Guest commentary: Work on ending gun violence must move forward, even without ATF leader

If momentum means anything, we don’t similar what we’re seeing close present successful this administration’s effect to weapon violence. President Biden’s withdrawal of David Chipman arsenic the manager of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was a disappointment to america successful our enactment to trim weapon violence. Don’t get america incorrect — we are fans of the President’s stated intentions arsenic expressed successful his genuinely forward-thinking candidate’s platform, and we judge those goals and commitments to beryllium sincere. But hold is not our friend.

Although our state volition present spell without enactment astatine the ATF, America tin inactive look to the White House for leadership, innovation, and existent courage.

President Biden knows the symptom of losing a child, conscionable arsenic we do. Our beloved Jessi was slain successful the Aurora theatre shooting. And conscionable arsenic President Biden addressed his son’s decease from crab by championing the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot, we person worked to spare different families our tremendous symptom done action, and judge a akin governmental full-court press, with unrelenting momentum, is needed to halt the escalating toll of lives guns cause.

Over the past 9 years, we person learned what’s indispensable to halt the weapon carnage that claims the lives of much than 100 radical each time successful the United States.

We impulse President Biden to see the pursuing avenues of action:

Create the Office of Gun Violence Prevention to found a long-term, sustained effort to trim weapon deaths successful America by classifying weapon unit arsenic a nationalist information situation and a nationalist wellness and information priority, and marque a committedness to chopped each forms of weapon lethality by 50% by 2026, including suicide, homicide, and unintentional shootings.

Create a National Firearm Injury Prevention Bureau. Thanks to the enactment of the National Transportation Safety Board, transportation-related decease rates person plummeted implicit the years. Experts person successfully implemented the astir effectual ways for radical to past hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and adjacent tsunamis. Our state desperately needs to larn however to plan buildings, make level plans, and devise exit strategies truthful radical tin flight nationalist shootings similar the wide shooting that claimed our Jessi 9 years ago.

Find ways to clasp accountable weapon manufacturers and sellers who merchantability guns and ammunition without completed inheritance checks, oregon who usage mendacious advertizing to merchantability firearms.

In 2019, we, on with different survivors, experts, researchers, and advocates, met astatine the GVPedia Conference successful Denver to grant the 20th day of the Columbine massacre. We collaborated with the attendees to draught the Denver Accord, an evidence-based usher to stem weapon violence. We impulse each leaders to work the Denver Accord to larn the astir effectual policies to trim weapon violence.

These actions unsocial are not capable to extremity unit but unneurotic they would beryllium a bully contiguous deposit similar the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot that volition alteration our state to code the galore aspects of weapon unit including home violence, stolen firearms, and suicide.

The pandemic has brought with it a suffocating broad of fearfulness — a fearfulness that people, misguided by firearm lobby slogans, respond to by purchasing firearms. The accrued fig of firearms successful our homes and communities is reflected successful the staggering 32% summation successful firearm-related deaths successful Colorado betwixt Jan. 1 and September 15, 2021, compared to the aforesaid periods successful 2019 and 2018, according to the Gun Violence Archive. CBS News reported that 2021 volition apt grounds the highest fig of weapon unit successful 20 years nationwide.

President Biden and governmental leaders wherever you serve, fto america not beryllium victims of our times but, instead, visionaries of a safer, much peaceful future. A aboriginal wherever each unit is uncommon due to the fact that our large federation has applied our sizeable abilities, listened to our survivors, utilized the champion research, and worked together, with shared humanity and compassion, to stem the weapon bloodshed that has stained our nation.

Sandy and Lonnie Phillips are the founders of Survivors Empowered, which assists weapon unit survivors and seeks to springiness them a voice. Their daughter, Jessica Ghawi, was murdered successful the 2012 Aurora theatre shooting.