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  • Press Release

    AAMC Statement on Bipartisan Safer Communities Act

    Media Contacts

    Stuart Heiser, Senior Media Relations Specialist

    AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, issued the following statement about the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act:

    “Gun violence is a public health crisis that has plagued our nation for too long. We applaud this bipartisan group of senators for coming together to advance meaningful commonsense policies that will take an important step forward in addressing this epidemic.

    We commend the inclusion of reforms that would take steps to expand and enhance background checks, protect victims of abuse, and provide support for state crisis intervention orders, among other provisions. We also appreciate the bill’s investment in efforts to address the trauma and impact of gun violence on children, families, and communities. This includes funding for community violence interventions and programs that integrate mental and behavioral health into training for primary care clinicians, as well as measures to expand access to tele-mental health services.  

    The AAMC urges lawmakers to pass this bipartisan legislation and overcome the gridlock that has prevented past attempts to promote gun safety and injury prevention. Our nation’s communities are depending on it.”


    The AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) is a nonprofit association dedicated to improving the health of people everywhere through medical education, health care, medical research, and community collaborations. Its members are all 159 U.S. medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education; 13 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 500 academic health systems and teaching hospitals, including Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and more than 70 academic societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC leads and serves America’s medical schools, academic health systems and teaching hospitals, and the millions of individuals across academic medicine, including more than 201,000 full-time faculty members, 97,000 medical students, 158,000 resident physicians, and 60,000 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the biomedical sciences. Following a 2022 merger, the Alliance of Academic Health Centers International broadened participation in the AAMC by 70 international academic health centers throughout five regional offices across the globe. Learn more at aamc.org.