Key anti-gun violence groups endorse Joe Biden for 2024

While the Republican ticket is far from settled, some issue advocates already have their minds made up about who they’re backing in 2024.

Four major gun-safety organizations announced their support for the re-election of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Among them are Brady, Community Justice Action Fund, Everytown for Gun Safety and Giffords.

The announcement marks the first time the groups jointly announced a presidential endorsement. It comes during what’s been described as a gun violence “peak” in America.

“With these groups’ resources and organizing power, we will be able to mobilize the overwhelming majority of Americans, especially young Americans, who demand federal action on preventing gun violence in November 2024,” Biden-Harris Campaign Manager Julie Chavez said in a statement.

Biden has used executive orders throughout his Oval Office tenure to accomplish his gun-safety agenda. He also signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act last year, which incentivized states to temporarily remove firearms from extreme-risk individuals and required for-profit gun dealers to register as such.

Last month, citing success in states like Illinois, Biden issued a statement saying “it is within our power to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of guns, end manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and enact universal background checks.”

The Brady organization is named for Jim Brady, a former White House Press Secretary who was wounded and decades later died as a result of a gunshot intended for President Ronald Reagan. To Brady, Biden is a familiar political ally.

“Brady worked alongside Joe Biden when, as a Senator, he took the NRA head-on and shepherded the Brady Bill through Congress and passed the nationwide assault weapons ban, saving countless lives,” Brady President Kris Brown said in a statement. The legislation, which went into effect in 1994, instituted background checks and waiting periods.

Aalayah Eastmond, a survivor of the 2017 Parkland school shooting in South Florida, is a co-founder of TEAM ENOUGH, a Brady affiliate. Eastmond in a statement acknowledged the effect of gun violence on black and brown children and said in a statement that the Biden administration understands that impact.

“(Biden and Harris) have made crucial strides in addressing gun violence through a racial justice lens,” Eastmond said. “Their understanding of systemic inequality has led to more meaningful approaches to ending this crisis, especially at a community level.”

There will be some time before the other side of the gun debate picks their candidate. The National Rifle Association in the past has waited until the actual election year to endorse Republicans like Donald Trump.

It’s an endorsement for which many Republican candidates position themselves. Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, signed a permitless carry law into effect about a month before he launched his presidential campaign.