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Budget requests resources to add Inspection Positions in every Field Division. The effectiveness of the Enforcement Program depends on the ability to identify and focus on those dealers that pose the greatest risk to public safety. Starting today, atf will make clear to investigators in every Field Division that as they prioritize inspections, they must consider the extent to which firearms sold by a dealer are later used in criminal activity. Third, we will improve information sharing with state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to help bring more intelligence and Law Enforcement resources to bear, as well as with the public to increase our own accountability. Today, atf has a point of contact in every Field Division to receive information from mayors, police chiefs, and other local leaders about Firearms Dealers they believe are acting unlawfully. And starting next month, atf Will Begin Sharing Inspection Data with the 16 states that license or regulate Firearms Dealers themselves. Also beginning next month, atf will publicly post information about Inspection Frequency and outcomes disaggregated by Field Division, providing for enhanced transparency and accountability. Fourth, we are launching a concerted effort to crack down on gun traffickers. Yesterday the department announced that it will establish five new crossjurisdictional Law Enforcement Strike Forces within the next 30 days. The strikeforces will focus on addressing significant firearms trafficking corridors that Fuel Violence in new york, chicago, los angeles, the San Francisco bay area, and washington, d. C. As well as in cities and towns along the way. The Justice Departments Violent Crime reduction strategy and our initiatives to stem the rising tide of illegal guns will save lives. But these steps alone will not solve the problem of Violent Crime. Success depends on all of us joining together, those of you in this room, there are many like you across the country who are working to keep their communities safe and the people of our communities themselves. I would now like to introduce President Biden who has emphasized the importance of this issue and who has my gratitude for gathering us together today. Thank you. Thank you, general. Let me, before i begin, thank the participants in our roundtable today. Two mayors, three mayors, chiefs of police, attorneys general, and Community Organizers are doing significant work in bringing down Violent Crime in their communities. There is no one answer fits everything. And its about being engaged in multiple organizations being engaged. So i want to thank you for the time you spent with us today. And i warned you im coming back at you again for more information. And we just met, as i said, with a Bipartisan Group of mayors, Law Enforcement and Community Leaders. We discussed a comprehensive strategy that im releasing today to combat the epidemic of gun violence and other Violent Crime that weve seen in our country for far too long and has sparked since the pandemic a year ago. Crime historically rises during the summer. And as we emerge from this pandemic with the Country Opening back up again, the traditional summer spike may even be more pronounced than it usually would be. For folks at home, heres what you need to know. Ive been at this a long time. And there are things we know that work to reduce gun violence and Violent Crime and things that we dont know about. But things we know about, Background Checks for purchasing a firearm are important. Ban on Assault Weapons and highcapacity magazines. No one needs to have a weapon that can fire over 30, 40, 50, even up to a hundred rounds unless you think the deer are wearing kevlar vests or something. Community policing and programs to keep neighborhoods safe and keep folks out of trouble. These efforts work, they save lives. But over time these policies were gutted and are woefully underfunded. In our conversation today, we talked about our strategy to supercharge what works while we continue to push the congress to act on sensible gun violence legislation. First, we are cracking down on Rogue Gun Dealers. We know that if there is a strict enforcement of Background Checks, then fewer guns get into the hands of criminals. Background checks have thus far kept more than 3 million guns out of the hands of convicted felons, fugitives, domestic abusers, and others prohibited from being able to purchase a gun. And there are still too many loopholes in that system. And today enough Rogue Gun Dealers feel like they can get away with selling guns to people who arent legally allowed to own them. And i might add the Second Amendment from the day it was passed limited the type of people who could own a gun and what type of weapon you could own. You couldnt buy the blood of patriots and all this stuff about how were going to have to move against the gun. The Trade Liberty is not one with the blood of patriots. Whats happened is that there have never been if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need f15s or maybe some nuclear weapons. The point is that theres always been the ability to limit, rally limit the type of weapon that can be owned and who can own it. The last time we had data on this issue was more than 20 years ago. 5 of gun dealers, it turns out in the study we did, show that 90 of illegal guns were found at the crime scenes sold by 5 of gun dealers, 5 . So 90 of the guns found at crime scenes. And these merchants of death are breaking the law for profit, theyre selling guns that are killing innocent people. Its wrong, its unacceptable. The Attorney General said were going to crack down on those gun dealers and the violent criminals they knowingly are. In april i announced that the Justice Department is going to be issuing an Annual Report On Gun Trafficking so we can update that data. Today the department is announcing, as i just did, the major crackdown to stem the flow of guns used to commit Violent Crimes. Zero tolerance for gun dealer whos willfully violate key existing laws and regulations. I repeat, zero tolerance. If youre willfully selling guns to someone whos prohibited from possessing it, if you willfully fail to run a Background Check, if you willfully falsify a record or fail to cooperate, my message to you is this. Well find you, and we will seek your license to sell guns. Well make sure you cant sell death and mayhem on our streets. Its an outrage. It has to end, and well end it, period. Second, we discussed illegal Gun Trafficking. Now, the gun lobby wants you to believe that cities that ahave the toughest gun laws still have the highest rates of gun violence. The violence is so they argue why do you need those gun laws if they dont work in cities that have tough laws . Dont believe it, heres the truth. Todays conversation with the mayor of baltimore, for example, what we know to be the case and from mayors all across the country. Mayors have the power to help shape and enforce the laws in their cities. But they cant control the laws in neighboring cities and states e even though the gun legally bought there often ends up in their streets. Matcher scott says that 80 of the guns in baltimore were acquired outside the city. As part of our strategy the Justice Department is creating five new strikeforces to crack down on illegal Gun Trafficking and flying them to cities like