But while mass shootings make national news, we know that community gun violence is just as destructive — particularly here in Hampton Roads. In March, a 14-year-old boy was shot and killed in Virginia Beach, according to police, by a 16-year-old after a firearm was not properly secured. In May, a 15-year-old girl was killed and an 18-year-old critically injured in a shooting at the Mt. Trashmore Summer Carnival. And this week, a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot waiting for the school bus in Newport News.

In our region and nationwide, the threat of gun violence disproportionately devastates Black and Brown communities. Black Virginians are 8 times more likely to be killed by gun violence than our white counterparts, a horrifying statistic that carries even greater implications. Each life lost to guns means one fewer graduation, one fewer family gathering and more funerals instead of celebrations. And we know that violent crime is more likely to occur in neighborhoods where systemic inequalities, lack of opportunity and economic disparities exist.

As a Hampton Roads resident and director of Brady’s Combating Crime Guns Program, I’ve been encouraged by state and local efforts to combat this type of gun violence. But our commonwealth is not an island, and we can’t do this work alone.

To reduce gun violence in Hampton Roads, we need comprehensive gun safety measures at the national level — and legislators in Washington, D.C., who will fight to make this happen.

A big part of that is congressional support for community violence intervention (CVI) programs. CVI programs reduce gun violence through conflict mediation, direct counseling and support for victims and would-be-perpetrators, and by connecting at-risk-individuals to the economic or social services they need.

But while Virginia legislators are starting to recognize the urgency of CVI, many of these programs remain underfunded. That’s why federal support — including from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) — is so critical. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s BSCA put a historic $250 million towards CVI programs across the country, including $2 million in funding for the regional “Safer Together” program in Hampton Roads. As program director Alex DePaula noted last year, this was among the largest federal grants ever given to a community-based organization in Virginia.

Unfortunately, this federal funding is far from guaranteed. If elected, former President Donald Trump has promised to repeal the BSCA — a move that would eliminate critical funding for CVI programs such as ours. To keep this and similar programs going, we need representatives in Congress who will fight to protect them.

And while Virginia has prioritized gun safety in recent years, many of our neighboring states have moved in the opposite direction. To combat gun violence in Hampton Roads, we need legislators in Congress who will expand background checks, implement national  red flag laws and pass an assault weapons ban. Stronger national laws protect all of us — and this is particularly true for state border communities such as ours.

It can be tempting to think our representatives in D.C. don’t matter, particularly when it comes to seemingly-local issues such as summer gun violence on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk. But gun safety votes in Congress tend to pass or fail on razor-thin margins — which means just one vote in the U.S. House can make the difference in whether a child makes it home from school, whether a parent makes it home from work, or whether another family in our community is devastated by a preventable gun violence tragedy.

To stop the violence here and nationwide, Hampton Roads needs representatives in D.C. who will vote to make it happen.

Rachelle Hunley of Newport News is the director of Brady’s Combating Crime Guns Program.