"I applaud the Biden-Harris administration for establishing the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. This is an issue so pressing and pervasive that it demands focused action from the highest reaches of our government.
“As the office takes shape, I urge the administration to center its strategies on the kind of holistic, community-driven violence prevention approach that President Biden witnessed during his visit to New York City last year, the kind I’ve promoted since my time as co-Chair of the Task Force to Combat Gun Violence a decade ago. In New York, our similar citywide office has found success and saved lives by embracing and investing in strategies that take on both the supply of guns that enables violence in our neighborhoods and the demand that drives it by investing in changing underlying conditions in those neighborhoods. I have long pushed for collaboration across all levels of government on this issue, which should be a mandate of this new office.
“At this moment, I’m joining federal elected officials in Washington for the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference. I hope that this announcement spurs overdue, common sense action from Congress to provide resources and relief for communities devastated by this ongoing epidemic of gun violence.”