017, he killed five people and injured 18 others at eight separate crime scenes, including an elementary school.