We did it, friend.
Colorado just became the first state in the country to pass a procurement law that will ensure taxpayer dollars are ONLY spent at responsible gun dealers and NOT those that break the law.
Governor Polis signed this gun violence prevention bill into law, as well as nine others, after months of advocacy and a persistent effort by the Brady team to spread awareness about the power of procurement to drive gun industry reform — so let's take this moment to celebrate!
For those who don't know me, my name is Amanda Wilcox. I joined Brady over 30 years ago because I wanted to prevent senseless gun violence in my community. Then my life changed forever: In 2001, my beloved daughter, Laura, just 19, was shot and killed in a workplace shooting in California.
Losing Laura changed my family's life forever. But it also began our journey to fight for gun safety in her memory, and in the years after her death, my husband, Nick, and I worked with California lawmakers to ultimately pass over 80 life-saving gun violence prevention laws. Now, I've taken my fight for gun safety to Colorado — and the passage of this firearm procurement law is historic.
You may not know it, but through government agencies, taxpayers are the number one purchasers of firearms in the country. Without laws like the one we just passed, tax dollars are often spent at gun dealers cited for violating gun laws.
In fact, we found that law enforcement agencies have spent millions of dollars to buy firearms from dealers and manufacturers with repeated violations of federal regulations. Here in Colorado, agencies spent over $3.1M at a gun dealer that had a history of over a dozen violations of federal gun laws, including links to guns recovered from crimes.
This ends now in Colorado. Under this new law, taxpayer dollars will not go to irresponsible dealers that jeopardize our safety and contribute to gun violence. And firearm businesses will be incentivized to adopt life-saving business practices. Our communities will be safer. And lives will be saved.
Now, we at Brady are fighting across the country to replicate this success — and Colorado has given us the model to follow. But to do that, we need your support, friend. Will you consider supporting Brady with a gift today? Your donation will bolster our efforts to pass more laws like this nationwide!
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