Keeping Guns Out Of Unsafe Hands

WELCOME TO SAFER COUNTRY!

“Since 2020, gunfire has been the leading cause of death for children and teens. Inspired by personal tragedy, I am committed to making meaningful and measurable progress to prevent more lives from being lost and families damaged.”

— Founder/President/ Executive Director Paul A. Friedman, JD

POSTPONED!

Our Virginia 2026 Legislative Celebration on Thursday, April 16 in Del Ray, Alexandria is POSTPONED! For more info, contact info@safecountry.org.

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BREAKING NEWS

Due to our work, Fairfax County has introduced a new Red Flag law public awareness campaign at the end of March.

I appreciate your efforts on the Red Flag law… The goal is to keep this program top of mind for residents to keep our community safe. Thank you again for your advocacy.

Sincerely,

Jeff

Jeffrey C. McKay
Chairman
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
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Leana Paradkar, who is in 10th grade at Rock Ridge High School in Loudoun County, has become our first Student Advocate. She will also be joining us at this gathering. Safer Country will support Rock Ridge’s Safer Country club by providing guidance and assistance on club projects.

Leana has founded the first Safer Country high school club and you can read about her and the club in this Rock Ridge newspaper article.

Our 2026 Agenda Highlights

1) Supporting the passage of a group of intelligent gun laws in Virginia that were vetoed in the last session by the previous governor, including a ban on new sales of assault weapons — and recommending new laws, such as the RIFL Act, which has been proposed in Illinois to hold gun manufacturers accountable.

2) Improving and expanding our successful “Prevent A Gun Tragedy-SPEAK UP! campaign in Fairfax County and bringing it to the entire Commonwealth of Virginia.

3) Raising awareness about the dramatic number of murder/suicides in our nation and the need to focus on preventing them. The Violence Policy Center’s 2023 report estimated there are ten murder/suicides a week in our nation.

4) Preventing impulsive suicides by veterans using firearms, which are 90% fatal, with the leadership of a retired Army Colonel; and, critically,

5) Opposing President Donald Trump’s assault on gun violence prevention laws, funding for proven prevention programs, the rule of law, and his support for partisan political violence, including political shootings.

We hope you’ll stand with us and support Safer Country!

Safer Country, a gun tragedy prevention 501(c)(3), was established in Alexandria, Virginia on February 14, 2019.

Safer Country news can be seen on our Facebook page.

Political Gun Violence

Safer Country is outraged by and condemns political violence, particularly when guns are involved.

Right now, we have a special concern about ICE and CBP agents, as they pose a danger to everyone living in our nation, including American citizens. Trump’s federally empowered thugs must be stopped by our legislators and our courts.

“ICE has a chilling history of shootings — though when and how its agents use deadly force has long been shrouded in secrecy. In 2024, journalist Lila Hassan obtained records that shed some light, revealing that from 2015 to 2021, ICE agents were responsible for at least 59 shootings, 23 of which were fatal. There was no evidence that any ICE agent was held accountable. In regard to Good’s killing, Trump officials have blocked state and local agencies from the investigation and barred them from accessing evidence in the case. That could complicate any efforts by Minnesota authorities to hold the agent accountable.” — The Trace 1/9/26

The same lack of accountability exists with the other murders committed over the past year, including Alex Pretti’s. One murder had been covered up for a year and was just revealed in February 2026.

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Gun Violence Numbers
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. We can do far more to protect children and teens!

Stunningly, although gun suicides among all children are on the rise, the Trump regime just shut down the special suicide hot line for LGBTQ+ children as if they aren’t worthy of help in a crisis. We are working to end gun suicides by children, teens, military veterans, and active-duty service personnel.

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.

Safer Country recognizes that nearly 400 million guns are owned by approximately 85 million people, so our work is not about removing all guns. No group is attempting to do that.

On the other hand, we do support temporarily removing guns from people when sufficient evidence exists to convince a judge that the person is a danger to themselves or others.

Fighting Crime
Every year, approximately 250,000 guns are stolen from gun owners and firearms dealers. 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 criminals by passing laws to prevent such thefts!

