September 26, 2025 • 13 mins
Cornelius Fletcher, Director of Federal Affairs for Everytown for Gun Safety talks about how his organization is fighting to end gun violence in the Black community and throughout America.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Andrea Coleman with the Black Information at work at
the Congressional Black Clock is foundations fifty fourth Annual Legislative Conference,
and we are talking with Cornelius Fletcher, director of Federal
Affairs at every Town for Gun Safety. Good afternoon, and welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Good afternoon. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
You're welcome and glad you're here. So tell us a
little bit about Every Town for Gun Safety.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
No, absolutely, every Town is the largest gun violence prevention
organization in the country. As philanthropic wing of Bloomberg Philanthropies,
we were founded ten years ago.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Eleven years ago now.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Actually it started off as Mayors against Illegal Guns Mayor
Bloomberg at the time, the mayor of New York and
some of the Tri state area mayors as well Philadelphia, Boston, etc.
Came together because of the illegal gun trafficking issue that
was occurrent in the cities. They were experiencing guns being
(00:59):
trafficked in the communities and a lot of times when
they did crime tracing to those guns. They were coming
from Pennsylvania into New York or Ohio into Philadelphia. States
with a lot more lax gun laws and easier trafficking availabilities,
and so they formed Mayors against the Legal Guns to
(01:21):
put together some laws and regulations. This was right after
the Sandy Hook shooting that took place, and that merged
with Mom's Demand Action, which is pretty much like Mothers
Against Drunk Driving but for gun violence prevention. And they're
the largest volunteer group in the country, over two million
(01:43):
parents concerned parents across the country. And once they merged
with Mayors against the Legal Guns, under that umbrella, every
Town for Gun Safety was formed. So we cover all
legislative issues around gun violence prevention, things that everyone has
heard of, like universal background checks on all firearms sales,
(02:05):
extreme rist protection orders, DVRO, domestic violence for training orders,
but also things like secure storage, community violence intervention funding,
veteran suicide prevention. We also have a robust research and
litigation team, so we run the gamut on all three
(02:27):
levels of government, state, local, and federal.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Very good and what do you do for the organization?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So I am the director of Federal Government Affairs, and
so I run around Capitol Hill trying to get them
to pass the good bills and stop them from moving
the bad ones.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
But we work.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
To show up those relationships with federal elected officials and
staff stakeholders in the belway and outside and across the
country back home in their districts, to make sure that
you know we're not only platforming, that the electors are
not only platforming an issue, but moving legislation that is
(03:05):
catered to their district, their state.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
The current climate that we're in right now.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Our motto is common sense gun solutions, and so what
are things that not only can pass, but what works
and what can be implemented.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
So what legislation now is before Congress that you're either
supporting or advocating against.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Absolutely, So I think most relevant we're talking about the
Congressional Black Caucus. We have three big pieces of legislation
that are carried by three CDC members that also happened
to be our priority pieces of legislation on the Hill
right now. So the first is going to be the
Go Safe Act, which is an assault weapons ban, and
that is carried by congress Woman Lucy McMath who also
(03:50):
at one point was on staff at every time for
gun safety. And so there's a connection there, obviously her
having lost her son Jordan to a gun violence.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
It's a racist motivated shooting.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
But the assault weapon ban is another look at the
traditional assault weapon ban, which hits at the features testing
of an assault weapon, the different types of gadgets and
extra pieces that they put on an assault weapon. Whereas
this got Safe bill, this assault weapon bill attacks the
gas operating mechanism, which almost all assault weapons have AR
(04:27):
fifteens AK forty sevens. It makes it harder for the
gun industry. Gun manufacturers to just design a new gun
and add a new feature around any regulations that we
put in front of them. So that's one piece of legislation,
an assault weapon ban. The other is the Break the
Cycle of Violence Act, and that is sponsored by Congressman
(04:48):
Stephen Horsford out of Nevada, and that is a community
violence intervention funding bill. Earlier this year, back in March,
the Department of Justice under this current administration presidential administration
cut over eight hundred million dollars of federal funding for
community violence intervention organizations across the country. And if you
(05:10):
think about the headlines that you've heard recently about the
decrease in gun violence in cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, Birmingham, Alabama, Atlanta,
we can connect that back to the work that violence.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Intervention groups are doing on the ground.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
They really focus in on at risk communities and at
risk groups and.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Make sure that they are.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Crafting solutions that not only target the city, but they
go block by block, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood,
working with youth on both sides of the gun victims
and people who themselves can be perpetrators of gun violence.
