By MIRANDA VISCOLI, Co-president

Mr. Visel’s latest offensive and dangerous diatribe (link) attacking the important work of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence (NMPGV) is a troubling reminder that we live in a time when a complete disregard for the facts and intentional distortion of the truth is the new law of the land.

He states, rather emphatically, that NMPGV is financially backed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. There is not an ounce of truth to this statement. New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence has never received a dime of funding from Mr. Bloomberg.

The second lie is that all gun violence prevention groups are funded by Michael Bloomberg, again, this is a complete fabrication. I am currently a regional board member of States United Against Gun Violence. We represent the 33 grassroots, gun violence prevention groups around the country. Many of these groups were in existence decades before Bloomberg entered the gun violence prevention world. Not one of those groups is funded by Bloomberg. In fact, Bloomberg only gives money to Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action.

New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization. All of our gun violence prevention programs are services that we provide free to the public. Our funds come almost exclusively from concerned New Mexico citizens.

We are not a “gun Contol” group as Mr. Visel asserts ad nauseam. This antiquated term was co-opted by the NRA to make it appear that gun violence prevention groups are out to “control” the guns of law abiding gun owners.

In regards to our Guns to Gardens gun buybacks, Mr. Visel untruthfully states that we do not run the serial numbers of the guns through the NICS system to make sure that they were not stolen or used in crimes. Every one of our guns is run through the NICS system by local law enforcement. If a gun is stolen, it goes back to the owner. If it is a gun used in a crime it goes into evidence. To this day, not one has been used in a crime and only one was stolen. That gun was delivered to its rightful owner.

As to Mr. Visel’s unsubstantiated ramblings about gun buybacks not working, my original editorial contained ample evidence of real success from our on-the-ground experiences in New Mexico as well as success stories from buybacks in other cities. Providing a way to get unwanted guns out of people’s homes simply works.

And then, of course, comes the tired Chicago argument. Yes, Chicago has strict gun laws. But, Illinois’ neighboring states do not. The ATF found that between 2010 and 2014, more than half of the guns recovered in Chicago crimes could be traced back to Indiana where straw purchasing is a grave problem.

As to California, yes they have some of the strictest gun laws in the country … and, some of the best research on gun violence prevention. Peer reviewed studies show that the gun laws are working. Mr. Visel conveniently fails to take the enormity of California’s population into account when throwing around the state’s gun violence numbers. Thanks to people who have actually taken time to discover the facts, we now have legitimate, peer reviewed studies that demonstrate the reality that states with the strongest gun laws have less gun violence.

But, what concerns me the most in Mr. Visel’s ill-conceived response,is his paragraph about young people and guns in our state. His statements are ill informed and dangerous. More than half of the work NMPGV does is with our young people. We have worked with thousands of students while disseminating the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence in our schools and while creating our Murals to End Gun Violence program. We also teach gun violence prevention classes in both public and private schools. All at no cost.

We know from first hand experience that gun violence is having a devastating effect on our young people. Our children are frightened, sad and confused. They do not understand why the adult community is not doing more to keep them safe from gun violence.  Here are the staggering numbers. The second leading cause of death for children in our state is suicide, with 34 percent caused by a firearm. Tragically, when a person attempts suicide with a gun, there is an 85 percent chance that they will die. The third leading cause of death for young people in New Mexico is homicide with 74 percent being executed by a firearm. Yes, guns are killing our children, whether Mr. Visel wants to admit it or not.

We at New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence will continue to do our important and impactful work. And, we will continue to focus on guns. Why? Because guns DO kill people. And, they are killing too many people in both our state and our country.