Greg Jackson, former executive director of the Community Justice Action Fund, speaks at a House hearing on gun violence in 2022.Photo:Jason Andrew-Pool/Getty
Jason Andrew-Pool/Getty
PresidentJoe Biden’s announcement that his administration had established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention was, for Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox, a long time coming.
It was roughly 10 years ago when Jackson was shot while walking down the street in Washington, D.C. — a decade earlier, Wilcox’s 19 year-old cousin, Laura, was killed when a gunman entered the behavioral clinic she was working in and shot her four times at point-blank range.
“In April 2013, I was caught in the middle of crossfire when a bullet shot and hit me in two arteries, nearly costing me my life,” he tells PEOPLE. “I’ll never forget arriving in the hospital and being told I only had about 26 minutes to live.”
Jackson made it out of surgery despite his earlier prognosis, ultimately undergoing five more surgical procedures and enduring a six-month recovery in the hospital.
Greg Jackson recovering in the hospital after surviving a shooting in Washington, D.C.Greg Jackson
Greg Jackson
“This was a hot topic in the national media,” Jackson continues, “but the conversation seemed more like a political debate than an effort to save lives.”
Laura Wilcox.Amanda Wilcox
Amanda Wilcox
In 2001, Wilcox’s cousin was fatally shot in northern California while filling in as a receptionist during her college’s winter break. More than 20 years later, Wilcox tells PEOPLE he still remembers the most granular details of her funeral service.
“I can see sunlight going through the windows and the specks of dust shimmering,” he says. “I can see the room packed with people crying — every one of my family members was broken up.”
Like Jackson, Wilcox’s connection to gun violence led him to question “how guns end up in the wrong places and in the wrong hands.”
Rob Wilcox (right) shakes hands with a fellow witness after a House hearing in March 2023.Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo
In a statement announcing the new federal office, Biden, 80, said its establishment came in the absence of “sorely-needed action” from Congress, which has yet to pass widely supported legislation that would enact universal background checks and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“I’ll continue to urge Congress to take commonsense actions that the majority of Americans support," Biden said. “But in the absence of that sorely-needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our families, our communities, and our country apart.”
“I don’t know that you have to be this close to the pain to see the need for change,” Wilcox says. “But as the president had said, some of us turn pain into purpose.”
“Approaches to address domestic violence, suicide prevention … a lot that’s already in motion,” Jackson says. “But the first major change will be to expedite implementation of those efforts, because every second they aren’t in effect, a life could be lost.”
Greg Jackson, then executive director of the Community Justice Action Fund, speaks during a House hearing on the gun violence epidemic in June 2022.Andrew Harnik/AP/Bloomberg via Getty
Andrew Harnik/AP/Bloomberg via Getty
“I went to Buffalo after the2022 shootingand witnessed hundreds of cameras but didn’t see a huge presence of support beyond law enforcement,” Jackson says. “That’s not what we would see after a hurricane or natural disaster and helping people heal is a big part of reducing these cycles of violence.”
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But the White House has also acknowledged that it still wants to see more congressional action, including the passage of legislation that would ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of guns, end gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and enact universal background checks.
With their work cut out for them, both Wilcox and Jackson agree that the conversation around gun violence has shifted since their own experiences lead them to first become passionate about the work.
“Survivors have gone from telling their story to advancing legislation,” Jackson tells PEOPLE. “This movement of survivors taking leadership is directly connected to the progress we see.”
source: people.com
