A conversation with NYPD representatives on @donlemon on @cnn seems to be blaming “defunding the police” for an increase in gun violence in city centers. Let’s be clear about a few things...

The police haven’t been defunded in any large scale manner. Some municipalities and state legislatures have taken common-sense steps to hold police accountable, like banning chokeholds, and we need other states to take the same steps.

But gun manufacturers are fear mongering about protests to sell guns, which is dangerous and wrong at a time when the threat of gun violence is on the rise, hospitals are overflowing with patients, and we’ve already seen multiple incidents of armed extremists shooting protestors.

The pandemic exacerbated the root causes of gun violence, and it created unprecedented challenges for community violence prevention groups. And now it’s summer, which is a time of year in many cities when gun violence has historically risen.

How are they even having this conversation without talking about the need to close the loopholes in our gun laws? We also need to address underlying issues that contribute to gun violence through broad-based investment to expand long-term economic opportunity and racial equity.

Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, local policymakers should support and fund local gun violence intervention groups like Cure Violence that have been doing innovative, life-saving work for years.

Millions of Americans rushed out to purchase new guns in the middle of a pandemic, thinking they were buying safety, but research shows they’re actually exposing themselves and their families to higher risks of suicide, homicide, unintentional shootings, and domestic violence.

Well over 100,000 Americans have been killed by guns since Trump took office, twice as many wounded; 135,000 Americans have been killed by COVID-19. There are two epidemics going on right now, and Trump is making it clear every day that he doesn’t care about stopping either one.