Keeping Guns Out Of Unsafe Hands

Yetide Badaki
ActressProducer, Activist
Safer Country Advisory Committee Honorary Chairperson
Click here to see Yetide Badaki’s Safer Country video.

A Message from Founder/Executive Director Paul A. Friedman, JD

Welcome to Safer Country!

Safer Country recognizes that nearly 400 million guns are owned by nearly 85 million people, so we are focused on keeping guns out of unsafe hands.  For example, we persuaded Fairfax County to help us create a Red Flag law public awareness campaign.  Together we created one and then Safer Country brought it to the City of Alexandria.  In addition to public awareness campaigns, we develop and seek to advance creative legislation and projects where we can be uniquely effective.  Scroll down to see more on Safer Country’s Red Flag law campaign.

Every year, approximately 250,000 guns are stolen from gun owners and firearms dealers.  Most are from cars and criminals have admitted that they look for cars that have stickers or license plates that suggest the owner likes guns.  Too often those cars are unlocked and/or the guns inside them are not in a locked compartment that is hard to break.   That’s why Safer Country is championing a Virginia law to prevent gun thefts from cars, and reduce the number of road rage incidents at the same time.  It’s time to get tough on crime by passing laws to prevent such thefts!

“When children die, grief is exponential.” – The Washington Post

Since 2020, gunfire has been the leading cause of death for children and teens.  According to the Gun Violence Archive, of the 5,151 children and teenagers under 18 who were shot in 2024, 1,403 died.  That is more than 70 Sandy Hook mass shootings in one year given that 20 children were murdered that day.  Stunningly, although suicides among children are on the rise, the Trump Administration just shut down the special suicide hot line for LGBTQ+ children.  We must end the mass murder of children!

For the last year where numbers are available, 2023, the CDC reported that 46,728 died from a gunshot.  58%, or 27,300, were classified as suicides.  38%, or 17,927, were classified as homicides.  463 were classified as accidents and another 434 were unable to be classified.  The statistics also show that, by and large, the states with stronger gun tragedy prevention laws and that are grouped together in the northeast, have the lowest homicide rates.  Scroll down to see a list of some of Safer Country’s Solutions.

Facing the crisis head on, in 2022, President Joseph Biden’s administration passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major federal gun violence prevention law in 30 years.  It dedicated $1.4 billion and enacted smart policies to attack it.  It focused on enhancing background checks, particularly for individuals under 21,  and closed a dangerous loophole.  It also supported state crisis intervention programs, addressed domestic violence, and included provisions to combat gun trafficking and straw purchasing.   Ten Republican Senators voted for it primarily because it dedicated $750 million to mental health care, including special courts, school-based mental health services, and mental health training for professionals.   

The Biden administration also created the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, established a research center at John Hopkins University, and strengthened the ATF, which licenses and monitors federal firearms dealers.

Safer Country opposes President Donald Trump’s efforts to roll back these bipartisan advances in order to put more guns in the hands of criminals.

Trump is doing serious damage to our nation.

He has redirected the work of the ATF to prevent it from effectively regulating gun stores, which includes tracking gun sales for use by law enforcement when investigating gun crimes.

He has taken money back from the mental health fund ($750 million) and community violence intervention programs ($250 million), even though it violates the law and is being challenged in court.

He has removed hundreds of thousands of names from the background check system and is making it far easier for convicted felons to get their gun rights back.

He is in the process of eliminating the National Firearms Act of 1934, which has severely limited access to machine guns, short-barreled rifles, shotguns, and silencers.  Its passage was partly a response to the gang violence by people such as Al Capone and the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

There is certainly much more this to come.

Safer Country opposes Trump’s pardoning of armed violent criminals because they fought to help him overthrow the 2020 Presidential election and his gutting of our nation’s ability to protect the public from armed right-wing extremist groups, such as the ones that helped him on January 6 – the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.  Scroll down to see more on Trump and armed extremist groups.

As a result of all of the above, the gun violence prevention community has a tremendous challenge ahead of it.  More than ever, we must unite with the people to fight back in the courts and with our votes so we can create a safer country.  Join us!

Safer Country is a 501(c)(3).  Contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.