On Thursday, Senator Reverend Warnock hosted a solutions-oriented conversation focused on bringing down gun violence across the country
The panel included Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, and the former deputy director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention Greg Jackson
“Youth Under Fire, Addressing Gun Violence in Our Communities” panel took place at the 54th Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Caucus
Left to right: Senator Reverend Warnock, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, and Greg Jackson
Washington, D.C. – On Thursday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) hosted a solutions-oriented conversation focused on bringing down gun violence across the country. The panel included Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, who have both been responsible for significant drops in gun violence in their cities. The panel also included the former deputy director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention Greg Jackson, which successfully supported local gun violence prevention programs and shut down illegal gun suppliers.
Senator Warnock uplifted the smart policies and leadership in Baltimore, Maryland, and Birmingham, Alabama, because both cities have seen declines in gun violence. Baltimore recorded its lowest annual rate of homicides in over a decade in 2024, which also marked a 23% total drop from 2023. Birmingham’s Police Department has reported a 52% reduction in homicides compared to 2024. The mayors credited the drop in gun violence in their cities to youth intervention programs and mental health resources. The mayors and Jackson also discussed their success in going after suppliers to get dangerous ghost guns and Glock switches off the street.
“While we have made some progress… we have not done nearly enough. We have, in essence, told our children that in the face of this ugly specter of mass shootings… the best thing we can do for you is teach you how to hide,” Senator Reverend Warnock told the panelist.“What trauma are we visiting upon our children when we tell them the best thing we can do is to teach them how to hide? Not to mention the slow rolling crisis of mass shootings that happens in struggling urban communities, poor communities, Black and brown communities every single day. This is the worst kind of American exceptionalism. So I keep having this panel discussion because I know deep in my heart we are better than this.”
Senator Warnock has vocally championed efforts to address the gun violence crisis in the United States, as a pastor and legislator. Following the tragic shooting in Winder, Senator Warnock met with students and families from the Apalachee High School community, and honored the victims on the Senate floor while calling for Congress to come together to pass popular gun safety reforms supported by broad swaths of the American public, regardless of political ideology; the Senator’s speech marked his third time lamenting a mass shooting in Georgia on the Senate floor. Additionally, since arriving to the Senate, Senator Warnock has championed several pieces of legislation to curb rampant, routine gun violence and help make communities safer, including cosponsoring legislation to ban assault weapons and institute universal background checks on firearms. He also championed the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first gun safety reform legislation passed by Congress in over 30 years.
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