Washington, D.C. – Today, President Joe Biden announced that he is forming a new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. In response, Patrick Gaspard, president of the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
This new office will save lives, as it directly confronts the carnage of gun violence plaguing us. President Biden has transformed this fight with an urgently needed, all-agency coordinated response. But much more must be done. Our children are dying in classrooms. Americans have been slaughtered in houses of worship. All while politicians pose with automatic weapons in holiday cards, as the gun lobby wines and dines them. This is the time to act, and this White House initiative renews our resolve.
CAP led a coalition of many gun violence prevention organizations to write a November 17, 2020 letter to the Biden-Harris transition team calling for them to take action on gun violence. Today’s announcement addresses three of the letter’s recommendations: create an Interagency Task Force or Hub on Gun Violence Prevention responsible for developing and implementing a coordinated, comprehensive plan to address all aspects of gun violence across all federal agencies; appoint a senior-level White House official to coordinate federal efforts to address gun violence; and create a federal office of violence prevention to support community-based violence intervention programs.
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For more information or to speak to an expert, contact Julia Cusick at [email protected].