President Biden’s Actions to Reduce Gun Violence are Steps in the Right Direction!

In the past 48 hours, there were two more mass shootings resulting in several senseless deaths in the U.S.

Late Wednesday evening in Rock Hill, SC, a physician and his wife – and their two young grandchildren – were shot and killed, along with an air conditioning technician; another technician is fighting for his life. On Thursday, six others were shot – five were injured and one died – in a workplace shooting in Bryan, TX. A state trooper was also shot during a police chase of the suspect; he is expected to survive.

However, also in the past 48 hours, a glimmer of hope for change has surfaced, with President Joe Biden announcing his “Initial Actions to Address the Gun Violence Public Health Epidemic.”

Of the six initial actions shown below, the first three will be addressed by the Department of Justice within 30 to 60 days; the nomination of David Chipman to direct the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms appears imminent.

While President Biden stresses the call for Congress to pass legislation that reduces gun violence, he is also working within authority as President to take his own steps and save lives. “The President is committed to taking action to reduce all forms of gun violence – community violence, mass shootings, domestic violence, and suicide by firearm,” the announcement linked above states.

OCAGV applauds President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for these much-needed actions – and we are in full agreement that our elected representatives at both the state and national levels need to step up and do their part to help reduce gun violence in our country.

Ironically, an editorial in the Columbus Dispatch today was written by a mother who lost her adult son to gun violence in 2015. She states that she can forgive those who killed her son, but is unable to understand or forgive the inability of lawmakers to take action to stop this violence.

"I’ve forgiven the people who shot and killed my son. They were children with trauma and grief of their own, and easy access to guns. But I will not forgive our leaders if they pass up another opportunity to end this senseless violence."

We thank our supporters for helping OCAGV to reduce gun violence. We all need to work more than ever NOW to change the culture of violence in our state and across the country. Thank you!