Today's guest hosts are Brent J. Cohen and Charlotte Hancock, Executive Director and Communications Director for Generation Progress.

Young people, particularly young Black men, are disproportionately affected by the U.S. gun violence epidemic. Despite an awareness of the problem and deep-seated support across party lines for gun violence prevention solutions, the problem continues to grow: over 40 thousand Americans were killed by guns in 2020 alone.

Passing gun violence prevention legislation at the federal level has been extremely difficult, in part, as a result of massive political and financial pressure from the gun lobby. But, in one promising development, the most recent framework for the 'Build Back Better Act' now includes a five billion dollar investment in community violence intervention, which is a solution that activists who focus on addressing the root causes of gun violence have long called for.

To talk more with Brent and Charlotte about the root causes of gun violence, the Build Back Better Act, and what comes next in reducing easy access to guns, they’re joined by two expert guests.
They are Hurubie Meko, a reporter and researcher with the Kansas City Star and Eugenio Weigend, the director of gun violence prevention at the Center for American Progress.

Generation Progress' website is GenProgress.org and their Twitter handle is @GenProgress. Brent Cohen's Twitter handle is @BrentJCohen and Charlotte Hancock's handle is @CharlatAnne. The Twitter handle for the Kansas City Star is @KCStar and Hurubie Meko's handle is @HurubieMeko.
The Twitter handle for the Center for American Progress is @amprog and Eugenio Weigen's handle is @eugenioweigen.