The Coalition Against Gun Violence of Santa Barbara County lists the following “Agenda for Action” on its website.
- To raise awareness throughout the entire community — children, teens and adults — that the spreading epidemic of gun violence is a menace to us all, and that combatting it requires each of us to take a stand;
- To counter advertising campaigns by the gun lobby and gun manufacturers encouraging gun acquisition through education about the risks associated with gun ownership;
- To expose the culture and impact of gun violence and its glorification in all media, including movies, TV, videos, music, magazines, and electronic games, and to work for remedies;
- To encourage legislators at all levels of government to make the effective prevention of gun violence a high priority.
- To work with local law enforcement agencies and organizations that focus on crime prevention;
- To support state and national violence prevention organizations to eliminate gun violence;
- To help promote strategies which limit easy access to guns in our community.
At this time, however, the Coalition does not fully support the position of Americans Against Gun Violence concerning the adoption of stringent gun control laws in the United States comparable to the laws that have long been in effect in every other high income democratic country of the world. While we support the Coalition’s “Agenda for Action” as a step toward reducing gun violence, we believe that more definitive steps need to be taken to reduce rates of gun violence in the United States to levels at or below the rates in other high income democratic countries. We have reached out to the Coalition and hope to enlist its full support in the near future.