And so this Break the Cycle of Violence Act, we
inject over five billion dollars of federal funding back into
(05:59):
those community violence intervention organizations, which obviously the numbers have
gone down, but they could be down a lot more.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
UH. And then the third bill is a federally UH Federally.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Licensed Firearm bill that is Robin Kelly's Bill comes.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Woman Robin Kelly out of Illinois. UH. The shortened abbreviation
is FFL.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
But it's regulations on who can sell and be licensed
federally to sell firearms. We've seen, UH in cities like Chicago,
a number of guns coming crime guns coming from one
specific dealer in the city or in the area.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
UH.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And these are people who are able to skirt around
the licensing regulations.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
UH.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
And so this bill would help to shore up you know, uh,
if they're doing proper background checks, if they're selling to
people with prior histories of violence with the firearm. So
I think those three pieces of legislation hit at our priorities,
but they also place the issue back in the hands
(07:09):
of elected officials who are representing the areas and the
districts that are disproportionately affected by gun violence.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, gun violence and gun safety, gun control, all of
that is such a big issue. And help us understand
how I guess your organization balances the rights of people
as given through the Second Amendment of the Constitution, to
what your aims and your goals are.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Through your work. No.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Absolutely, So we first off are pro Second Amendment. We
are pro people operating firearms reasonably and responsibly.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
It is, you know, the Second Amendment of the Constitution, and.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So we will always work to make sure that legislation
and policies that we are crafting are not infringing on
people's Second Amendment rights. But we are encouraging people to
do basic things. You have a firearm and a home
with children under the age of you know, fifteen, secure safely,
you know, don't hide your gun under your bed, under
(08:08):
your pillow, buy a lock box and lock it up.
If you or family members experiencing suicidal ideations are going
through a tough mental health crisis, you know you should
be able to We work on policies where you should
be able to take that firearm.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
If you own a firearm and have it in the
home to.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
A licensed dealer who can store it for a period
of time, or have a public official authorities law enforcement
take the gun off your hand for a little bit,
because we know just thirty seconds is the difference between
someone taking their own life or the life of others
when they're experiencing those types of mental health crisises. And
(08:51):
so I think we are always making sure that we're
trying to balance out the idea of being strong supporters
of the Second Amendment but also making sure that it's
in line with public safety.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. We did a
public awareness campaign last year called Locking and Stored, and
it focused on unintentional shootings among children, in particular black children.
And I think one of the studies, actually, if I'm
not mistaken, it was I don't know if this is
a partner or sister component to your organization, but it
was every town's policy and Research organization, and their statistics
(09:28):
show that close to four hundred young children had died
through unintentional shootings. I think it was in either twenty
twenty three or twenty twenty two, and their whole goal
or focus was just you know, walking in stored and
again going back to what you just said, in a
way that you know, keeps that weapon out of the
reach of children.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I think I heard the stat and a panel that
we did earlier with Congresswoman Kelly Right now, it's eight
children a day who died by unintentional shootings, finding weapon
in the house, showing it off to their friends, not
knowing what to do when they come in contact with it,
if it's loaded, if it's locked, and unfortunately take their
(10:10):
lives and or lose their life to gun violence inadvertently.
