#BREAKTHEPATTERN

Better Background Checks

Keeping Guns Out of the Wrong Hands

Criminal background checks are the foundation of any effort to reduce gun violence across America. The system works – more than 3 million illegal gun sales have been blocked in the past 20 years. But half of all Americans still live in states where a convicted felon, domestic abuser or fugitive can simply skip a background check by finding an unlicensed seller at a gun show or online. Lawmakers need to close this dangerous loophole, and further strengthen the system by ensuring all background checks are completed before guns are sold and empowering law enforcement to pursue people who illegally try and fail to purchase guns.

Protecting Kids and Communities

Supporting Red Flag Laws and Responsible Access to Firearms

Far too often, law enforcement or family members see warning signs that a person with access to guns may be a threat to themselves or others, but are helpless to do anything about it. Red Flag Laws can prevent mass shootings and reduce gun suicides by allowing family members and police to ask a judge to temporarily block a person from possessing firearms if they pose a threat to themselves or others. We must also limit easy access to firearms and accessories capable of inflicting mass casualties and require safe and responsible storage of all guns.

Disarming Domestic Abusers

Ending America’s Uniquely Lethal Domestic Abuse Problem

More than half of women murdered with guns in the U.S. are killed by an intimate partner or family member, and women in America are five times more likely to be killed in a domestic confrontation if a gun is present. Lawmakers should protect all victims of domestic violence, including non-married partners, by preventing abusers from possessing firearms after a criminal conviction or while under a restraining order. And the law must ensure that abusers actually turn in their guns after becoming prohibited from possessing guns in a court of law.

Combating Daily Gun Violence

Supporting Research, Law Enforcement and Local Solutions

To solve America’s gun violence crisis, law enforcement, policymakers, communities, and researchers need resources to do their jobs. The government needs to do its part in this fight by funding new research into gun violence; community-driven, evidence-based interventions to curb city gun violence; and new tools to help law enforcement collect evidence, trace all crime guns, reduce trafficking, and solve gun crimes.

Holding the Gun Industry Accountable

Repealing Gun Industry Immunity to Promote Safer Guns

Unlike any other major industry, the gun industry is shielded from accountability for business practices that directly threaten public safety and put American lives at risk. As a result, there has been no cost to the industry for failing to make guns safer or for marketing weapons and hardware that have no place in the hands of civilians. It’s time for that to change. Lawmakers must reverse the special treatment for the industry that too often bars the courtroom door to gun violence survivors.

#BreakThe

Pattern

The Everytown Action Plan