Biden Gun Prevention Leader at Aspen Ideas: Health to Make Their Case

240701_Conversations_Jackson_01.mp3

Speaker 1 [00:00:01] Recorded on location at Aspen Ideas Health in Aspen, Colorado.

Speaker 2 [00:00:12] We are location at Aspen Ideas Health, and we are joined by
Gregory Jackson, who's the deputy director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention at the
white House and also special assistant to President Biden.

Speaker 3 [00:00:26] I grew up in rural Virginia. My dad had 26 guns. I inherited a gun. I'm
a gun owner. And so the the the Office of Gun Violence Prevention is led by gun owners.
Right. And so we like to just start with that. Secondly, recognizing that we're not here to
infringe on rights and have those discussions, we're really just trying to save lives from
what has become the largest health crisis of our time.

Speaker 1 [00:00:50] And in this important role, Gregory Jackson oversees efforts to
implement federal law to identify new executive actions, to expand partnerships, and to
improve services for those traumatized by violence.

Speaker 3 [00:01:03] We were walking home from a party, and there was a fight that
broke out and a shootout happened. And, the bullet that hit me, hit two arteries and and
nearly cost me my life. And I'll never forget, I was shot just three days after the failed,
universal background checks vote in the Senate. And so it was just so heartbreaking and
infuriating, frankly, to see political leaders I look up to, you know, make excuses of why
they couldn't take action or why they couldn't get it done. And that was kind of a turning
point for me. I just kind of promised that if I could ever get out of the bad again, I would do
all I can to fight for change.

Speaker 1 [00:01:37] And this is conversations on health care.

Speaker 2 [00:01:48] Well, Greg. Well, welcome to Conversations on Health Care. So
great to have you. And, you know, you had such a great, session the other day about gun
violence. Maybe you could share with our audience, what you've been thinking about what
you were talking about the other day with some of your colleagues. I think everyone would
be quite interested.

Speaker 3 [00:02:08] Yeah. I mean, well, thank you for having me. This is amazing.
Beautiful Aspen, this amazing show. But we started off really with the simple big idea that
gun violence is a health crisis and not just a crime crisis. And when you look at the impacts
of gun violence in our country, being the number one cause of death for youth, 1 in 5 in
Americans losing someone to gun violence and it also being the leading cause of newly
disabled Americans, the health impacts are undeniable. And so we talked a lot about that
throughout Aspen. But, what was also exciting is to know that some of the health based
strategies that have started to be funded, federally, through this administration are having
a huge impact, like expanding the 988, crisis lifeline, investing in youth mental health
programs and School-Based Mental Health Professionals and investing in community
based strategies that do that, practice kind of behavioral therapy for at risk and, most
vulnerable individuals across the country. And so these types of programs and
investments are starting to take hold. And we're starting to see some really great results.

Speaker 2 [00:03:12] So real shift from law enforcement to public health. And I think that's
the conversation that I think the public would like to know more about. And you've laid out

some of that and we'll explore more of it. But, I don't think people have that in their frame
of reference when you're thinking about gun violence, the public health element of it.

Speaker 3 [00:03:30] Yeah. But, thankfully the president did. He was the first president to
acknowledge this as a public health crisis. And once you acknowledge it as a crisis, you
have to demand an approach, just like automobiles and Covid 19 and opioids. And and so
that's what we've started to build out, in this administration. And it's been exciting to watch
health leaders lead the way, knowing that too often, you know, e.r.s and doctors and
FIRStrillionESPONDERS, they see the carnage, but aren't always invited to be a part of
the solutions.

Speaker 1 [00:03:59] Well, one death by gun is a tragedy. The CDC in 2021, I think it's the
last formal official tally, 48,830 deaths, by gun, including, of course, suicides, homicides.
All a great tragedy, accidental shooting, certainly among children, a great tragedy. And I
think one of the things that your office is really focused on is collaboration. And I, I heard
you say schools and a few other groups would tell us more about this. What's what's the
strategy you've laid out that says, we've got to have all of these partners at the table, and
how are you giving them voice and presence in this national debate?