And I think, you know, we always want to keep
those eight people right in the front of our eight
kids in the front of our mind. If we can
craft laws and policies that save eight kids a day,
I think we're doing a good job.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, that's very good. How can our listeners learn more
about you and the organization?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
No, absolutely so. Everytown dot org is a great place
to start. Our website. We have a very extensive website
called every stat that you can go and look state
by state, county by county, district by district at how
gun violence is impacting you where you live, the economic
(10:54):
costs of gun violence. I think right now we're spending
almost a billion dollars as taxpayers yearly on the back
end of gun violence funerals and cleanup and law enforcement
and all those types of things. And so I think
checking out our website every time, or but also becoming
(11:14):
joined in our Mom's Demand Action chapters across the country,
your student demand Action chapters if you're in college or
in high school, and making sure that you're you know,
just talking about the issue, advocating on behalf of public safety,
safer communities. I think when we talk about being here
at CBC with congressional Black leaders, it's again important for
(11:40):
us to be intentional about positioning this issue with the
districts and the constituents who are most affected by this
uniquely American issue. And so, you know, while things aren't
moving on the federal level, go back home to your
you know, your governor and your city council people and
(12:02):
try to advocate for more community violence, intervention funding, a
ban on assault weapons, those types of things back home,
and all politics.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
As local as we know.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
And so while you know DC is a little gridlocked,
we can always work to do something on the state
or local level.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Take it back to the local community.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Absolutely great, mister Fletcher. Thank you so much for joining
us today and please keep us posted. Yeah, any any
idea on how that legislation is moving. Do you think
it's going to pass or to getting the support it needs.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's getting the support that it needs, not enough obviously,
and we're always working to make sure that members on
both sides of the aisle are are hearing from us
every day. And I think given recent events of the
past couple of weeks, the tragic shootings of elected officials
(12:53):
and public figures across the country, I think those are
an opportunity to engage a different group of people in
the conversation. And so I'm always encouraged when you hear
you have new voices to this issue area because it
just makes the tent a lot bigger.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, that makes sense, and gun violence impacts all of us.
So thank you again. We appreciate your work and look
forward to hearing more about you in the future.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Absolutely, thank you so much. Welcome and that.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Montrea Coleman with the black Information Network reporting from the
Congressional black Hawk Is Foundations fifty fourth Annual Legislative Conference,
speaking with mister Cornelius Fletcher, who is with every town
for gun safety. Thank you again, mister Fletcher.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Thank you,
Good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Andrea Coleman with the Black Information at work at
the Congressional Black Clock is foundations fifty fourth Annual Legislative Conference,
and we are talking with Cornelius Fletcher, director of Federal
Affairs at every Town for Gun Safety. Good afternoon, and welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Good afternoon. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
You're welcome and glad you're here. So tell us a
little bit about Every Town for Gun Safety.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
No, absolutely, every Town is the largest gun violence prevention
organization in the country. As philanthropic wing of Bloomberg Philanthropies,
we were founded ten years ago.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Eleven years ago now.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Actually it started off as Mayors against Illegal Guns Mayor
Bloomberg at the time, the mayor of New York and
some of the Tri state area mayors as well Philadelphia, Boston, etc.
