The No. 1 purchaser of firearms in this country is the American people.<\/p>\n
Each year, cities and states across the country spend more than $5 billion purchasing firearms for law enforcement. Too often, this means taxpayer dollars are fueling the very gun violence that plagues neighborhoods and communities nationwide.\n<\/p>\n
Public dollars should advance public safety, not undermine it. Full stop.<\/p>\n
As the largest institutional purchaser of firearms in the United States, governments have tremendous power to shape the market. When governments don\u2019t align practices with commitments, everyday taxpayers end up funding gun violence.<\/p>\n
A 2023 report released by Brady: United Against Gun Violence, the organization I lead, revealed that millions of taxpayer dollars have gone to businesses with histories of violating federal firearm regulations and fueling crime and violence. This means that too often, law enforcement agencies and governments are buying their firearms from dealers with a history of skirting federal laws and allowing the very guns they\u2019re trying to keep off streets onto them in the first place.\n<\/p>\n
Gun sellers play a critical role in preventing firearms from entering the illegal market. Responsible dealer practices are the first line of defense against gun trafficking, straw purchases and other illegal sales.<\/p>\n
Under Mayor Brandon Johnson\u2019s leadership, Chicago is using the power of public procurement to raise the standard for responsible firearm sales. Rather than allowing irresponsible sellers to profit twice \u2014 first by selling firearms that are diverted into crime and violence, and then by receiving taxpayer-funded contracts from the very communities harmed by that violence \u2014 the city is taking steps to ensure public dollars support responsible business practices while encouraging higher standards across the firearm industry.<\/p>\n
That commitment is reflected in an executive order<\/a> signed by Johnson directing the Department of Procurement Services, in consultation with the Chicago Police Department, the Office of Public Safety Administration and the Department of Law, to develop enhanced procurement standards for firearm-related purchases within 90 days. The standards will require prospective vendors seeking to do business with the city to disclose information regarding compliance with firearm laws, responsible business practices, firearm-related violations, corrective actions and other information necessary to evaluate their commitment to preventing the unlawful diversion of firearms and promoting public safety.<\/p>\n Under the procurement standards, Chicago officials would also be able to consider vendors\u2019 efforts to prevent firearm trafficking, relevant employee training programs, security measures designed to prevent theft of firearms and ammunition, cooperation with law enforcement investigations involving firearms used in crimes and other public safety practices when awarding or renewing contracts. These are all practices that keep guns away from children, traffickers, domestic abusers and others.<\/p>\n Chicago joins a growing number of cities and states, including Colorado, New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego \u2014 in adopting the Brady-backed responsible procurement standards. These standards are part of Brady\u2019s long-standing effort to save lives and hold the gun industry accountable at every level. When governments use their purchasing power to demand accountability from gun dealers, communities are safer. Other states, cities and counties should adopt this playbook to align their procurement practices with their commitment to community safety.<\/p>\n Chicago\u2019s recent progress in reducing violence demonstrates that a comprehensive approach anchored in prevention, intervention, accountability and responsible governance works. Through sustained investments in community violence intervention, youth employment, victim services, behavioral health and coordinated violence reduction strategies, the city recorded its lowest number of homicides in nearly 60 years in 2025.\n<\/p>\n Changing procurement practices adds another tool to their toolbox. Other cities and states should take notice.<\/p>\n Kris Brown is president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here<\/a> or email letters@chicagotribune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The No. 1 purchaser of firearms in this country is the American people. Each year, cities and states…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":990832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,339729,397298,5386,1818,36234],"class_list":["post-990831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-gun-violence","tag-firearm-sales","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-mayor-brandon-johnson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117065063314186858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/990832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}