Safer Country

Fairfax County Chair Jeff McKay, Safer Country Executive Director Paul Friedman, Franconia Supervisor Rodney Lusk, and Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano are pictured above.

Guns are currently the leading cause of death for children and teens between 1-19.

Gun suicides are approximately 60% of gun deaths. Red Flag laws are effective at preventing suicides. It enables the temporary legal removal of guns when sufficient evidence is presented to show that a person is a danger to themselves and/or others. 

Enacted in Virginia in 2020, Safer Country succeeded in initiating, developing, and launching a public awareness campaign with Fairfax County in 2022. Our “Prevent A Gun Tragedy – Speak Up!” campaign featured new government informational webpages and signs (pictured), in English and Spanish, inside 344 County Connector buses.   Due to our efforts, a new campaign, with an added digital component, began in March.

With your support, on top of our other work, we can continue to promote the use of the Red Flag law, which is technically called the Substantial Risk Order, throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.  For example, we are currently planning an end-of-year Town Hall with Commonwealth's Attorney Amy Ashworth for Prince William County to raise public awareness about this law and all the new gun violence prevention laws enacted in Virginia this year.