Speaker 3 [00:04:38] Yeah. Well, just starting with the government, our first week on the
job, in September of 2023, we were asked to present some ideas, because there was a
cabinet meeting that week. And, you know, we thought, well, okay, what does that have to
do with us? And they said, well, here are all the agencies that will be reflected. Please
bring at least 3 to 5 ideas for each agency. And some of them, I didn't know what they
were worth. I was like, well.

Speaker 1 [00:05:00] What an.

Speaker 3 [00:05:00] Opportunity. Yeah, but as far as a technology policy. But, but we
learned and a lot of the agencies had already kind of come up with different ideas. For
example, Department of Labor has a program called Growth Opportunities that focuses on
at risk individuals like at risk youth under 24 and provides job training. And so one of their
proposals was, why don't we focus that on communities most impacted by gun violence
and poverty? The Department of Education, knew that safe storage is a big way that they
could reduce violence. So one of the ideas that we came up with was coming together to
roll out a national campaign educating parents on safe storage. And most recently, in New
York City, the mayor did a big, press conference about, the city of New York rolling out
their safe storage campaign, answering the call of the Department of Education. And so
we're starting to see every agency like the Department of Veterans Affairs, giving out safe
storage boxes and talking about, lethal means and how it impacts suicide. So we started
there, and so, that was huge. We also started to get the agencies involved in the reactive
work to, so we built, ten agency FEMA style response team that can help, communities
recover from these mass shootings or these high concentrations or surges in violence.
And so everything from small business loans to maybe a grocery store, like, unfortunately,
what happened just yesterday. Yep, yep. Terrible to a team and Department of Education
that could help schools reopen. And help them think through what is their plan to kind of
get back to some form of normalcy. So we start it there, then we push a little further and
say, how do we go beyond the doors of government and find new partners? And,
thankfully, the gun violence movement is huge and robust and so many organizations that
we were able to bring in the door. But we also started to think about how do we get the
health space and. And just two weeks ago, we did a convening with 80 health CEOs
overseeing, systems across the country, to really talk to them about what ideas they have

and how can they better partner with the government, but really start to lean in and lead on
this issue. And so we're still building, you know, within government and outside of
government finding new partners. They all are part of this, you know, community wide
approach.

Speaker 1 [00:07:12] Well, that's incredible, because as we were, I think, saying just a few
minutes, before we started, we also, lead a federally qualified health center, of which
there's 1400 across the country taking care of 40 million people. And every one of those
departments you mentioned touches the work of community health centers. So the force
multiplier effect of your collaboration is really tremendous.

Speaker 2 [00:07:33] You know, and I think about, best practices, you know, states are
engines of innovation. And then one in the federal government has come late to this,
except for the president's new initiative, by opening this, division, talk about what do you
see out across the country? I know you've talked about Maryland and others, but what can
people look to whether it's, New York City or the state of Maryland? Where else are you
seeing, bright ideas?

Speaker 3 [00:08:00] Yeah. I mean, it's, there's so much happening right now. One of the
coolest things is, you know, in 2008, there were only, I believe, ten offices of violence
prevention in the country, at the city level. Now there's over 60. And so we brought them
together to the white House, about three weeks ago, just the one celebrate that they exist
and hear about the innovative strategies that they're implementing. You know, places like
green Bay, Wisconsin, have very robust suicide prevention programs. And in, Charlotte,
North Carolina, is almost completely focused on youth violence intervention. And we're
seeing each city kind of create their own tailored approach to addressing the crisis of
violence based on how it's showing up in their communities. We're also seeing states, this
year alone, six new states are building their own statewide offices. And so we had North
Carolina, which was the first in the South. Now we have one in Maryland, for example.
And, and Governor Moore, attributed the administration and invited us to be there for the
speech, and also invited us to help him build it. So, you know, no.

Speaker 1 [00:09:03] No good deed goes unpunished.