Nationally, we are speaking up against the Trump regime’s protection of criminals with guns, such as its pardoning of armed and violent criminals who attacked, harmed, and killed members of law enforcement on January 6, 2021 and its recent order to DC prosecutors not to charge people illegally carrying rifles and shotguns in public.

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Safer Country is a 501(c)(3). Contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. CFC #52580. EIN #83-3583969.
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Paul Friedman with actor Bryan Cranston at Yankee Stadium holding our “Prevent A Gun Tragedy” hats

Paul in the community and in the news.

May 4, 2025 Gun Violence Prevention Panel Discussion led by Josh Horowitz of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health Center for Gun Violence Solutions (CGVS), which featured VA Del. Marcus Simon, CGVS Advocacy Manager Lori Haas, and Safer Country ED Paul Friedman.

March 25, 2025 article on Governor Glenn Youngkin’s veto of a bill limiting transfers of guns in domestic violence situations quoting Safer Country ED, Paul Friedman

URGENT: If you feel concerned about your mental health and are in need of special help, call 988, the SUICIDE & CRISIS LIFELINE.

Donate Now!

President Donald J. Trump is a convicted criminal who is undermining the ability of law enforcement to protect people from criminals and right-wing extremists with guns.

On October 12, 2022, AP reported that, “A member of the Oath Keepers who traveled to Washington before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol testified Wednesday about a massive cache of weapons the far-right extremist group stashed in a Virginia hotel room.”

On January 30, 2025, NPR reported that, “On his first day in office, President Donald Trump granted clemency to every person charged or convicted for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, even those convicted of violently assaulting police officers.”

On March 21, 2025, Reuters reported that, “The FBI has cut staffing in an office focused on domestic terrorism and has scrapped a tool used to track such investigations, in a shift that could undermine law enforcement’s ability to counter white supremacists and anti-government extremists, according to sources familiar with the matter.”

On September 1, 2025, the Washington Post reported that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro is no longer prosecuting crimes that involve carrying shotguns or rifles under D.C. law. Her office is also working to lessen penalties for past offenses. It has already led to the release of a dangerous person from prison.

Knowledge that gun laws are enforced in Washington, DC kept insurrectionists from bringing weapons to the Capitol on January 6. That’s why they were stored in Virginia and Maryland. That barrier no longer exists.

On November 25, it was reported by Homeland Security Investigations that:

“The number of weapons seized [by our federal government] fell dramatically, declining from nearly 41,400 to fewer than 11,200 — a 73 percent drop.

The data comes from an internal report by Homeland Security Investigations, the agency’s crime-fighting arm. The report offers a comparison of enforcement statistics between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, 2025, and the same period during the previous year. That time frame includes roughly four months of the Biden administration and eight months of the Trump administration.”

This is due to Trump’s refocusing the FBI on migrants and his pro-gun agenda. He is helping criminals keep their guns and undermining criminal investigations!

Trump’s 7 Deadliest Gun Sins (Jan-Aug 2025)

1) Trump illegally narrowed the definition of “fugitive from justice” that’s used to determine who’s barred from buying a gun.

Any person “who is a fugitive from justice” is prohibited from purchasing or possessing a gun under federal law. For the purpose of the federal background check system for gun sales, the FBI had long interpreted “fugitive from justice” to include anyone with an outstanding arrest warrant. But less than one month into his Presidency, Trump’s DOJ directed the FBI’s background check operators to narrow the definition. It now only bars an individual with an arrest warrant from buying a gun if they: (1) fled a state; and (2) did so with the purpose of avoiding prosecution; and (3) were subject to imminent criminal prosecution.

The result? More individuals with outstanding arrest warrants, including for dangerous offenses, can now purchase guns.

By requiring that an individual leave a state with the specific intent to avoid prosecution, the new definition would only prevent those with a particular state of mind from buying guns. That’s incredibly difficult to prove.

But Trump’s move isn’t just dangerous, it’s also unlawful. The definition change is a departure from long-standing FBI practice, and it came without notice or opportunity for public input, much less any explanation of how to prove the fugitive’s state of mind—a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

2) He illegally purged 500,000 records from the federal background check system.

