CONGRESS TO PASS TRANSFORMATIVE GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION LAWS

“THE TIME IS NOW TO TAKE ACTION:” 

BRADY JOINS PRESIDENT BIDEN’S CALL TO ACTION.

 President Biden Became The First President Since Bill Clinton To Highlight Gun Violence Prevention In His First Address To A Joint Session Of Congress

 https://www.bradyunited.org/press-releases/the-time-is-now-to-take-action-biden-join-address-congress

 Washington, D.C., April 28, 2021 - Tonight, Brady applauds President Biden’s clear and moral leadership in calling on Congress to pass common-sense gun violence prevention laws during his first address to a joint session of Congress. President Biden reiterated the scope of our nation’s gun violence crisis, including his recent executive action to prevent the proliferation of ghost guns, and calling on Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, expand and strengthen Brady background checks, and pass a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Brady joins with President Biden in calling for these policies and supports him and all elected officials in the effort to make them the law of the land.

Brady President Kris Brown shared:

“Tonight, President Biden proved again that he is the strongest gun violence prevention champion ever to occupy the Oval Office, becoming the first President since President Clinton in 1993 to highlight the need to prevent gun violence in their first address to Congress. And, the policies he is calling for are just as transformative as the Brady Bill that President Clinton called on Congress to pass. President Biden called on Congress to follow his lead and to take action, just as he has in announcing six executive actions that will tangibly and immediately affect gun violence.

We need the legislative fixes that President Biden called on Congress to pass. He rightly called for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to help stop police violence that traumatizes Black and Brown communities across the country. President Biden authored the Violence Against Women act in the 1994 and now, 27 years later, the Senate must follow the House’s lead and pass its reauthorization, including the fix to the so-called ‘boyfriend loophole,’ without delay. The Senate must also pass the two bills sent from the House expanding and strengthening Brady background checks, which President Biden rightly said have the ‘overwhelming support of the American people.’ These policies, a legislative solution for untraceable ghost guns, and a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines will help address the public health epidemic that kills over 100 Americans every day and disproportionately affects Black and Brown Americans. Brady echoes President Biden's clarion call to the Senate: the time is now to take action.

With President Biden, we can again pass transformative public safety laws to protect our families and communities from gun violence. As President Biden said, ‘we’ve done it before.’ President Biden has done it before. He has taken on the NRA and won - and this moment represents the best opportunity in a generation to do it again. We stand with President Biden just as he did with Jim and Sarah Brady in the 1990’s and now, just as then, we will pass these life-saving measures.”

About President Biden’s Executive Actions:

This month, President Biden outlined six initial actions to address gun violence:

1.    The White House has nominated David Chipman for Director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

2.    The Justice Department, within 30 days, will issue a proposed rule to help stop the proliferation of ghost guns.

3.    The Justice Department, within 60 days, will publish model extreme risk order legislation for states. 

4.    The Justice Department will issue a new, comprehensive report on firearms trafficking and annual updates necessary to give policymakers the information they need to help address firearms trafficking today.

5.    The Administration is investing in substantive evidence-based community violence interventions, directing five federal agencies to modify 26 programs that will route vital support to community violence intervention programs as quickly as possible. This also adds to the proposed $5 billion investment in the American Jobs Plan that will support community violence intervention programs.

6.    The Justice Department, within 60 days, will issue a proposed rule to make clear when a device marketed as a stabilizing brace effectively turns a pistol into a short-barreled rifle subject to the requirements of the National Firearms Act.

 About the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA):

Passed in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act marked a seachange in the way in which our nation thinks about intimate partner violence. For over 20 years, Congress has reauthorized this common-sense bill that has helped to protect Americans from domestic abuse. However, the 116th Congress and notably the U.S. Senate led by Sen. Mitch McConnell allowed VAWA to expire on December 21, 2018. In an attempt to right this wrong, VAWA was temporarily reinstated on January 25, 2019, but was again allowed to expire on February 15, 2019, again due to the gun lobby’s protestations and stranglehold on the Senate. Even so, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill reauthorizing VAWA in April 2019, which was then allowed to languish without a vote in the Senate. Today’s vote to reauthorize VAWA is overdue.

This reauthorization would close what is known as the ‘boyfriend loophole.’ Under federal law, dating partners who do not share a child in common can still legally purchase and own guns, even if they abuse their partners. Additionally, persons convicted of stalking, battery, and assault misdemeanors can still purchase and possess guns. The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act would update federal law to close these dangerous loopholes. It does not include any language regarding extreme risk laws.

About H.R. 8:

Introduced on March 2, 2021 by Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5), H.R. 8 makes it unlawful to sell or transfer a firearm in any transaction without a Brady Background Check. This bill expands the current Brady Law to every sale or transfer in private sales, subject to the narrow exceptions.

About H.R. 1446:

Introduced on March 2, 2021 by Rep. Jim Clyburn (SC-6), H.R. 1446 provides the background check system with additional time to make a final determination on a potential firearms purchaser before a licensed dealer can transfer a gun, addressing the so-called “Charleston loophole.”