Speaker 3 [00:09:04] Exactly.

Speaker 1 [00:09:05] And rewarded.

Speaker 3 [00:09:06] But yeah. So we're excited to see, like, infrastructure being built that
can start to pull state and local governments beyond just law enforcement to the table, to
be a part of these solutions. A couple cool things. We're also seeing, new legislation
passed around, lost and stolen firearms. We know that's a huge problem in America,
where, over the last five years, over a million guns have been stolen. And the time
between a stolen gun and a crime scene is very, very short. So the more we can do
around preventing loss of stolen guns or at least reporting it faster, makes a big difference.
We've also seen a huge, focus on victim services. And in places like Chicago, they're
thinking about how can they get to victims and families sooner to help them deal with that
trauma, to hopefully, disrupt the cycle and prevent any retaliation. So between victim
services, new offices, looking at loss in stolen guns, a safe storage, work in New York City
and in Las Vegas, too, we're watching a lot of different innovative approaches, starting to
be implemented. And we did roll out what's called the Safer States agenda, where we
have 15 policy proposals that we offer to states. And we actually convened legislators from

37 states to talk about these solutions and how they can pass laws. And of those 37
states, 31 of them have passed laws from our safer States agenda. So we're starting to
see, change happen everywhere from Texas to New York and, even bright, beautiful
places like Colorado.

Speaker 1 [00:10:36] Well, it's towns, in many ways. Like you're taking almost a
population health approach, as we would call it, in, in health care. And I know, we've read
that there's widespread support, for legislation that would prevent people with mental
illness or mental health issues. Quite a continuum there. Yeah. From, having access to or
owning guns. What's the office's, work in that area and maybe what's the role that health
care plays in that?

Speaker 3 [00:11:03] Yeah. I mean, the big thing for us is we're seeing a lot of cases
where individuals are in crisis and they have easy access to a firearm. And so it's less
about how they're diagnosed. But that moment of crisis and how do we create time and
space between that firearm in that moment of crisis. And so the primary thing that we
focused on as one, how do we prevent people from getting to crisis. And so of course,
investing more in mental health resources and services and more access to mental health
resources and support? But then frankly, pushing for red flag laws, this administration
rolled out $750 million to help states implement their extreme risk protection order laws,
which can allow, you know, the courts to, remove guns from the home in a time of crisis.
And. We strongly believe that you can always return a gun, but you can't return to life. And
so these types of policies and programs are very impactful. And we're seeing even the
reddest the states be enthusiastic about it. In Florida, they've used their red flag law over
12,000 times. Yeah, it was a Republican led and Republican championed. And, it's saving
lives every day from suicide and mass tragedy and homicide.

Speaker 2 [00:12:12] It's so good, so good that you talk about red states, blue states,
because gun violence happens everywhere in America. Talk about the theme of
opportunity, of having conversations with people who may be gun owners, people who
believe fundamentally it's a right to own a gun. What are those conversations look like? I
know the president's reach out across the country, but I'm sure your office, as you
indicated. But what are some of the, struggles that you, might encounter in trying to
engage people?

Speaker 3 [00:12:41] Yeah, well, I think it's important to acknowledge that the president is
a gun owner. I grew up in rural Virginia. My dad had 26 guns. I inherited the gun. I'm a gun
owner. And so the the the Office of Gun Violence Prevention is led by gun owners, right.
And so we like to just start with that. Secondly, recognizing that we're not here to infringe
on rights and have those discussions, we're really just trying to save lives from what has
become the largest health crisis of our time. And when we talk about responsible gun
ownership, I think, most of our enthusiastic gun owners, especially those in recreation and
sports and former military, they know what it takes to be a responsible gun owner for all
the different risks and the steps you take. But unfortunately, that standard is not, common
knowledge for every gun owner in America. And we have a huge surge of new gun
owners. Over 400 million guns in America. And so we have to make sure that we're
thinking about safe storage, making sure people are trained, the importance of permitting,
the importance of background checks. All of these steps are just to make sure that guns
are in the hands of those who are in crisis or mean to cause harm, and that's very different
from the recreational person that's at the gun range, you know, every Saturday with their
son. And so I think if we can just connect those dots, it really helps, to show that we're
here to save lives first and to really strengthen the standard of responsible gun ownership.

