WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Wednesday celebrated the third anniversary of his landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the first comprehensive gun safety legislation passed in three decades. The bill made significant investments in our background check system, boosted prosecutors’ enforcement capabilities, supported domestic violence victims by preventing abusers from purchasing guns, and invested billions of dollars into schools, mental health, and community-based violence intervention programs. 

“Three years ago, after the horrific tragedies in Uvalde and Buffalo, Democrats and Republicans came together to address a gun violence epidemic that has devastated families and communities across the country. The gun violence prevention movement beat the gun lobby, and we found compromise on common sense solutions supported by the American people. And it worked. In the last two years, this country has seen significant drops in violent crime, gun deaths and injuries, and mass shootings. Now, President Trump is trying to gut the very mental health and violence prevention programs that have helped save countless lives. But our movement is stronger than this President and the congressional Republicans who enable him, and we will keep fighting to make all of our communities safer,” said Murphy.  

Since BSCA’s passage, there has been a historic decrease in gun violence, including a 24% drop in mass shootings and a 12% reduction in gun violence-related deaths.

BSCA’s accomplishments include:

  • Expanding background checks and cracking down on loopholes that allowed domestic abusers to buy guns.
  • Creating stiff penalties for “straw purchase” gunrunners that buy weapons on behalf of criminals.
  • Investing over half a billion dollars towards increasing the number of mental health personnel in schools.
  • Providing millions in grants to community-based nonprofits that directly provided counseling and support to at-risk youth and families traumatized by gun violence.
  • Expanding mental health service for thousands of students in rural communities.
  • Supporting implementation of the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

On day one of his presidency, President Trump shut down the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention responsible for coordinating efforts across the federal government and working with states and local governments to identify available resources for impacted communities. On April 30th, the Department of Education (ED) notified grant recipients of the School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) and Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) Grant Programs, which BSCA funded, that their funding would not be continued after this fiscal year.