Came together because of the illegal gun trafficking issue that
was occurrent in the cities. They were experiencing guns being
(00:59):
trafficked in the communities and a lot of times when
they did crime tracing to those guns. They were coming
from Pennsylvania into New York or Ohio into Philadelphia. States
with a lot more lax gun laws and easier trafficking availabilities,
and so they formed Mayors against the Legal Guns to
(01:21):
put together some laws and regulations. This was right after
the Sandy Hook shooting that took place, and that merged
with Mom's Demand Action, which is pretty much like Mothers
Against Drunk Driving but for gun violence prevention. And they're
the largest volunteer group in the country, over two million
(01:43):
parents concerned parents across the country. And once they merged
with Mayors against the Legal Guns, under that umbrella, every
Town for Gun Safety was formed. So we cover all
legislative issues around gun violence prevention, things that everyone has
heard of, like universal background checks on all firearms sales,
(02:05):
extreme rist protection orders, DVRO, domestic violence for training orders,
but also things like secure storage, community violence intervention funding,
veteran suicide prevention. We also have a robust research and
litigation team, so we run the gamut on all three
(02:27):
levels of government, state, local, and federal.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Very good and what do you do for the organization?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So I am the director of Federal Government Affairs, and
so I run around Capitol Hill trying to get them
to pass the good bills and stop them from moving
the bad ones.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
But we work.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
To show up those relationships with federal elected officials and
staff stakeholders in the belway and outside and across the
country back home in their districts, to make sure that
you know we're not only platforming, that the electors are
not only platforming an issue, but moving legislation that is
(03:05):
catered to their district, their state.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
The current climate that we're in right now.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Our motto is common sense gun solutions, and so what
are things that not only can pass, but what works
and what can be implemented.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
So what legislation now is before Congress that you're either
supporting or advocating against.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Absolutely, So I think most relevant we're talking about the
Congressional Black Caucus. We have three big pieces of legislation
that are carried by three CDC members that also happened
to be our priority pieces of legislation on the Hill
right now. So the first is going to be the
Go Safe Act, which is an assault weapons ban, and
that is carried by congress Woman Lucy McMath who also
(03:50):
at one point was on staff at every time for
gun safety. And so there's a connection there, obviously her
having lost her son Jordan to a gun violence.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
It's a racist motivated shooting.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
But the assault weapon ban is another look at the
traditional assault weapon ban, which hits at the features testing
of an assault weapon, the different types of gadgets and
extra pieces that they put on an assault weapon. Whereas
this got Safe bill, this assault weapon bill attacks the
gas operating mechanism, which almost all assault weapons have AR
(04:27):
fifteens AK forty sevens. It makes it harder for the
gun industry. Gun manufacturers to just design a new gun
and add a new feature around any regulations that we
put in front of them. So that's one piece of legislation,
an assault weapon ban. The other is the Break the
Cycle of Violence Act, and that is sponsored by Congressman
(04:48):
Stephen Horsford out of Nevada, and that is a community
violence intervention funding bill. Earlier this year, back in March,
the Department of Justice under this current administration presidential administration
cut over eight hundred million dollars of federal funding for
community violence intervention organizations across the country. And if you
(05:10):
think about the headlines that you've heard recently about the
decrease in gun violence in cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, Birmingham, Alabama, Atlanta,
we can connect that back to the work that violence.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Intervention groups are doing on the ground.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
They really focus in on at risk communities and at
risk groups and.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Make sure that they are.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Crafting solutions that not only target the city, but they
go block by block, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood,
working with youth on both sides of the gun victims
and people who themselves can be perpetrators of gun violence.
And so this Break the Cycle of Violence Act, we
inject over five billion dollars of federal funding back into
(05:59):
those community violence intervention organizations, which obviously the numbers have
gone down, but they could be down a lot more.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
UH. And then the third bill is a federally UH Federally.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Licensed Firearm bill that is Robin Kelly's Bill comes.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Woman Robin Kelly out of Illinois. UH. The shortened abbreviation
is FFL.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
But it's regulations on who can sell and be licensed
federally to sell firearms. We've seen, UH in cities like Chicago,
a number of guns coming crime guns coming from one
specific dealer in the city or in the area.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
UH.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And these are people who are able to skirt around
the licensing regulations.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
UH.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
And so this bill would help to shore up you know, uh,
if they're doing proper background checks, if they're selling to
people with prior histories of violence with the firearm. So
I think those three pieces of legislation hit at our priorities,
but they also place the issue back in the hands
(07:09):
of elected officials who are representing the areas and the
districts that are disproportionately affected by gun violence.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, gun violence and gun safety, gun control, all of
that is such a big issue. And help us understand
how I guess your organization balances the rights of people
as given through the Second Amendment of the Constitution, to
what your aims and your goals are.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Through your work. No.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Absolutely, So we first off are pro Second Amendment. We
are pro people operating firearms reasonably and responsibly.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
It is, you know, the Second Amendment of the Constitution, and.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So we will always work to make sure that legislation
and policies that we are crafting are not infringing on
people's Second Amendment rights. But we are encouraging people to
do basic things. You have a firearm and a home
with children under the age of you know, fifteen, secure safely,
you know, don't hide your gun under your bed, under
(08:08):
your pillow, buy a lock box and lock it up.