I think that's a great meeting place to start from. And, and frankly, we have a lot of activists
and leaders that are gun owners, that are part of this movement. I think we just have to get
past this polarizing debate around gun rights and more focused on how do we make our
country safer from the violence that is obviously costing us lives?

Speaker 1 [00:14:26] Well, I want to go back for just a second to highlight, those red flag
laws that I think they could stand a little more public awareness. I think people can tolerate
a short term intervention versus saying, this is for life. You know, this isn't something
you're barred from forever. So thank you for flagging that. But my guess is something like
that often lands also in state health departments to carry out the public health education
campaign in our our state public health offices are so stretched, after Covid and I'm not
sure I heard them at the table when you were going through your partners. What's the
relationship with state departments of health CDC about getting this out?

Speaker 3 [00:15:05] Yeah. Well, we I mean, it's definitely an area of growth. I mean, I
think this is the first administration has really leaned in on, you know, what Department of
Health and Human Services and CDC and the surgeon general on how to really bring
these worlds together. This is the first CDC director in history to really come out and lead
on this.

Speaker 1 [00:15:23] Yeah. The North Carolina person.

Speaker 3 [00:15:24] Yes.

Speaker 2 [00:15:25] Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 [00:15:27] And so we're seeing these worlds really come together. But there's
still a lot of coordination to do. You know, federally, there is now emergency resources
after a mass shooting, we're seeing new programs being rolled out that focus on youth that
have been impacted by violence. And really, the, the National Traumatic Stress Network
for youth is a huge tool and resource that we're starting to make sure it's really important
survivors of gun violence, too. So these worlds are starting to bridge more at the national
level. I think there's definitely more work to do at the state and local level. But it also
reinforces why these, state and city level offices are so important. In the state of Maryland,
I'm pretty confident their office is housed in, the Department of Health. So we're starting to
see that trend of putting these offices on the health side, not just on the public safety side.
So I think we're getting there.

Speaker 2 [00:16:16] Yeah. And Greg, you mentioned CDC, and it's really the first time in
20 years that the new legislation allowed the CDC to do research on gun violence. Yeah.
And so, it unshackled the CDC in terms of that, what initiatives do you know, they're
undertaking?

Speaker 3 [00:16:32] Oh, man. Well, they're doing amazing work looking at the different
types of approaches to reducing gun violence. I think some of the most exciting research
has been around, community violence intervention programs and the impacts and how
they're. Working in different communities. A lot of research on red flag laws and how
they're being implemented or not being implemented. I think what you will all be excited to
see soon is a bigger emphasis on injuries. And what is the ripple and impact of injuries. I
shared earlier is the leading cause of newly disabled Americans, but we don't talk enough
about those who are impacted and survive and what trauma that creates and what cycles
of violence that could create. So I know that's a direction they're heading. And we're

excited to to see more data and research in that space of, you know, how do we help
those who have been impacted? And not just, you know, focused on the prevention and
intervention side? Yeah.

Speaker 1 [00:17:27] So is your office, I'm sure not charged with maybe the research
itself, but. Yeah, I'm glad you and I.

Speaker 3 [00:17:35] Yeah.

Speaker 1 [00:17:35] Just so if I could tell that. But but there is a lot of focus on root
cause. Right. And that's true in health as true in just about anything where you're trying to
affect, change down the road. You mentioned the traumatic stress, networks, what are the
other root causes that people are putting out there in terms of gun violence?

