What Project 2025 Means for Gun Violence Prevention

Trump has passionately and persistently discussed his desire to arm teachers and put more guns in schools. Project 2025 would make this vision a reality. It would allow states to use federal money currently allocated for low-income school districts to arm teachers. Separately, Trump has also proposed giving teachers who carry weapons “a bonus” and providing federal funding for schools to “hire veterans, retired police officers, and other trained gun owners as armed school guards.” And Agenda 47 is even more explicit about putting guns in schools, proposing to fund schools that allow teachers to “carry concealed weapons” in classrooms.

Project 2025 would dangerously weaken federal oversight of the gun industry, namely the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The ATF is the sole government agency charged with overseeing the gun industry and ensuring gun laws on the books are enforced. Brady’s database already reveals that when gun dealers are inspected and serious violations are found, they are rarely held accountable or shut down for breaking the law. Gutting the ATF is the last thing our country needs.

Agenda 47 calls for passing Concealed Carry Reciprocity (CCR) legislation, which would allow gun owners with concealed carry permits to travel with their weapons across state lines, even in states that do not permit concealed carry. This legislation rolls back states’ gun safety measures, and increasing the risk of gun violence for everyone. Does your community want to keep loaded and hidden guns out of parks, grocery stores, or childcare centers? If Trump’s agenda is implemented, you can’t. Has your state passed universal background checks, red flag laws, and safe storage requirements? If Trump’s agenda is implemented, this progress will be undone.

Project 2025 would restrict the ability of states to use Medicaid funding to expand evidence-based Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs. CVI programs address the root causes of gun violence by offering critical social services — like GED tutoring, conflict mediation, mental health counseling, and housing support — and are proven to decrease gun homicide rates and break cycles of violence in our most impacted communities.

Project 2025 and Agenda 47 are also imbued with racist, homophobic, and transphobic language, blaming communities that disproportionately experience gun violence rather than investing in solutions to alleviate disparities. Project 2025 says that issues like crime, suicide, and poverty are created by the crisis of marriage and family and that if children continue to grow up without married parents we are heading toward “social implosion.”

Project 2025 calls for prosecuting companies — including social media platforms, payment processing companies, and credit card companies — that responsibly refuse to facilitate gun sales without background checks. This is flat-out wrong. Brady Background Checks are a proven approach to help ensure that those intent on causing harm to themselves or others do not gain easy, unchecked access to firearms. Rather, we should focus on addressing loopholes in the current background checks system that have allowed 1 in 5 guns to be sold online and at thriving online gun marketplaces without a Brady Background Check.

Trump has long wanted to increase policing of communities rather than reform aggressive police tactics that lead to violence and even death, especially for Black Americans. Project 2025 would exacerbate rates of police violence by bringing back racist “stop-and-frisk” policies and ending all federal consent decrees with police departments that have a demonstrated history of violating constitutional rights.

Trump has long wanted to increase policing of communities rather than reform aggressive police tactics that lead to violence and even death, especially for Black Americans. Project 2025 would exacerbate rates of police violence by bringing back racist “stop-and-frisk” policies and ending all federal consent decrees with police departments that have a demonstrated history of violating constitutional rights.

Agenda 47 also promises to order the Department of Justice to establish a task force on protecting “the right to self-defense.” This is despite the fact that evidence shows that racist and deadly so-called“stand your ground” laws are shown to increase homicide by up to 11% and do not prevent crime.