Every year, the United States experiences more than 10,300 violent hate crime attacks involving the use or threatened use of guns. The majority of hate crime attacks are motivated by bigotry on the basis of race or ethnicity, leading the FBI to elevate “racially motivated violent extremism” to a top-level priority threat in recent years and singling out white supremacy as a major driver.
Yet dangerous loopholes in our federal and state gun laws allow individuals who have committed hate crimes to purchase firearms in too many states. Our leaders need to close these loopholes and thoroughly implement extreme risk protection order laws, which allow a court to temporarily prevent a person from accessing guns if they are proven to be at high risk of committing violence.
We also need to elect leaders who are determined to prevent hate-based gun violence using evidence-based approaches—unlike Florida’s current governor, who, in addition to enacting a dangerous permitless carry law, has declared war against diversity and inclusion.
GIFFORDS, the national gun safety group where I work, organizes responsible gun owners who believe in gun safety laws and reject extreme and dangerous marketing practices by the gun industry. These gun owners understand that using guns to terrorize people because of their race and identities is abhorrent. They agree that guns used to threaten, harass, and harm people who are exercising their basic rights—like peacefully protesting and voting—pose a threat to the very nature of our democracy. And they believe that we must strengthen our gun laws, or even more innocent lives will be lost. There are many more gun owners like them in the United States. Together, responsible gun owners around the country can use their purchasing power to reject the gun industry’s extremism and their votes to elect representatives who will take action to prevent these foreseeable deaths.
All Americans must rise to the occasion to protest with our voices and our votes every time a hate-fueled extremist capitalizes on America’s abysmal gun laws and the violent rhetoric of politicians and gun industry members. Too many lives have been lost already, and too many more are at stake if we fail to act.
— Allison Anderman in The Gun Industry Is in the Business of Hate
