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President Donald Trump appears to have shuttered the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, an initiative of now-former President Joe Biden to advance federal gun control.
The website for the newly formed agency now sends users to an error page, while Stefanie Feldman, the former director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, confirmed in a statement on social media that the entity is no longer operating under Trump.
“I am proud to say the office was a success,” she remarked in the statement. “We demonstrated that a dedicated team of public safety experts focused on coordinating federal agencies to reduce gun crime and other forms of gun violence can exponentially drive progress.”
Feldman commended Biden for endorsing “dozens of additional executive actions” with respect to gun control and squeezing “every possible benefit out of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” a gun control law passed three years ago which bankrolled state-level red flag laws.
Various gun control organizations meanwhile condemned the closure of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, mourning that the entity will no longer advance firearm restrictions.
“The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention wasn’t about politics, it was about strengthening the government’s ability to protect Americans,” Kris Brown, the president of Brady, said in a statement. “By shuttering it, Trump is putting the interests of the gun lobby above our kids.”
Brown rebuked Trump for releasing “gun-wielding domestic terrorists back on our streets,” a reference to his pardons for individuals involved in the January 6 incursion at the Capitol.
“In his inaugural address, President Trump talked a big game about keeping Americans safe,” Brown continued in the statement from Brady. “But now, less than twenty-four hours later, he’s gutting the federal government’s ability to respond to gun crime and mass shootings.”
