About Us

Mission

At Safer Country, our goal is to reduce gun violence through research and education to promote better and more effective gun violence prevention policies and systems.

To accomplish this, Safer Country will:

Urge states to enter prohibited names, particularly violent criminals, to background check systems for firearms
Improve the system by which people legally purchase firearms, such as requiring fingerprints at the point of sale, to ensure that buyers have no disqualifying criminal records
Promote the best version of red flag laws
Demand states produce an annual report on their progress on the full spectrum of gun violence prevention issues

We are working with Brian Moran, Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security on improving Virginia’s reporting of prohibited names, where it’s estimated by the state police that
55,000 convicted felons
have not been entered into the system since 2000.

Accomplishments

Press Release: Office of Rep. Gerry Connolly (VA-11) “I want to thank Safer Country…”

Domestic Violence Loopholes: Under current law, Military Protective Orders (MPOs) issued by unit commanders in response to domestic violence incidents do not prohibit individuals from purchasing firearms. However, comparable civilian protective orders issued by judges do prohibit such purchases.

Connolly’s amendment, based on his Safe Homefront Act, tasks the Department of Defense with studying the feasibility of creating a database of military protective orders issued in response to domestic violence incidents, and either reporting such orders to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System or establishing a process by which military judges, and not unit commanders, could issue protective orders in response to domestic violence.

“Abuse is abuse, and no perpetrator of domestic violence – be they military or civilian – should be able to pass a background check and legally purchase a gun,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (VA-11).

“This amendment simply asks DoD to hold servicemembers who break the law to the same standard as their civilian counterparts. I want to thank Safer Country for its help in turning the bipartisan Safe Homefront Act into reality.”

Safer Country is proud to have spurred legislation offered by Congressman Connolly that subsequently passed in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which mandates that the Department of Defense (DoD) do a feasibility study to establish a military protective order database.

This is important because, federal law, “generally prohibits a person who is the subject of a qualifying protection order from possessing a firearm or ammunition that has affected or traveled in interstate or foreign commerce.” 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(8).

In addition, as a result of Congressman Connolly adding an amendment to the House 2020 NDAA, Congress has directed the DoD to take immediate and deliberate action to ensure strict compliance with established DoD standards regarding submission to the FBI of criminal history information for servicemembers.

While not a legal requirement, this is expected to effectively push the DoD to follow its policy to report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) service members who are prohibited from purchasing firearms.

This is important because, among the very many other instances, the Air Force failed to report the name of the mass shooter who killed 25 people, including a pregnant woman, at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on November 5, 2017. That allowed the shooter to legally purchase the weapon he used.

Leadership

Executive Director

Paul Friedman has served as a congressional staffer, campaign staffer, campaign manager, political director, and development director for various groups. Paul was Executive Director of the Virginia Tech Victims (VTV) Family Outreach Foundation from 2016-2018. Paul served six years on Alexandria’s Budget & Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee; on the board of Agenda: Alexandria and on the board of the Democratic Business Council of Northern Virginia. He has a J.D. from New York Law School and a B.A. in Politics from Brandeis University. Paul lives with his wife, Lori, and black lab rescue dog, Sadie, in Alexandria, VA.

Board of Directors

Boyd Walker

Acting President / Vice President

Vincent Smith

Treasurer

Laura Mandala

Secretary

Paul Friedman

Advisory Committee

Pete Brodnitz

President

Expedition Strategies

Lieutenant Sean Casey

Alexandria Sheriff’s Office

Charlotte Cohn

Theatre Actor, Director & Producer

Ken Cummins

President

Capitol Inquiry

Parisa Dehghani-Tafti

Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney

Tim Gleeson

Alexandria Undersheriff

Chris Harris

President

Alexandria NAACP

Dana Lawhorne

Alexandria Sheriff

Norm Lodato

Gun Violence Widower

David Lord

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney

Maurice Middleberg

Former Executive Director of Free the Slaves

Bryan Porter

Alexandria County Commonwealth’s Attorney

Amanda Roberts

Psychologist

Mount Vernon Counseling Center

Stacey D. Stewart

President & CEO of the March of Dimes

Mary Wadland

Publisher

The Zebra Press

Jason Odell Williams

Playwright & Television Producer

Terron Sims II

CEO

Doug Pollard, LLC

Mike Jason

U.S. Army Colonel (retired)

Sandy Horwitt

Author