Our Mission
Safer Country is dedicated to keeping guns out of unsafe hands.
Prevent A Gun Tragedy
SPEAK UP!
Our Alexandria, Virginia-based nonprofit was founded on February 14, 2019 – the first anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida mass shooting tragedy.
A red flag law was passed in Florida as a direct result. This law saves lives. It empowers the police to disarm a person for up to two weeks if a judge believes there’s an imminent danger that person will use their gun or guns to harm themselves or others. See our Programs page for more details.
In the words of Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was murdered at that school: “If a red flag law had existed then, my daughter would be alive today.”
Virginia is the 19th state to enact a red flag law. It passed in 2020. We initiated our “Prevent A Gun Tragedy – SPEAK UP!” campaign in 2021 in Fairfax County to raise public awareness about this law. It works far better with public involvement. Visit our Media page for more details.
Now, we’re seeking to expand that campaign in Fairfax with signs, digital advertising, and more and work to get other places with red flag laws to adopt it.
Guns Became the Leading Cause of Death for American Children and Teens in 2020
Safer Country is especially outraged by a newly-created AR-15 that was made for children under 5. It’s called a JR-15 and is being marketed so children will beg their parents for it. This isn’t satire. It’s real.
A three-year-old shooting a JR-15.
Solutions Are Needed Now!
Over 250,000 guns are stolen every year and are used to commit more deadly crimes. Homemade guns are also used to evade the law. Safer Country supports effective measures to prevent gun tragedies and crimes, such as:
- closing all the loopholes in our national background check system
- getting every state to create their own background check system to expand the categories of people that may be barred
- banning military-style assault weapons – at a minimum for men 25 and under and women 21 and under, in line with MRI studies determing when brains are fully developed
- banning high-capacity magazines
- requiring serial numbers on every weapon produced to prevent criminals from using “ghost” guns to escape accountability
- restricting access to body armor, and
- passing safer/secure gun and ammunition storage laws to prevent tragic accidents and theft.
Please join Safer Country’s advocacy and educational efforts by making a tax-deductible donation today!
Together we can create a Safer Country.
Our Challenge
The NRA and Second Amendment extremists have blocked action at the national, state and local levels for many years. We must also face the reality that the public continues to buy guns in large numbers, endangering itself in the process. As well, it doesn’t know about the laws that could help reduce gun tragedies.
Our Work
Safer Country educates and advocates to the public and policy makers to promote the passage and effective implementation of gun safety laws that can save lives.
Critically, we also push government officials to track the success of these laws and report on them.