The Time is Now Coalition Statement on President Biden's Gun Crime Prevention Announcement

June 23, 2021

The Time Is Now Coalition Statement on Biden Crime Reduction Announcement

Given rising gun homicides across the country and the threat of more gun violence this summer, we commend the Biden Administration for continuing to take significant steps to help build safer communities in America by stemming the flow of firearms used to commit violence by taking on irresponsible actors in the gun industry, investing in evidence-based community violence interventions, and expanding summer programming and employment opportunities.

Communities and survivors of gun violence continue to call on the administration to live up to President Biden’s campaign promise and expend political capital to pursue a comprehensive gun violence reduction strategy to end all forms of gun violence. The public health crisis of gun violence deserves no less attention than our nation’s climate or infrastructure crisis. Therefore, we urge the administration to: 1) Open a federal office of gun violence prevention in order to establish a long-term sustained coordinated interagency intergovernmental effort to significantly reduce gun deaths and injuries; 2) Work closely with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to find a viable path forward for advancing critical community investments and a set of comprehensive life-saving reforms through Congress; 3) Work with the Senate Democrats to end the filibuster to ensure a minority of Senators do not continue to place their political ambitions ahead of the lives of their constituents.

As President Biden said during his joint address to Congress in April, “I will do everything in my power to protect the American people from this epidemic of gun violence.” We will continue to hold him accountable to his commitment.

- The Time Is Now Coalition (Community Justice Action Fund, Guns Down America, March for Our Lives, Newtown Action Alliance)