Ahead of the deadly shooting in Midtown Manhattan Monday, Donald Trump’s administration cut more than half of federal funding for gun violence prevention from the Justice Department, Reuters reported Tuesday.
In April, the Trump administration terminated 69 of the 145 community violence intervention grants awarded through the DOJ, cutting a whopping $158 million in grants that previously totaled more than $300 million.
The grants provided federal funding to community-based organizations, local governments, and universities working on evidence-based strategies to prevent violence. A DOJ official said that the grants had been among thousands currently under review, and had been terminated because they “no longer effectuate the program’s goals or agency’s priorities.”
The Biden-era White House Office for Gun Violence Prevention was also “dismantled on day one” of the Trump administration, according to its former director, Greg Jackson.
The Trump administration’s efforts to shift funding and focus away from gun violence prevention is especially concerning given that shootings, and mass shootings, are known to surge in the warm summer months.
In classic Trump style, the president responded to the deadly Monday night shooting in Manhattan with name calling. “I trust our Law Enforcement Agencies to get to the bottom of why this crazed lunatic committed such a senseless act of violence,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social. “My heart is with the families of the four people who were killed, including the NYPD Officer, who made the ultimate sacrifice. God Bless the New York Police Department, and God Bless New York!”
Other Republicans have issued their own weak responses, with Louisiana Senator John Kennedy winning the award for most idiotic comment of the day.
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