So how do we make our families and communities safer? Experts have shown that there are ways to reduce gun violence: requiring background checks on all gun sales; promoting the secure storage of guns; allowing for Extreme Risk Protection Orders (also known as Red Flag Laws); keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and violent offenders; and supporting programs for mental health and community violence intervention. We just need politicians who are willing to turn these common sense solutions into laws!

And here’s something you can do right now in under five minutes — Tell your Senators and Congressperson to support common sense legislation to reduce gun violence. We’ve made it easy for you. Start by filling out the form directly below — or at this link — and our tool will walk you through the rest. We’ve even written a message you can use or customize to your liking.

Nothing will change until our laws do, so your representatives need to hear from you! Be a part of the solution and send your message today.

The post Do This: Preventing Gun Violence appeared first on Red Wine and Blue.

Gun violence includes mass shootings, homicides, assaults, suicides and suicide attempts, domestic violence, unintentional shootings, intimidation, threats, and more. Anyone who lives through these experiences, either as a victim, witness, or loved one to those involved, is a survivor.

Understanding the lifelong physical, mental, and financial toll of surviving gun violence is an important part of finding solutions to the crisis. We can better understand the toll by listening to survivors’ stories.

Greg Jackson, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, recently shared his survivor story on The Suburban Women Problem podcast. Watch:

Greg succinctly described some of the hard questions we have to face as a country to solve our gun violence crisis. Next week, we’ll have some answers to those questions, and an easy action you can take to be a part of the solution.

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Guns are the leading cause of death for American children and teens.² It’s a shocking statistic and a uniquely American problem. How much of this can our hearts take? Most of us agree, we can’t let this stand.

The term “gun violence” quickly brings to mind the horrors of mass shootings in our communities and schools like Apalachee, but it also includes other violent crime, domestic violence, suicide, and unintentional shootings. Gun violence can impact any of us anywhere at any time.

That’s why the majority of Americans, regardless of political party or whether they own a gun or not, support policies that help reduce gun violence.³ We all want to keep our families and our communities safe.

To do so, we need a wide range of solutions to tackle every cause of gun violence. To that end, the Biden-Harris administration has invested $30 billion in gun violence prevention efforts and have already:

• Passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in 30 years.
• Signed dozens of executive orders that address both the supply of guns and the behavioral causes of gun violence.
• Created the first ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention (OGVP), overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Suburban Women Problem podcast recently spoke with the OGVP’s director, Stefanie Feldman, and deputy director, Greg Jackson, who told us just some of the things these historic efforts are accomplishing so far:

• Promoting and incentivizing secure gun storage. Secure storage is vital to protecting our families because:
  • 30 million children live in homes with firearms in the U.S. – nearly 5 million of those in homes where guns are loaded and unlocked.⁴
  • 76% of school shootings are committed with guns from the shooter’s home.⁵
  • 80% of youth suicides by gun are committed using guns from the home.⁵
  • 76% of unintentional shootings of children are committed using unsecured guns found in homes.⁵
• Providing resources and funding to schools for youth mental health initiatives through the Stop School Violence Act, the American Rescue Plan and the BSCA.
• Expanding the federal definition of who is a gun dealer. Now, previously unlicensed private sellers (online and at gun shows) have to get licensed like traditional gun stores and conduct background checks on gun buyers. This is the largest expansion of the background check system in 30 years and is keeping guns out of the hands of youth, felons, domestic abusers, and other people who may be a risk to themselves or others.
• Creating the Safer States Agenda for state legislatures which outlines 15 different measures individual states can take to reduce gun violence — measures like Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO), also known as “red flag” laws — and providing model legislation for states to use.

This is only the beginning of the bipartisan, common sense work that can be done to reduce gun violence. We obviously need more solutions to help make our kids, families, and communities safer. We owe it to the victims and survivors of yesterday’s horrific mass shooting at Apalachee High School to keep this momentum going to prevent future tragedies.

1. Gun Violence in America, Everytown, May 7, 2024.
2. Firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and teens, Everytown, May 7, 2024.
3. National Survey of Gun Policy, 2023 Results, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Gun Violence Solutions, July 21, 2023.
4. Unintentional Firearm Injury Deaths Among Children and Adolescents Aged 0–17 Years — National Violent Death Reporting System, United States, 2003–2021, CDC, December 15, 2023.
5. White House Announces New Actions to Promote Safe Storage of Firearms, whitehouse.gov, January 25,2024.

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Ready to take action? 

It’s past time to support gun sense legislation – join students and parents across America and tell Congress to support an assault weapons ban. Click here now to send a letter to your lawmakers. We’ve written it for you–all you have to do is click a few buttons! Thanks for taking action this week.

The post Do This: Tell Lawmakers to Ban Assault Weapons appeared first on Red Wine and Blue.

That’s a question Ashbey Beasley wants answered. Ashbey was not involved in any gun violence prevention work, until she survived a mass shooting with her young son, at a Fourth of July parade. Now she speaks out about gun violence and the unexpected costs of active shooter drills. Ashbey is not willing to accept that we have normalized mass shootings with active shooter drills. And neither are we.  

Watch this short clip to hear more of our interview with Ashbey Beasley: 

To listen to the full podcast episode that explores the true cost and impact of active shooter drills, click here.

The post Watch This: School Shooting Survivor Talks About Gun Violence appeared first on Red Wine and Blue.

• There is NO research that backs up the value of active shooter drills. 
• There’s significant evidence that these drills actually have a negative impact on the mental health of students, teachers, and school staff.

And here’s the kicker:

• The push for active shooter drills has created a $2.7 billion industry that feeds off the fear of school shootings. That’s right…companies are profiting off our kids’ fear. And these drills are just a bandaid on the problem that elected officials refuse to take action on. 

Research conducted by Everytown for Gun Safety and Georgia Tech found that active shooter drills in schools are associated with a 39% increase in depression, a 42% increase in stress and anxiety, and a 23% increase in mental health problems. There was also a 22% increase in concerns over death in students, some as young as five years old. These fears of death also affect teachers and parents. So while active shooter drills are continuously being pushed instead of passing gun safety regulations, the long term impact on schools and the wider community is being ignored. And our children are paying the price. 

Victims of gun violence often talk about a tipping point, when enough Americans will demand action on gun violence in this country. We know it is past time that our elected leaders take action on gun violence prevention. Children should not be the ones paying the price for this extremism. 

Thanks for taking your easy action for this week. See you next Thursday! 

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