Currently, federal law allows a “default proceed,” whereby a federally licensed firearm dealer (FFL) can transfer a gun to a customer if the federal background check is not completed within 3 business days of the background check request to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

The Charleston loophole is named for the 2015 mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in Charleston, S.C., that killed nine innocent people. The shooter – who was prohibited by law from possessing a firearm – was able to acquire his gun before the FBI could complete his background check. Although the FBI needed more time to investigate the shooter’s disqualifying records to determine whether the purchase was lawful, federal law allowed the dealer to transfer the gun after three days even though the check was not completed.

 

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 BRADY JOINS CALLS FOR SYSTEMIC CHANGES TO POLICING IN AMERICA, FOLLOWING GUILTY VERDICT IN DEREK CHAUVIN TRIAL

 

https://www.bradyunited.org/press-releases/systemic-change-policing-george-floyd-derek-chauvin-verdict

 

Washington. D.C., April 20, 2021 - Following the decision in the trial of Derek Chauvin, Brady joins with activists and communities across the country who have called for justice in this case and today received it. We should not have had to have this trial at all, as George Floyd should still be alive. He should not have been murdered by a man sworn to protect the public. This verdict cannot undo the murder of George Floyd or the pain that his family has felt. We need systemic change to our policing systems to prevent such tragedies. Because police violence is facilitated by the direct use, threat or perceived threat of firearms, we must recognize police violence as gun violence. This verdict must serve as another wake up call for our entire nation to create new public safety systems that do not terrorize and kill our fellow Americans. We cannot accept a system that allowed for the murder of George Floyd or that continues to kill Black and Brown Americans.

Brady Director of Racial Justice Kelly Sampson shared:

“George Floyd should be alive today. Period. That would be true justice, but today’s verdict does bring some measure of justice for his family and an opportunity for systemic change. We cannot accept the status quo when it comes to policing in America. By some measures, there have only been three days in 2021 where someone was not killed by police. We know that this violence disproportionately affects Black and Brown Americans. Police are more than two times more likely to kill Black Americans than white Americans. Native Americans are 3.1 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans. This is not society.

We are capable of creating a society where George Floyd would still be alive today. Where Duane Wright would be alive today. Where Adam Toledo would be able to live more than 13 years on this earth. Where Breonna Taylor would not be shot in her bed.

We must remember their names and we must honor their memories with action. We need systemic change. True justice cannot be handed down by a jury when the system that facilitated the crime remains intact. Today must be a new beginning for the effort to create systemic change in our policing systems. We cannot accept anymore young girls having to see their father’s ‘change the world.’ We cannot accept a country where any one of us can’t breathe. If the air is poisonous for one of us, it is poisonous to us all.”

Brady President Kris Brown shared:

“Today’s verdict is an important first step towards demanding accountability and change when it comes to policing in America. We need systemic change that creates a public safety system that does not kill our fellow citizens. Black and Brown Americans have been calling for changes to policing for years. It is far beyond time that our nation listens to their calls. Today, Brady joins with the many activists across the country who have demanded justice in this case, and so many others, for years. This verdict does not create justice for George Floyd or for the other victims of police violence across the country, but it brings us one step closer to creating change. Brady joins with these same activists in demanding clear and actionable steps from local, state, and the federal government, such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act already before Congress. This is an opportunity to create real change and make a more just and equitable nation. We must seize it.”

Facts About Police Violence:

·       The United States sees rates of police violence and officer-involved shootings at far higher rates than its peer countries

·       Nearly 1,100 people were killed by police in 2019, a number and rate far higher than in other, industrialized nations

·       Black Americans are only 13 percent of the U.S. population but are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans.

·       According to one research group, Black Americans were 24 percent of all police-involved shooting fatalities last year.

·       While they comprise just 0.8 percent of the total U.S. population, Native Americans are 1.9 percent of police-involved shooting fatalities.

·       Native Americans are 3.1 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans.

 

We must also acknowledge that Americans do not experience gun violence equally. While gun violence affects every community, it is an indisputable fact that gun violence disproportionately affects Black and Brown communities. To look at the full picture of gun violence in America accurately requires this critical lens. In the United States, where you live often determines if you live — and we cannot accept that. According to CDC data, Black people are 10 times more likely to die from gun homicide as white people. That same data shows us that black youth under 19 fare even worse; they are fourteen times more likely than their white counterparts to die from gun homicide. The life expectancy for Black men was reduced by four years because of gun violence. Polling shows that 57 percent of African Americans personally know someone who has been shot either accidentally or intentionally, compared to 43 percent of white respondents. The effects of this reality are pernicious, including lifelong trauma and stress that tangibly and negatively affect Black and Brown communities and individuals. It is impossible to discuss gun violence without addressing this reality, as any real solutions must account for and seek to correct this systemic inequality.