Office of Gun Violence Prevention to be Established, Earning Praise from Sandy Hook Promise
/President Biden has announced the establishment of the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, aimed at reducing gun violence and implementing and expanding upon key executive and legislative action.
Nicole Hockley, CEO and Co-Founder of Sandy Hook Promise, said of the new initiative: “The Office of Gun Violence Prevention will make ending gun violence a central issue, every day, for our federal government. The Office will work across agencies to implement and create comprehensive solutions and support resources to make our schools, homes, and communities safer.”
The new Office of Gun Violence Prevention will be overseen by Vice President Kamela Harris, and led by Stefanie Feldman, a longtime policy advisor to President Biden on gun violence prevention, who will serve as Director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
Hockley, who was among those joining President Biden for the formal announcement of the new Office, added that “This news is a testament to … consistent advocacy for gun violence prevention. This new office is a big step in the right direction. Now we must encourage leaders to take immediate action. We all need policies like expanded background checks, extreme risk protection orders, school violence prevention programs and more. The Office of Gun Violence Prevention can make these a reality.”
Hockley’s son Dylan was among the students and educators killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Feldman, after the Sandy Hook shooting in December 2012, was part of the team that helped then-Vice President Biden develop executive actions and legislation to reduce gun violence. She holds a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
In June of this year, President Biden traveled to Connecticut for the National Safer Communities Summit, where he said to an auditorium filled with advocates, “Remember, for a long time in America, car accidents were the leading killer of children… Then, in 2020, guns became the number one killer of children in America. Guns. More than car accidents, more than cancer.” He added, “whether we’re Democrats or Republicans, we all want families to be safe. We all want to drop them off at the house of worship, a mall, a movie, the school door without worrying if that’s the last time we’re ever going to see them. We all want our kids to have the freedom to learn to read and to write instead of learning how to duck and cover in a classroom.”
The White House points out that in addition to actions already taken by the President and Congress – including approval of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act a year ago, considered to be the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in nearly 30 years, President Biden continues to call on Congress to take additional action, including by:
• Banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines;
• Requiring safe storage of firearms;
• Requiring background checks for all gun sales;
• Eliminating gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability; and
• Enacting his Safer America Plan, which would put more police officers on our streets for accountable, community policing and invest in gun violence prevention and intervention.
“I’m thrilled President Biden is making the Office of Gun Violence Prevention a reality,” Connecticut U.S. Senator Chris Murphy said in a statement, noting that the office will help strengthen the federal government’s implementation of the bipartisan gun control legislation. The proposal has been advocated by Murphy and his colleague, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, as well as an array of gun safety advocates and organizations nationwide.
“I believe we’ve reached a tipping point in this nation. I really do, swear to God,” Biden said at the Summit at the University Hartford in June. Among those speaking that day was Nelba Márquez-Greene, whose daughter Ana Grace was among the young victims at Sandy Hook.