Speaker 3 [00:17:53] Yeah. I mean, I think the biggest, root cause or the biggest
connector to a lot of these tragedies is trauma. So we found that most shooters have been
traumatized first in some way, shape or form in inner cities is being exposed to another
shooting. And whether it's domestic violence or violence in the home, we're seeing, even
with mass shooters, some other trauma was there. So, really pouring into helping treat
trauma of those who have been abused in different ways or, or harmed in different ways.
We're also looking at, economic opportunity. Again, the Department of Labor has been a
big partner for us. They've rolled out six new funding programs focused on, how do we get
to those who are most impoverished and dealing with concentrations of violence?
Department of education is doing a great job getting to to youth earlier. They have a
program called Project Prevent that focuses on elementary aged youth that have been
traumatized by violence, and how we provide resources and support for them to navigate
through that and still live a healthy kind of balanced education life. So I think there's so
we're thinking about trauma, economic opportunity, and really education in youth. And how
do we get to folks earlier? It's probably the main areas we're working in. We also have
seen a huge effort from Department of Veterans Affairs.

Speaker 1 [00:19:12] Absolutely. We had them on the show recently talking about this.
Just heartbreaking hearing those statistics.

Speaker 3 [00:19:18] It is. But they're making historic strides too. Yeah. You're talking
about the role of guns and how that can be harmful and how that feeds into the cycle of
suicide, which is tough, you know, to discuss with veterans, but also the urgency of safe
storage. They're giving out safe storage devices to veterans, knowing that, hey, you might
be a very responsible, well-trained owner of a gun, but you still have to store it when the
kids come over, or you still may need to store it if you're in a moment of crisis. So I think
those are kind of some of the, the partners that we're looking at. But frankly, the root cause
work, we're really starting to just dive into it because we've been so focused on the
intervention, that we can do right now.

Speaker 1 [00:19:56] Well, it's another great time for health care. And the, the focus on
screening children for adverse childhood events, screening for traumatic events, having
services in the schools to work with kids, like the school based health center. So it's really
those collaborations we talked about a little while ago. So like, they are really at the root of
your success, which is tremendous, along with legislation.

Speaker 2 [00:20:16] And so exciting that you're covering school based. You're thinking
about veterans and thinking about innovations. None of this would have happened less.

President Biden set up the first Office of Gun Violence, Safety and Prevention. Talk a little
bit about the department or the office itself. Yeah, it's two years old. How's it look? How do
people access it?

Speaker 3 [00:20:37] Well, we're only nine months old.

Speaker 2 [00:20:39] Nine months. Okay. Two, two years since the legislation.

Speaker 3 [00:20:41] Two says the bill. Yep, yep. Well, yeah. Our office is. We're small but
mighty, and we pride ourselves on partnership. You know, we're made up of Steph
Feldman, our director. She's also the, staff secretary. So, Secretary, United States of
America is also leading this effort, which is huge. There are two deputies, Rob Wilcox and
myself. Both of us are survivors of gun violence and have been in this fight for a long time.
Rosman in the space for 15 years. I've been in this space for 11. And then beyond that, we
have, Sarah Wiener, who's our policy, coordinator, who's brilliant and can move through
the white House building, like a Ginsu, you know, organizing and getting things done for
us. And so that's kind of the core of our, of our office. I mean, a lot of what we do is
implementation focused. And I'm really proud to say that of the bipartisan Safer
Communities Act, we have fully implemented it. And, on June 25th, which is the two year
anniversary, we're going to celebrate the full implementation of the law and what we think
that can mean for the future of our country. But now that that big piece is done. We're
pushing hard on new ideas, whether it be our new Safe Storage initiative. This past week,
we rolled out a new partnership with AmeriCorps called the Safer America Network. Nice.
Yeah, so there's over 500 sites that are doing some type of violence prevention work. And
so we're helping to train and recruit more volunteers to be a part of these sites and
basically create a pipeline for new professionals and leaders to be a part of solving the
problems of gun violence and working with those who are most at risk or most vulnerable.

Speaker 2 [00:22:14] You have the you have the white House. Yeah, right. I mean, that's
the big difference is that, yeah, that you were able to project across the country. You might
be small, but you're able to say it with the authority. Speaking from out of the white House,
which I think is very important. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 [00:22:28] It's been amazing.

