“Daughter Goes to Prom, Has a ‘Pretty Good’ Time After Mental Health Crisis Averted.”
“Dallas-area Family Returns Home from Mall: Even Teenaged Son Reportedly Enjoyed the Family Time.”
Such headlines will never make the local paper or trend on Twitter. They speak of the ordinary, the everyday, and most importantly, the safe — the result of unseen victories owing entirely to quiet but meaningful advancements in gun safety reform.
Our world today is saturated with grim, relentless news of gun violence. These reports rightfully draw our attention and fuel our collective will for change. However, in this litany of tragedies, it is all too easy to overlook the silent triumphs — instances of potential violence thwarted, of lives saved, of families that continue to enjoy the mundane, the joyful, the routine — all because of preventive, common-sense measures like extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs).
ERPOs allow temporary firearm removal from individuals who pose a risk to themselves or others. Andmost importantly, they work. Thanks to research and advocacy efforts in state capitols and local communities across the nation, 21 states have adopted or strengthened ERPOs since 2014. In many of those states, important spadework was done by Fund for a Safer Future grantees like the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy and the Giffords Law Center. This doesn’t just represent legislative progress; it also signifies countless family outings, school days, and prom nights that played out without any loss of life or the specter of gun violence.
Consider this: A peer-reviewed survey identified 21 cases where ERPOs prevented potential mass shootings. In each instance, the worst-case scenario was averted; no threatened shootings occurred, and no other homicides or suicides by individuals under the orders were reported. These uneventful outcomes will never make headlines. Sadly, that’s not how the news cycle works. But they represent true success stories in the fight against gun violence.
Community violence interventions are also showing remarkable success — again without garnering many headlines. Some are focused violence deterrence strategies that use street outreach, while others provide community-driven methods to identify, deter, assist and support those at the highest risks for gun violence — both victims and perpetrators.
By building relationships and supporting healing and de-escalation, these initiatives, most of which rely heavily on philanthropic support, are giving community members the tools to make their own neighborhoods safer. And they work. An independent analysis of two such programs in New York City showed a 50% reduction in gun injuries in one neighborhood and a 37% reduction in another.
As we observe Gun Violence Awareness Month today and through the remainder of June, it is important that we acknowledge these quiet, understated victories even as we continue to toil away at preventing future tragedies. These stories remind us that for every heartbreaking incident of gun violence, there are millions more daily occurrences, both the ordinary and the joyful, made possible through effective gun violence prevention measures.
These success stories also remind us of the power of responding to tragedy with hope and resolve. We’ve been inspired by how Nashville has responded to the Covenant School shooting in March. Margaret Renkl elegantly wrote in her May 8, 2023 New York Times column about how her community is grieving their losses by fighting for sensible gun legislation and uniting across party lines to win an executive order to strengthen background checks. As Renkl wrote, “It all gives me more hope than I have had in some time.”
Let’s use that hope to turn our collective grieving into action. We know that ERPOs and community violence initiatives work. Our challenge now is to continue to invest in these lifesaving solutions, to strengthen and expand them.
Over 11 years of collaboration and co-investment, the members of the Fund for a Safer Future have collectively made more than $170 million in aligned grants to organizations whose work is critical in advancing a gun safety agenda. During that same period, our membership has also climbed steadily, from a handful of foundation donors in 2012 to more than 35 funders today.
No single policy change will end gun violence, particularly in a country where gun sales continue at a breathtaking pace. There will, unfortunately, be more mass shootings. And more accidental shootings. And more firearm suicides. There will be more gun violence, period.
But if we meet each new tragedy with resolve for change and a commitment to proven interventions that work, the tide will turn. The country’s gun laws will more accurately reflect the wishes of its people.
Our success will be measured not just in a reduction in gun violence headlines, but in the countless stories of everyday life, unfolding safely and joyfully, thanks to our collective efforts. And you can be part of the solution. Stand with policymakers who support proven efforts like ERPOs and community violence intervention in your communities. Join local or national campaigns to prevent gun violence. And, most of all, don’t give up hope. For it is our collective hope, resolve and action that will end the scourge of gun violence and let us all return to our normal, safe and sometimes even boring lives.
Talia Rivera is the executive director of the Fund for a Safer Future, a funder collaborative that helps reduce gun violence in the United States by supporting evidence-based policies at the local, state and federal levels.
