Brady United is reducing gun violence in our communities, thanks to CREDO members

For more than 40 years, our partners at Brady: United Against Gun Violence have been uniting gun owners and non-gun owners alike in the fight against gun violence. With programs that tackle the root causes of America’s gun violence epidemic, Brady works to ensure that every community is safer.

In May 2021, CREDO members voted to distribute $57,360 to help bolster Brady’s on-the-ground programs in areas most impacted by gun violence, help the organization take the gun industry to court, promote safe gun storage, and more — with a goal of reducing gun violence 25% by 2025. 

Here are some recent victories and highlights of Brady’s work, thanks to funding from CREDO members:

Combating Crime Guns Initiative (CCGI):

Brady’s Combating Crime Guns Initiative works to shift the burden of gun violence from the shooters to the suppliers of crime guns, including irresponsible gun industry actors who prioritize profit over public safety. One way the group accomplishes this goal is through enhancing gun dealer inspections.

Enhancing Local and State Gun Dealer Inspections

Not content with simply revealing gaps in enforcement, over the past year Brady has also looked for ways to directly improve gun industry oversight. Knowing that states and localities with appropriate authority can conduct their own gun dealer inspections, the group developed a predictive algorithm to help state and local police departments prioritize inspections. Developed by analyzing thousands of pages of inspection reports for gun dealer characteristics and violations, this tool can predict ‘high-risk’ gun dealers 4.5 times more accurately than random selection.

Over the past year, Brady’s Crime Guns team trained police in one state on how to implement this ‘inspection optimization algorithm’ into their existing gun dealer oversight practices. In just its first two weeks of use, this predictive tool identified one gun dealer that was repeatedly violating state law by not recording ammunition sales. Despite having been in operation for years and never having followed this specific state law, state police had no plans to inspect this dealer until the shop was identified by our algorithm. This was an extremely promising start to Brady’s long-term work improving gun dealer inspections across the state. Brady will soon be bringing this tool to a state where a law was recently passed requiring local law enforcement to conduct gun dealer inspections.

End Family Fire (EFF)

End Family Fire is a national public service advertising campaign from Brady and the Ad Council that debuted in August 2018. EFF recognizes that gun owners are an essential part of the gun violence prevention movement—and can prevent tragedies through safe gun storage. Grounded in extensive market research on the gun-owning population and their gun storage behaviors, EFF engages in a direct dialogue with gun owners, inviting them into the conversation about protecting their families and keeping our communities safe through responsible gun ownership.

Suicide Prevention Campaign

End Family Fire initially focused on preventing unintentional shootings. In late 2020, Brady expanded the End Family Fire campaign to focus on another type of gun violence that is often not talked about: gun suicide. In the U.S., we lose 63 people a day to gun suicide—more than those who are lost to firearm murders and unintentional shootings combined. In fact, over half of all gun deaths in America (61%) are suicides.

The new phase of the EFF campaign highlights these realities, using both behavior-changing tactics and empathy-provoking methods, to motivate gun owners to store their guns locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition, thereby giving their loved ones a second chance at life. Our September launch was the product of years of research and message testing, and we could not be more proud of the resulting unique and life-saving campaign.

Brady Legal

Brady Legal has secured landmark precedents that hold gun companies and dealers accountable for the deaths and injuries they enable. To date, the program has won over $60 million in settlements and verdicts for gun violence victims and successfully pushed many gun dealers and manufacturers to adopt more responsible, safer business practices. They have argued and won cases before numerous state supreme courts, trial courts, and federal appeals courts, and litigated in over 40 states.

Recent Legal Win

Galliher v. Cabelas: Family of slain Ohio man settles lawsuit with Cabela’s for selling a gun to prohibited purchaser Brady, on behalf of the family of Bryan Galliher, a 21-year-old man murdered in 2016, has settled a lawsuit against outdoor retailer Cabela’s and its parent company, Bass Pro Group LLC, for selling the gun used to kill him. Brady alleged that the retailer violated Ohio law by selling a black powder gun—a replica of an antique Army revolver—to an Orrville man prohibited from possessing firearms due to a felony conviction of violence. As a result of the settlement, Cabela’s has instituted sweeping reforms to its marketing and sales practices to keep black powder guns out of the hands of individuals with a violent history and others prohibited by law from possessing a gun.

If you’d like to learn more or get involved with Brady’s incredible, life-saving work, please visit Brady’s website, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.