Speaker 2 [00:22:29] Tell us a little bit about your own experience with gun violence. And,
you know, we're sorry you had to go through that and. Yeah.

Speaker 3 [00:22:37] Well, you know, God works how? He works, in mysterious ways, but
beautiful ways. For me, that's kind of how I started in this work. I was someone who was
already in politics and already had been on more like the campaign side of the world. But
in April of 2013, I had my cousins in town from North Carolina, and, we were walking home
from a party, and there was a fight that broke out and a shootout happened. And, the bullet
that hit me, hit two arteries and and nearly cost me my life. And I'll never forget, I was shot
just three days after the failed, universal background checks vote in the Senate. And so it
was just so heartbreaking and infuriating, frankly, to see political leaders I look up to, you
know, make excuses of why they couldn't take action or why they couldn't get it done. And
that was kind of a turning point for me. I just kind of promised that if I could ever get out of
the bad again, I would do all I can to fight for change and not just wait for some elected
official to do it for me, but try to get in there and push it myself. But my recovery was much
longer. It wasn't like the movies, you know, you get shot, you don't shake it off and keep
moving. I spent six months, in recovery, 21 days in the hospital, across six different

surgeries. And, and I was bedridden most of that time. And so it was, really, really tough.
But it was also a moment to reflect and learn more about this issue and, and different
solutions that exist.

Speaker 2 [00:24:04] Have you been able to share that story with, others who are
recovering? And yeah, it's very powerful. Yeah. Story. And and I think it's so important to
people to know that it's not the movies where the bullet goes in and people keep on
marching forward.

Speaker 3 [00:24:18] Yeah. No, I mean that the trauma will live with you forever. But for a
lot of us, the physical damage, is there forever. And. Yeah. And actually, even at Aspen,
you know, one of the other speakers, that talked about, where I'm treatment during the
Aspen Health Ideas. One of the big ideas, she's also a survivor of gun violence. She was
shot when she was 12. In the chest, actually. And so we, connected on that. And I think
there are just so many survivors out there, we forget that while, you know, only around
40,000 folks are killed each year. Over 100,000 are injured every year. So since I was shot
in 2013, that means a million more survivors are now in our country. And, that number
keeps growing. And that's people who are just physically harmed, right? So it's, I've. I'm
part of a interesting a community. Yeah.

Speaker 1 [00:25:11] Sort of. Well, we're all part of this. Yeah. Kind of world, community.
And, we're based in Connecticut, so we, of course, had the experience of living through,
Sandy hook on that very dark, sunny December day, years ago. But, you know, we we
recognize also the trauma of the those folks who cared for you and your colleague that you
just described in the emergency room, that the first responders that are out there, seeing
this, the first responders on the scene of something like a Sandy hook. And I understand
you have some initiatives going on in your office about helping those folks as well.

Speaker 3 [00:25:46] Yeah, yeah. Well, through through the Office of Veterans Affairs,
Department of Veterans Affairs, there are resources directly for first responders. In
addition, we're trying to make sure that there are more resources for families after they're
impacted or lose someone. So we're looking pretty closely at the Crime Victims Fund
through the office of, Victims of Crime and DOJ and figuring out how can we make sure
those dollars are more accessible to families and individuals that have been impacted and
also make sure they're inclusive, first responders that are traumatized, too, because many
of them have to go through their own therapy or care. And yeah, unfortunately, I was in
Lewiston, Maine after that tragedy few months ago, and we saw that ripple firsthand of
how first responders were going through, you know, so, so much anguish. But we were
able to provide resources for therapeutic care through DOJ and through Veterans Affairs.
And I think just making sure that we keep them in mind the same way we do with law
enforcement and and.

Speaker 1 [00:26:46] Do the research. What's the most effective way to respond?

Speaker 3 [00:26:48] Yeah.

