Brady, Medical Professionals Urge Senate Action on Assault Weapons Ban, Announce New Physician-led Partnership

Brady plans to further public health and physician work in 2023 through new partnership with This Is Our Lane

Washington, D.C., Dec. 6, 2022 – This week, Brady and This Is Our Lane are joining more than 50 physicians and medical professionals and March Fourth in imploring the U.S. Senate to vote on an assault weapons ban before the end of the current session.

Additionally, the medical professionals — including trauma surgeons, pediatricians, emergency medicine doctors, and more — signed Brady and This Is OurLane’s full-page open letter to senators published today in Roll Call, which urges a vote on the Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2021. These efforts come as Brady announces a new partnership with @ThisIsOurLane and the medical community in 2023.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an assault weapons ban in July, but the U.S. Senate has yet to take up the bill. The medical professionals’ lobbying effort comes ahead of a press conference on Capitol Hill, where physicians, including Brady Board Member, Johns Hopkins trauma surgeon, and @ThisIsOurLane Founder Dr. Joseph Sakran, will speak about their experiences in treating patients impacted by the nation’s gun violence epidemic. U.S. doctors have treated over 110,000 victims of gun violence this this year so far.

Dr. Joseph Sakran said:

“Medical professionals have an obligation to work beyond the bedside to protect the health of our communities. It is our duty to respond to the gun violence crisis, which is perhaps the most important public health problem in modern time.
“Healthcare workers have seen far too often the consequences of assault weapons, which transmit such energy and force that they liquefy organs and explode bones, leaving some victims only identifiable through DNA tests. This epidemic is made all the more devastating because it is preventable through sensible policy solutions, like banning assault weapons.
“The National Rifle Association (NRA) said “anti-gun doctors” should “stay in their lane.” Well, this IS our lane. Brady is the oldest and boldest gun violence prevention organization, and @ThisIsOurLane looks forward to further deepening our partnership this upcoming year.”

Assault weapons are uniquely lethal because of their rapid rate of fire and high muzzle velocity. In shootings where assault weapons or high-capacity magazines are used, 155% more people are shot and 47% more people are killed.

Currently eight states and Washington, D.C., have assault weapon bans in place. The national Assault Weapons Ban of 2021 would ban assault weapons and large-capacity magazines by making it unlawful to import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess either one, without criminalizing those already in existence. Before it lapsed in 2004, the previous assault weapons ban was tied to a decrease in the number of mass shootings. For the decade that the federal assault weapons ban was in effect, 89 people died in 12 massacres. But in the decade after the ban expired, over 300 people were shot and killed in 34 mass shootings.

Kris Brown, president of Brady, said:

“The Senate must finally act and address the public health epidemic we uniquely face here in America, with the urgency it deserves. Weapons of war have no place in our communities. Every day that we wait to pass the Assault Weapons Ban, more lives will be lost. In fact, roughly 18,000 people will be shot, including 2,000 children and teens, during this lame duck session. We have the power to prevent these tragedies, and an evidence-based ban on assault weapons will be critical to doing just that.
“I thank the many physicians and healthcare professionals who are elevating their voices with Brady and @ThisIsOurLane by demanding sensible solutions to our nation’s gun violence epidemic.”

Medical professionals can add their names to the open letter, published today in Roll Call, at bradyunited.org/thisisourlane.

Brady’s Work in Public Health

Brady has long viewed gun violence as a uniquely American tragedy and is proud to work with healthcare professionals to address this public health epidemic. Brady has partnered with This is Our Lane since its inception in 2018. The movement began in response to the NRA’s backlash against doctors outspoken on the need to implement solutions to prevent gun violence.

As part of Brady’s public health work, the organization launched the campaign to End Family Fire in 2018, focusing on the evidence-based role of safe firearm storage in preventing "family fire," or a shooting involving an improperly stored or misused gun in the home. As part of the program, Brady has hosted a number of lethal means trainings for mental health clinicians and has proudly partnered with groups like the American Medical Student Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Public Health Association and more.

In 2022, Brady launched a Washington D.C. Doctors’ Coalition led by Dr. Babak Sarani. The coalition, made up of doctors from healthcare systems in the Washington, D.C. metro area committed to incorporating gun violence prevention efforts into the health care sector, is currently working to incorporate safe firearm storage materials into resident training programs throughout the D.C. area.

Brady was instrumental in efforts leading up Congress’ appropriation of federal funds for gun violence research for the first time in over 20 years, and the Government Accountability Office validated Brady’s ASK program, now part of End Family Fire, as the most effective national safe storage awareness program. Brady’s policy team and grassroots network has led efforts at the state and federal levels to pass life-saving bills on safe storage, child access prevention, and community violence intervention. Brady Legal also won a landmark decision on behalf of Florida doctors striking down a law that restricted physicians from talking to their patients about the risk of firearms.

You can read more about Brady’s approach on gun violence as a public health issue in reports like “The Mental Health Impact of Mass Shootings,” “Shooting Costs,” and “The Truth About Suicide and Guns.” You can also listen to episodes from Brady’s Podcast “Red, Blue, and Brady” featuring healthcare professionals discussing issues like firearm suicide, how to talk to kids about gun violence, and therole of healthcare professionals in the movement to prevent gun violence.

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Brady has one powerful mission — to unite all Americans against gun violence. We work across Congress, the courts, and our communities with over 90 grassroots chapters, bringing together young and old, red and blue, and every shade of color to find common ground in common sense. In the spirit of our namesakes Jim and Sarah Brady, we have fought for over 45 years to take action, not sides, and we will not stop until this epidemic ends. It’s in our hands.


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