Every 11 minutes, someone’s life is lost to gun violence in the United States. In an average year, this public health crisis claims more than 40,000 lives and wounds twice as many. For the lives lost and the loved ones left behind, there is no way to capture the true cost of this epidemic, but every year, the United States chooses to spend $557 billion on the consequences of gun violence rather than stopping it before it happens.
Gun violence is not normal, and Americans do not need to accept it as such. We have the tools, strategies, and people to prevent these daily tragedies, but for too long, the federal government has dramatically underspent on proven community-based programs that address the root causes of gun violence, while allocating billions of dollars to reactive interventions that have historically failed to keep Americans safe. The status quo isn’t working. That’s why we need the Break the Cycle of Violence Act (H.R 5003/S. 2638).
The Break the Cycle of Violence Act would provide $5 billion in federal grants for community violence intervention programs and $1.5 billion in workforce initiatives that are proven to reduce gun violence. These programs make communities safer by investing directly in the people and communities most affected to stop gun violence before it happens.
Grants funded by the Break the Cycle of Violence Act will support local programs that use proven strategies to reduce community violence without contributing to mass incarceration. Communities that have invested in these interventions have seen reductions in gun homicides by as much as 60 percent, saving taxpayers up to $41 in emergency services for each dollar spent. These much-needed resources will also expand economic opportunity to communities grappling with trauma, systemic neglect, divestment, and long-standing hardships.
Tell Congress to put a down payment on safety.
