In an open letter signed by 43 groups, advocates called on the Biden administration to implement more measures to prevent gun violence, reports The Trace. The groups which included Giffords and Brady, recommended declaring gun violence a public health crisis and adding funding to community violence and suicide prevention. The letter asks for a new federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention to organize policy efforts between agencies and to nominate a permanent head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which has operated without one since 2015.
The letter advocated a similar course of action made by a smaller group of gun reform advocates last week. The new letter calls out what gun advocates see as a lack of a coordinated federal effort. It reads, “The Administration can, and must, do more in 2022 or potentially face an even more dramatic increase in gun violence than we saw these past years. We cannot afford to wait for a stagnated Congress to take action; instead, we implore your Administration to use the authority of the office to reverse this deadly trend.” The groups said they were "proud of the Administration’s work to address Community Violence. The American Rescue Plan and changes in Medicaid have so far been responsible for the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars to local and state governments to fund proven methods that reduce gun violence and save lives."