If you or family members experiencing suicidal ideations are going
through a tough mental health crisis, you know you should
be able to We work on policies where you should
be able to take that firearm.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
If you own a firearm and have it in the
home to.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
A licensed dealer who can store it for a period
of time, or have a public official authorities law enforcement
take the gun off your hand for a little bit,
because we know just thirty seconds is the difference between
someone taking their own life or the life of others
when they're experiencing those types of mental health crisises. And
(08:51):
so I think we are always making sure that we're
trying to balance out the idea of being strong supporters
of the Second Amendment but also making sure that it's
in line with public safety.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. We did a
public awareness campaign last year called Locking and Stored, and
it focused on unintentional shootings among children, in particular black children.
And I think one of the studies, actually, if I'm
not mistaken, it was I don't know if this is
a partner or sister component to your organization, but it
was every town's policy and Research organization, and their statistics
(09:28):
show that close to four hundred young children had died
through unintentional shootings. I think it was in either twenty
twenty three or twenty twenty two, and their whole goal
or focus was just you know, walking in stored and
again going back to what you just said, in a
way that you know, keeps that weapon out of the
reach of children.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I think I heard the stat and a panel that
we did earlier with Congresswoman Kelly Right now, it's eight
children a day who died by unintentional shootings, finding weapon
in the house, showing it off to their friends, not
knowing what to do when they come in contact with it,
if it's loaded, if it's locked, and unfortunately take their
(10:10):
lives and or lose their life to gun violence inadvertently.
And I think, you know, we always want to keep
those eight people right in the front of our eight
kids in the front of our mind. If we can
craft laws and policies that save eight kids a day,
I think we're doing a good job.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, that's very good. How can our listeners learn more
about you and the organization?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
No, absolutely so. Everytown dot org is a great place
to start. Our website. We have a very extensive website
called every stat that you can go and look state
by state, county by county, district by district at how
gun violence is impacting you where you live, the economic
(10:54):
costs of gun violence. I think right now we're spending
almost a billion dollars as taxpayers yearly on the back
end of gun violence funerals and cleanup and law enforcement
and all those types of things. And so I think
checking out our website every time, or but also becoming
(11:14):
joined in our Mom's Demand Action chapters across the country,
your student demand Action chapters if you're in college or
in high school, and making sure that you're you know,
just talking about the issue, advocating on behalf of public safety,
safer communities. I think when we talk about being here
at CBC with congressional Black leaders, it's again important for
(11:40):
us to be intentional about positioning this issue with the
districts and the constituents who are most affected by this
uniquely American issue. And so, you know, while things aren't
moving on the federal level, go back home to your
you know, your governor and your city council people and
(12:02):
try to advocate for more community violence, intervention funding, a
ban on assault weapons, those types of things back home,
and all politics.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
As local as we know.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
And so while you know DC is a little gridlocked,
we can always work to do something on the state
or local level.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Take it back to the local community.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Absolutely great, mister Fletcher. Thank you so much for joining
us today and please keep us posted. Yeah, any any
idea on how that legislation is moving. Do you think
it's going to pass or to getting the support it needs.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's getting the support that it needs, not enough obviously,
and we're always working to make sure that members on
both sides of the aisle are are hearing from us
every day. And I think given recent events of the
past couple of weeks, the tragic shootings of elected officials
(12:53):
and public figures across the country, I think those are
an opportunity to engage a different group of people in
the conversation. And so I'm always encouraged when you hear
you have new voices to this issue area because it
just makes the tent a lot bigger.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, that makes sense, and gun violence impacts all of us.
So thank you again. We appreciate your work and look
forward to hearing more about you in the future.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Absolutely, thank you so much. Welcome and that.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Montrea Coleman with the black Information Network reporting from the
Congressional black Hawk Is Foundations fifty fourth Annual Legislative Conference,
speaking with mister Cornelius Fletcher, who is with every town
for gun safety. Thank you again, mister Fletcher.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Thank you,
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