Biden administration announces strategy, funding to combat gun violence

Amid a nationwide rise in gun violence, the White House this week announced a five-point strategy for combatting the surge of violent crime — along with funds earmarked for cities and states struggling with the issue.

President Joe Biden believes the rising tide of gun violence is unacceptable and sees the problem as a public health epidemic, senior administration officials said during a news briefing.

Homicides rose 30%, and gun assaults rose 8% in large cities in 2020, the White House said. Homicides in the first quarter of 2021 were 24% higher than in the first quarter of 2020, and nearly 59% higher than in the first quarter of 2019.

“Black and brown Americans are disproportionately harmed by the direct and indirect consequences of gun violence,” the White House said.

In Atlanta, following a historically deadly 2020, homicides are up nearly 60 percent from this time last year. Authorities have investigated 70 homicide cases in 2021; most victims have been Black men.

The Biden administration’s five-part strategy will use funds from the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package passed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to help local governments curb gun violence. The strategy also carves out a specific role for Atlanta, one of 14 jurisdictions that will work together to increase investment in community violence intervention, and commit a portion of their rescue funds to that end.

About $350 billion in rescue funds will be earmarked for state, local, territorial and tribal governments, with flexibility for each locale to use the money as it sees fit, Biden administration officials said. Local governments will be able to apply for funds to hire more police, pay police overtime or spend on community programs designed to alleviate the root causes of gun violence.

Additional funding will also be granted to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to stem the flow of illegal firearms and provide additional support at the local level.

The White House strategy laid out the following points:

White House officials called the nationwide increase in gun violence a “secondary consequence of the pandemic,” allowing the U.S. Treasury Department to release the rescue funds and provide guidance for their use.

A top-line focus of the strategy is on stemming the flow of illegal, or illegally acquired, firearms, with much stricter policing of gun dealers, officials said. The Biden administration plans to enact a zero-tolerance policy for what it calls “rogue gun dealers who willfully violate the law.” This means that federally licensed gun dealers can have their license revoked the first time they sell a gun to a prohibited person, fail to run a background check, fail to respond to an ATF tracing request and more.

Another focus of the White House strategy is the formation of a Community Violence Intervention Collaborative, a group of 14 jurisdictions committed to increased spending on intervention measures. Along with Atlanta, the group includes other jurisdictions that have made national headlines for high rates of violence, including Chicago; King County, Washington, which includes Seattle; Los Angeles; Minneapolis and St. Paul; and Washington, D.C.

The collaborative will hold meetings with officials from each jurisdiction, White House experts and philanthropic organizations.

“The President is calling on mayors across the country to follow the lead of these local officials by using their ARP funding or other public funds to launch and strengthen CVI programs in their communities,” administration officials said.

Though the Biden administration’s plan focuses on a range of initiatives, the rescue funds could provide additional cash that would allow Atlanta to hire more police officers — something that Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms mentioned in March when she announced plans to hire 250 additional officers. Bottoms announced in early May that she would not seek reelection as Atlanta’s mayor.

“I continue to be grateful for the leadership of (Biden),” she said in a social media post. “His unwavering support of communities across America will make a tremendous difference as we address gun violence in our nation.”

Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore, a mayoral candidate who has placed a major focus on reducing violent crime, has said the Atlanta Police Department should try to fill all 400 open positions.

Promises of funding and support for law enforcement from the Biden administration, Bottoms and Moore, all of whom are Democrats, echo recent actions by Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

Kemp recently released $5 million in emergency funds for state law enforcement agencies in response to the crime wave, the AJC reported.

“I’ll continue to back our law enforcement and give them the resources and support they need to keep Georgians safe,” he said in a recent social media post.