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In the first 28 hours of Trump’s second term, the president rescinded the climate conscious Green New Deal, shut down the vital CBP One app used by undocumented migrants, accidentally declared that all Americans are female, and removed all LGBTQ-related content and pages from the White House website.
Representatives and advocates have pointed out another major casualty in Trump’s executive-order driven, DOGE-led streamlining: The Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
The inter-agency office’s website — which now displays a 404 error — was quietly pulled on Jan. 21, shortly after the new president finished signing a long list of executive orders repealing Biden administration declarations. The office was established by Biden in 2023, under the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and overseen by former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We fought for years to make this office a reality and lives were saved because of it,” wrote Democratic Florida congressman (and resident Gen Z member) Maxwell Frost. “Stay tuned because we’re not giving up on this. Trump might be okay with dissolving a life-saving office but the people aren’t.”
Many online ironically referenced the office’s apparent shuttering in light of the nation’s most recent mass shooting, in which at least one student was killed at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee on the morning of Jan. 22. In response to the outrage, others argued the office’s mandates could be subsumed under the Department of Justice, part of its previous mandate.
National gun violence prevention organizations also cried out against the website’s demise. Brady, formerly known as Brady United and the the nation’s oldest gun violence prevention organization, issued a statement articulating the potential impact of losing the office and its mandates. “While gun violence in the U.S. surged under President Trump’s first term, the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention led a cross-agency public health approach to preventing gun violence,” the organization wrote. “This contributed to a significant drop in the proliferation of unserialized and untraceable ghost guns, the largest-ever decrease in the homicide rate, and historic funding for Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs.”
Brady president Kris Brown wrote: “The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention wasn’t about politics – it was about strengthening the government’s ability to protect Americans (more than 300 of whom are shot every single day) from guns. By shuttering it, Trump is putting the interests of the gun lobby above our kids, our communities, and our country. Trump can claim he will ‘make America safe again.’ But these words are empty without action on guns. Trump’s decision today – coupled with the release of gun-wielding domestic terrorists back on our streets – will make all of us less safe.”
Taking to X, youth-led gun violence prevention organization March For Our Lives added: “This is what happens when you abandon progress. People will die.”
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Gun violence prevention advocates admonish Trump administration decision to shutter the website, accusing him of siding with gun lobbyists.
