Six Years of GVPedia - Part 1: The Denver Accord
At a conference we hosted in Denver, Colorado, the Denver Accord was born.
This month marks the sixth anniversary of GVPedia. To celebrate the occasion, we want to highlight some of our successes in the cause of gun violence prevention. This is the first of a six-part series.
By: Devin Hughes and Caitlin Clarkson Pereira
In the spring of 2019, GVPedia held its first Gun Violence Prevention Conference in Denver, Colorado, to honor and remember the lives taken at Columbine High School 20 years before. Survivors and advocates of the gun violence prevention movement from all over country traveled far and wide to support one another and work together for three days.
From that conference, the Denver Accord was born — a comprehensive, evidence-based, gun violence prevention platform designed to guide policymakers’ efforts to reduce gun violence in the United States. The result was the creation of a well-researched roadmap to reduce gun violence in the United States that has since become a template in the field.
With the country ever-reeling from an epidemic of gun violence and mass shootings — and with the recent introduction of the first-ever Federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention — we have an opportunity to use the Denver Accord as a roadmap to a safer country.
(L-R) Tom Mauser, Khary Pennebaker, Jose Guzman, Jeremy Stein, Rev. Sharon Risher
The Denver Accord was developed by a coalition of 41 gun violence prevention organizations representing over one million people across the country. It is designed to address four key policy areas:
Putting safety first by improving standards for firearms and firearm ownership
Letting current laws work by enhancing and enforcing existing laws
Protecting communities by incentivizing preventative programs and reforms
Funding academic research
You can view the Denver Accord in its entirety here.
Manuel Oliver, founder of Change the Ref
We have also developed user-friendly fact sheets that outline the research and best practices in each section of the Denver Accord.
Gun violence is a complex problem that demands a comprehensive approach to eradicate it. No one policy or program alone is sufficient to address the magnitude of the crisis. The Denver Accord was designed to address the complexity and enormity of this problem through a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach that includes proven, evidence-based policies, programs, and best practices to stop the prevalence of gun violence.
Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, founders of Survivors Empowered
And as we believed in 2019, we still believe the Denver Accord is the only platform comprehensive enough to address the surge of gun violence in the U.S.
When we look back at the past six years, we are confident bringing all these incredible individuals together into once space is one of the most impactful things we have done. The creation of the Denver Accord while we were in that space, side by side, solidifies that confidence.
Devin Hughes is the President and Founder of GVPedia, a non-profit that provides access to gun violence prevention research and data. Caitlin Clarkson Pereira is Executive Director of GVPedia.
Images courtesy of Caitlin Clarkson Pereira.