By Bonnie Watson Coleman and William Castner



Today is national Gun Violence Awareness Day.

In New Jersey alone, roughly 1500 of our residents are shot each year and 270 killed by guns. This is a public health epidemic. And the infuriating part is Congress, with their collective heads in the sand, is completely indifferent to this crisis.



In stark contrast to Washington, Gov. Phil Murphy in his first 100 days alone has already elevated gun violence to be a paramount issue as he promised to do when he ran for office. The Governor has launched a historic multi-state States for Gun Safety initiative to curb gun trafficking; rolled back dangerous Christie administration regulations liberalizing concealed carry permits; placed $2 million in his budget for gun violence research; authored a "name and shame" executive order to expose the states exporting crime guns to our streets; and pledged to sign into law an important six-bill legislative package being advanced by majority leaders Loretta Weinberg and Louis Greenwald that includes a magazine clip limit.

Separate and apart from additional state legislation, there is even more we can do:



* First, in order to get new federal laws, we need a new Congress;

* Second, New Jersey needs to bring aggressive civil lawsuits against unscrupulous members of the gun industry placing our residents in harm's way;

* Third, because taxpayers are the top purchasers of firearms through our law enforcement agencies, New Jersey should examine using its market power to encourage gun manufacturers to adopt more responsible behavior including childproof technology;

* Fourth, New Jersey should also engage the business community and examine any public relationships with businesses, like financial institutions, that are directly or indirectly supporting the gun industry; and

* Finally, violence intervention programs that have been successful in other cities outside of New Jersey -- both school-based and hospital-based -- should be introduced here and mental health programs should be expanded.

The recent youth activism movement in particular has brought new energy to this fight as attitudes are changing and momentum is mounting to confront gun violence.

At a recent legislative hearing in Trenton, supporters of common sense reform such as Moms Demand Action & Million Moms outnumbered opponents of reform by roughly a 10-to-1 ratio. That would have been inconceivable even a year or two ago. We will need your help because unfortunately the gun industry will not adopt safety reforms voluntarily -- only aggressive actions will result in any meaningful change.



New Jersey has always led the way on gun violence prevention and under Governor Murphy it is poised to continue this fight. Stay tuned.

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat, represents the New Jersey's 12th Congressional District.

William Castner, Esq. is senior advisor to the governor on firearms.