Enough is Enough: CREDO grantee Brady is fighting to end gun violence

Our nation is slowly returning to normal as we emerge from over a year of quarantine and our ongoing battle against COVID-19. But as one pandemic ends, there remains an imminent threat to American life: America’s decades-long epidemic of gun violence. Fomented by the deadly influence of the gun lobby, the inaction of our lawmakers, and more,  gun violence claims the lives of over 100 people every single day in the United States.

We have already seen the deadly gun violence that comes with our return to normalcy: High-profile mass shootings, many of which were perpetrated with  military-style assault weapons, occurring in Atlanta, GA, Boulder, CO, and Indianapolis, IN, within mere weeks of each other. What’s worse is that these shootings are a small fraction of the gun violence that our country has already experienced this year. In fact, by some measures, there have been over 50 mass shootings since the hate-fueled attack in Georgia. And these mass shootings are only a fraction of the types of gun violence that our nation experiences: Suicide by firearm, firearms involved in domestic disputes, community gun violence, and more are just some of the forms of gun violence — the combination of which have already taken the lives of 13,000 people this year.

That’s why Brady, one of our nation’s  oldest and boldest gun violence prevention organizations and a CREDO grantee, has been fighting for decades to pass common-sense gun legislation – since we passed the bipartisan Brady Bill in 1993, establishing the Brady Background Check System for gun sales in America. Since its inception, the Brady Background Check System has blocked approximately 4 million prohibited purchasers from buying a firearm and saved innumerable lives. But as times and technology have evolved, our federal gun laws have not, leaving deadly loopholes and critical gaps in our current laws that have allowed dangerous individuals to obtain firearms and kill innocent people. Today, we continue the fight for our namesakes, Jim and Sarah Brady, to strengthen and expand the Brady Background Check System.

Brady works across Congress, courts, and communities to drive change. We understand the complex issues that lead to gun deaths in our nation, and with the help of CREDO and our generous supporters, we are enacting multi-faceted solutions that are proven to save lives.

We have not backed down from our fight in Congress despite the deadly influence of the gun lobby and the years of inaction by NRA-bought lawmakers. Because of our tireless work, we helped elect  gun violence prevention champions to the House, Senate, and White House and finally stand on the precipice of landmark legislative change once again.

Our legal team takes on cases in courts across the country, representing the families of gun violence victims and prosecuting the gun manufacturers that contributed to the gun violence epidemic. And right now, our legal team is preparing to take on the gun lobby in the highest court in the land when the Supreme Court of the United States hears a case on the Second Amendment this fall.

In communities, we focus on the everyday gun violence that disproportionately affects namely Black and Brown Americans — and this is a critical piece of the solution, as Black Americans are twice as likely as white Americans to die from gun violence and are 14 times more likely than white Americans to be wounded. We believe that gun violence is a racial justice issue that necessitates systemic change to our critically flawed and racist systems. We are the only organization taking a “supply-side” approach, working to stem the flow of crime guns into disproportionately impacted communities. We are also working with the gun-owning community to promote safe gun storage and end family fire.

Brady is led by gun violence survivors who intimately know the pain of losing a loved one to gun violence and who have dedicated their lives to ensuring no one else has to go through that loss. Survivors and experts of gun violence alike direct our comprehensive efforts toward the most critical pieces of the fight to prevent gun violence, ensuring that we are making progress at every turn and continuing the Brady legacy of landmark change.Supporting Brady means saving lives, to put it plainly. We know what it takes to end this uniquely American epidemic of gun violence, and we have been working for decades to do it. The progress we’ve made already has saved innumerable lives and saved so many families from tragedy, but we won’t stop fighting until Americans no longer have to wonder if they will be shot and killed

at school…

at work…

in their homes…

at the movie theatre…

in their neighborhoods…

It is only with the help of dedicated donors, like CREDO, that we are able to continue this vital, multifaceted work. Thank you to CREDO and CREDO’s loyal supporters for your investment in our gun violence prevention mission.

To learn more about Brady and how you can get involved, please visit https://www.bradyunited.org/