Trump didn’t just narrow the definition of “fugitives from justice”: the Administration also removed all existing records in the federal background check system identifying fugitives who would be prohibited from purchasing guns. When Trump took office, the background check system contained entries for nearly 500,000 people who had been flagged as “fugitives from justice.”

They purged all these records, and to date have only restored, about 1,000 entries under the category. The FBI is required, including by its own regulations, to maintain this critically important database. The Administration’s reckless conduct in purging these records constitutes a failure to meet its obligations under federal law.

3) Purging records is not the only way Trump is attempting undermine the federal background check system. His proposed budget would also slash funding that would help states upload necessary records to the background check system by 16 percent. That funding is essential to ensure guns are not sold to people prohibited from owning them, including dangerous criminals.

For example, after receiving background check funding, Connecticut was able to identify and upload more than 50,000 records for individuals who qualified as “fugitives from justice.” Those records were included in the massive data purge, and Trump’s proposed budget cut would make it less likely they will ever be replaced.

4) He froze a rule that would have prohibited more people who are dangerous because they suffer from severe mental illness from buying guns.

Federal law prohibits the sale of a firearm to any person who has been “adjudicated as a mental defective” or “committed to a mental institution.” Those terms are old and unclear, and as a result, there are gaping loopholes in our gun laws. In 2014, DOJ proposed a rule to fix this problem and prohibit certain people from buying guns, including those “committed to an outpatient mental institution,” “found incompetent to stand trial…in state, local and military courts,” and “found guilty but mentally ill by a court.” This important change would have kept guns out of the hands of those who are dangerous because of serious mental illness, but the gun lobby opposed the change. So instead of finalizing the rule, President Trump stopped it in its tracks.

5) After side-lining the DOJ proposed rule, President Trump went further. Working with Republicans in Congress, and cheered on by the gun lobby, Trump rolled back a rule that allowed the Social Security Administration to provide information to the national background check system about individuals who had been deemed unable to handle their financial affairs and unable to work based on a severe mental illness.

6) He halted a proposal to require gun makers and dealers to sell child safety devices in stores where guns are sold.

Federal law requires gun sellers to certify that “gun storage or safety devices will be available at any place in which firearms are sold.” In 2016, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) proposed a rule to close two regulatory loopholes that undermined the law.

The first loophole: ATF rules fail to explicitly require gun manufacturers to make safety devices available for purchase, even when selling directly to customers on their premises. The second: ATF rules fail to explicitly require that the safety devices actually be compatible with the guns offered for sale. The gun lobby opposed closing these dangerous loopholes, calling the proposed gun safety rule “burdensome and expensive.” So upon taking office, Trump pulled the plug on these common sense protections.

7) Rolling back child safety protections isn’t the only way Trump is lining the pockets of the gun industry. He’s also proposing to deregulate the export of assault weapons despite wide recognition that this class of weaponry is “the primary means of injury, death, and destruction in civil and military conflicts throughout the world.” But, as experts recognize, this is hardly just an issue affecting people in distant countries: These small arms can “easily fall into hands of those who seek to undermine U.S. national security.”

Text courtesy of Democracy Forward

Safer Country is determined to be creative in tackling these crises and more. We engage the public, partner with other organizations, and work with good elected officials to take action.

Safer Country Is Succeeding!!!

Safer Country’s temporary firearms removal (also known as red flag) laws public awareness campaign has successfully launched in Fairfax County! The above photo features Fairfax County’s Board Chair Jeff McKay, Safer Country’s Founder/Executive Director Paul Friedman, Supervisor and Public Safety Chair Rodney Lusk, and Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano at a press event on September 20, 2022.

Working together, Fairfax County and Safer Country introduced a bus sign campaign with Safer County’s message, “Prevent A Gun Tragedy – SPEAK UP!”

344 Fairfax County Connector buses had signs in English and Spanish and had a QR code. Listed were the webpage for people to use to get the info they need to prevent a gun tragedy and save lives. We also created a tracking page to see how many orders were issued monthly.

Fairfax County Red Flag Data Dashboard

It’s now a model for other jurisdictions seeking to apply for 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act federal funds, via state agencies, to create, facilitate, and promote temporary firearms removal laws. For example, the City of Alexandria’s DASH bus system featured our public awareness campaign signs for a year.