new york, los angeles, washington, d. C. , and the bay area. With each strikeforce local and federal Law Enforcement and prosecutors are going to be able to better handle Gun Trafficking across city and state lines. Illegal guns sold from the back door of a gun shop in virginia dont end up at a murder scene in baltimore. And in they do, then local and federal Law Enforcement can better coordinate to trace illegal gun sales back to a shady gun dealer and hold them accountable. Police chief murray of the baltimore excuse me, police chief murphy, paul, of baton rouge, louisiana, talked about how hes coordinating more closely with the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms, the atf, and the futuro bureau of investigation, fbi. Third, we discussed historic funding for states, cities, and counties and Crime Prevention. You know, they have not only had to fight this pandemic, theyve also had to deal with economic crisis that has decimated budgets, forced them to cut essential Services Including Law Enforcement and social services. And amid the covid19 pandemic, theyve had to deal with a Second Public health crisis, gun violence. The American Rescue plan which we passed in the first hundred days of my administration is providing muchneeded and historic relief to bring back those Law Enforcement jobs and social service jobs. Much of this relief has already arrived. The rest is on its way. And were now providing more guidance on how they can use the 350 billion nationally if the American Rescue plan to help reduce crime. Were able to use the American Rescue plan dollars to Hire Police Officers needed for Community Policing and to pay overtime. Mayors will also be able to buy crimefighting technologies like Gunshot Detection Systems to better see and stop gun violence in their communities. They can use the funding to scale up Wraparound Services for the residents including Substance Abuse and Mental Health services, that we know will make a difference in the prevention of crime. Heres another example that reminds me of the old saying my mom used to use. She said, an idle mind is a devils workshop. Well, schools out for the summer, teenagers are in tough neighborhoods. No jobs, more trouble. We know summer jobs training and recreation for young people work. They help make sure young people pick up the paycheck instead of a pistol. One study found in a Boston Summer Jobs Program reduced Violent Crimes by 35 in boston. Another study found that a program that offers High School Students in chicago a good summer job and an adult mentor and Behavioral Therapy Led to a 45 drop in violence. We can invest in more of these programs with the American Rescue plan it. And heres another thing states, cities, counties and tribes can do with that funding. When someone finishes their time in prison, they cant just we cant just continue to give them 25 bucks and a bus ticket. They end up right back where they started and got them in trouble in the first place. Or no option for being able to provide for access to Public Housing or for schools or for mentors to help them find their way and the stuff that prevents recidivism and helps them integrate into society. Thats changing with guidance were issuing today the American Rescue plan funding can help formally incarcerated people get skills training, apprenticeships and Work Experience so they can gain stability and security and a chance for a better life rather than going back to exactly what they left. The Attorney General of new jersey and mayor Daniela Levine Cava in miamidade talked about uplifting the kinds of Community Programs to reduce gun violence to keep communities safe and make real positive difference in peoples lives. And for folks at home, the American Rescue plan, which is a onceinageneration investment to reduce violence in america is available. Im proud of it. It means more Police Officers, more nurses, more counselors, more social workers, more Community Violence interrupters to help resolve issues before they escalate into crimes. It means we go after the people who flood our streets with guns and the bad actors who decide to use them to further terrorize communities. It means saving lives. And congress should in no way take away this funding. Its already been appropriated. In fact, a few weeks ago, the bipartisan United States conference of mayors, the National League of cities, the National Association of counties, they all came out forcefully to reclaim American Rescue plan funds that have already been allocated to the states, cities, and counties and tribes. This is not a time to turn our backs on Law Enforcement or our communities. Forth, we discussed the need to support Community Violence intervention. These are local programs that utilize trusted messengers. Community members and leaders to work directly with people who are most likely to commit gun crimes or become victims of gun crimes. We know who they are. They intervene before its too late, these interrupters. Turn down the temperature, halt the cycle of retaliation, connect people to social services. And it works. Community violence intervention programs have shown a reduction in violence up to 60 in many places. We heard from two Community Leaders that do this work. Thank you for coming from chicago. Really, quite frankly, it was impressive your presentation. And davon bogan from richmond, california, he was formerly incarcerated for a gun homicide and he lost his brother to gun violence. And he worked as a violence interrupter. Now he runs a program that provides highrisk men with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help them react to the impulses by slowing down rather than following through on violence. It puts them in paid jobs to change the trajectory. The program has reduced shootings by 40 . Davon runs a program across california and six other states that are all highrisk individuals and peace fellowships complete with intensive mentoring and social services. Hes saving lives. In sacramento, for example, 91 of participants stayed away from gun violence. States and cities should invest in American Rescue plans and funds and those kind of antiViolent Crime programs. Today im announcing that the white house will be working with 15 jurisdictions that are doing exactly that from baltimore to baton rouge to memphis to minneapolis to build up their Community Violence intervention programs starting this summer. And mayor Steve Allander of rapid city, south dakota, a republican and former chief of police himself joined us today and will be part of the effort to help disrupt cycles of violence and crime in his community and tribal communities. We need more mayors to follow, and im going to be pushing for more of these proven programs, which are part of the american jobs plan in my budget. Fifth, and ill close with this. We talked about the lives we lost have already been lost and the lives that we can save. We talked about how much pain and loss so many people have experienced and so many people have now accepted as their fate here in america. We have an opportunity to come together now as democrats and republican its, as fellow americans to fulfill the first responsibility of government in our democracy to keep each other safe. Enough. That Means Congress will pass sensible Gun Violence Initiatives makes sense. Background checks. Ban on Assault Weapons. Liability for gun manufacturers. The v