Everytown Celebrates Mayors Against Illegal Guns Member Paul Young for Creating Black Mayors’ Coalition on Crime, Uniting Dozens of Leaders in Nationwide Fight for Public Safety

NEW YORK – Everytown for Gun Safety released the following statements celebrating Memphis Mayor Paul Young for creating a new coalition of Black mayors from some of the nation’s biggest cities to collaborate on strategies to reduce gun violence, among other crimes.

Mayor Young serves as one of the members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Everytown’s national coalition of leaders advocating for life-saving gun safety reforms from local programs and tactics to state and federal legislation. His newly launched Black Mayors’ Coalition on Crime held its first meeting Thursday, March 28 to discuss tactics to minimize homicides and violent crimes – which remain higher than pre-pandemic levels despite falling nationwide in 2023.

“Mayors are on the frontlines of the ongoing gun violence epidemic and we commend Mayor Young for his work to bring these leaders together,” said Monisha Henley, senior vice president of Government Affairs at Everytown for Gun Safety. “By forming a new coalition of legislators dedicated to public safety – including combating gun violence – this group will be able to ensure that cities experiencing the worst of the gun crisis are working together to collaborate on comprehensive, holistic approaches to addressing crime.”

“Improving public safety by combating gun violence in our cities requires a multi-pronged approach that includes stopping the cycles of violence in their tracks,” said Michael-Sean Spence, managing director of Community Safety Initiatives at Everytown. “By forming this coalition, Mayor Young is ensuring we continue moving towards cities in which our communities and loved ones are safe from gun violence once and for all.” 

“In our inaugural meeting, our coalition represented over 8 million people, that is powerful,” said Paul Young, who was sworn in as Mayor of Memphis, Tennessee earlier this year and has made improving public safety city-wide a clear priority. The Mayor now states he hopes to reduce crime by reaching the small group responsible for 80% of the city’s crimes. “My goal for the coalition is to create an open forum where we can learn from each other and work together to define strategies to combat crime and the factors that  lead to it in each of our cities. We are stronger together.”