BREAKING NEWS: FAIRFAX COUNTY IS INTRODUCING A NEW DIGITAL RED FLAG LAW PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN IN MARCH 2026!

Red Flag Laws Save Lives!

The laws empower people to intervene to prevent a gun tragedy. Studies have shown a minimum of one in ten interventions saves lives. This law has proven effective in preventing suicides, domestic violence gun use, and mass shootings.

It creates the opportunity to get a civil court order to temporarily remove from the subject of the order all their guns and bar that person from possessing any guns. The initial decision by a judge is based upon proof of probable cause that the subject is a danger to themselves or others.

In Virginia, within 14 days, a full hearing is required to determine if that order should be extended. Clear and convincing evidence must be provided at that stage. If the state succeeds in its case, the court may bar access to guns for up to 180 days with the option of an extension upon a new motion.

Details about red flag laws all over the country may be found on our Programs webpage and on Wikipedia’s red flag law page, including a reference to Safer Country’s work.

Learn about the Gun Violence & ERPO (Extreme Risk Protection Order) Study.

This study was commissioned by The Joyce Foundation.

A Red Flag Law and an NFL Player

There have been great success stories, such as former NFL player Richard Sherman, whose life was saved by the use of a red flag law. He’s now a Host on Amazon’s Thursday Night Football show.

Answers to FAQ’s

1) This isn’t a criminal law. It’s a civil court order, so it’s not about proving someone is guilty. It’s about intervening to prevent a gun tragedy.

2) For the court order to be issued, evidence must be presented to a judge. It is insufficient to simply make an assertion that someone is a danger to themselves or others.

3) The first temporary firearms removal law passed in Connecticut in 1999 and was called a risk warrant. It’s now called a risk protection order. In all that time, even though it’s been opposed by the infamous NRA, it has not been found unconstitutional.

Speak Up!

We are also working to encourage jurisdictions without the law to pass it and use our campaign to get people to speak up to people in authority they trust.

Whether or not there’s a law to temporarily firearms removal law in a state or not, getting the word out about a person who has, or intends to get, a gun, and is a danger to themselves or others, may save lives.

Safer Country is committed to empowering the public to keep guns out of unsafe hands.

Safer Country leverages government to effectively implement gun safety laws and works to create, advocate for, and pass needed laws.

As a 501(c)(3), contributions to Safer Country are tax deductible to the maximum extent of the law.

Executive Director Paul A. Friedman

Safer Country · P.O. Box 372 · Alexandria, VA 22313-0372

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.

Safer Country Solutions

Safer Country supports effective measures to prevent gun tragedies and crimes, such as:

closing the loopholes in our national firearms background check system
supporting state firearms background check systems
restricting the sale and possession of all military-style assault weapons, except for use by law enforcement and the military
limiting high-capacity magazines to enable the interruption of a mass shooting during reloading
requiring serial numbers on every weapon produced to prevent criminals from using “ghost” guns to escape accountability
partnering with the National Black Movie Association on gun tragedy prevention films
passing safer/secure firearms and ammunition storage laws to prevent negligent deaths, particularly to children, and theft, which increases the supply of illegal guns
creating Safer Country Security Grants to protect lawful investigators of right-wing extremists and extremist groups
advocating for government action to monitor and protect the nation from right-wing extremists and extremist groups

MRI studies show brains are not fully developed before the age of 25. Putting weapons in the hands of people under 25 is highly dangerous.

An article by John Sommers-Flanagan, Professor, Counselor Education, University of Montana, and clinical psychologist supports this.

Please join Safer Country’s advocacy and educational efforts by making a tax-deductible donation today!

Together we WILL create a Safer Country.

Our Mission

Safer Country is dedicated to keeping guns out of unsafe hands.

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.

Help Safer Country educate and advocate to effectively pass and implement gun safety laws that can protect lives.

Together, we will create a safer country!

Safer Country is a 501(c)(3) educational and advocacy nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the maximum extent of the law.

Donate Now

Contact Information

To contribute by mail or to contact us:

Paul A. Friedman, JD
Founder/President/Executive Director
Safer Country
P.O. Box 372
Alexandria, VA 22313-0372
info@safercountry.org