Speaker 2 [00:26:49] Yeah, yeah. Greg, you're not only a survivor, but you also worked
before as the executive director of the Community Justice Action Fund. Talk a little bit
about that. How has it informed the work that you're doing today?

Speaker 3 [00:27:00] Yeah. So, community Justice Action funds, we, we're focused on
how gun violence impacts black and brown communities specifically. And we found that

policy wise that had been overlooked. And our organization actually helped organize the
first hearing on urban gun violence in American history. And that was in 2019. And we
know how bad violence has been in inner cities and how has disproportionately impacted
black and brown communities. But it hadn't been a, federal policy or a federal priority, until
that time. And so our organization really just pushed for policy changes and resources, to
address that crisis. And some of the biggest wins was funding for community violence
intervention programs. When we started, there was $0 for these types of strategies. So
programs for at risk youth programs to do intervention work, whether it's in hospitals or
communities to help de-escalate conflicts. These types of programs were proven to be
very effective and have been around for decades, but had zero federal dollars. And so we
started by pushing for that. And I'm proud to say community justice, can be accredited for
around $12 billion now. All right. Federal dollars that are going into these inner city
community led strategies. Another big thing was gun trafficking. You know, we knew that
guns are getting into inner cities and into communities that may already have tough gun
laws and may not even have gun stores. Right. But you have guns everywhere, and
they're coming in illegally through a black market. And so we pushed hard for that. And this
Biden-Harris administration was the first one to make gun trafficking a federal offense. So
prior to this, you would just get a written warning, like you parked in a, you know, in a
handicapped spot. Not that you gave a weapon of war to a 12 year old. And so, now the
federal government is prosecuting those folks. They've prosecuted over 500 individuals.
They found one person that had trafficked 103,000 guns, before getting caught. And so
now there's accountability that's more upstream and not just cracking down on, individuals,
especially in communities that are most vulnerable, in our country.

Speaker 1 [00:29:05] Well, I want to celebrate a recent win, I think, which was the
Supreme Court upholding that it was not a violation of Second Amendment rights. To say
that somebody who's been deemed, to be a threat and specifically we're talking about
intimate partner violence here. Let's take away that gun. They can not have a gun while
they're subject to the restraining order. So we lead a, domestic violence shelter within our
organization, have for over 40 years. And I can tell you, this is such important work to
make those kinds of very specific focus areas so that I assume there was some
celebrating in your office that day. Yeah.

Speaker 3 [00:29:42] Well, I was here with you all celebrate together.

Speaker 1 [00:29:46] We celebrate six years here.

Speaker 3 [00:29:48] But now it's a big win because we know that there's a very clear
correlation between the death, domestic abuse and and violence against women in fatal
violence. Yes, against partners. And, you know, this upholding that was huge because we
have so many new tools that we need to start using. You know, we just, like I said, we
made gun trafficking a federal offense. We know that's how guns have very hands of
domestic abusers. We also found that domestic abusers that are prohibited, their number
one source of guns are unlicensed private sellers. So gun shows and online sales. And
this administration, closed those loopholes. A few months ago. So now we know that the
number one source for those abusers has been cut off. But if this if that wasn't if that was
overturned, then it would have opened the floodgates, right? For for guns to get into the
hands of those who have shown arms. So it's a huge win. And I know a lot of lives will be
saved. And, I'm just so thankful that that standard is in place. And now we can keep
building more resources to intercept access to guns of those who we know are taking too
many lives.

Speaker 2 [00:30:56] Well, Gregory Jackson, thank you so much for being with us today.
Continued success in the work that you're doing all important work at the white House.
Thank you, our listeners, for joining in today. You can join us on CHC radio or follow us on
Twitter, YouTube. And again, thank you for joining us on Conversations on Health Care.

Speaker 3 [00:31:15] Of course. Thank you.

Speaker 1 [00:31:16] Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 [00:31:18] Thanks.

Speaker 1 [00:31:23] This copyrighted program is produced by Conversations on
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