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strategies for gun violence, 2) additional enforcement efforts to reduce gun violence exacerbated <br />by the pandemic, including prosecuting gun traffickers, dealers, and other parties contributing to <br />the supply of crime guns, as well as collaborative federal, state, and local efforts to identify and <br />address gun trafficking channels, and 3) investing in technology and equipment to allow law <br />enforcement to more efficiently and effectively respond to the rise in gun violence resulting from <br />the pandemic, for example technology to assist in the identification of guns whose serial <br />numbers have been damaged. <br />3. NEGATIVE ECONOMIC IMPACTS <br />a. ASSISTANCE TO HOUSEHOLDS <br />Background <br />While the U.S. economy is now on the path to a strong recovery, the public health <br />emergency, including the necessary measures taken to protect public health, resulted in <br />significant economic and financial hardship for many Americans. As businesses closed, <br />consumers stayed home, schools shifted to remote education, and travel declined precipitously, <br />over 22 million jobs were lost in March and April 2020.80 One year later, in April 2021, the <br />economy still remained over 8 million jobs below its pre -pandemic peak,81 and the <br />unemployment rate hovered around 6 percent.82 <br />In the months since Treasury issued the interim final rule in May 2021, the economy has <br />made large strides in its recovery. The economy gained over 4 million jobs in the seven months <br />80 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, All Employees, Total Nonfarm [PAYEMS], retrieved from FRED, Federal <br />Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAYEMS (last visited December 7, 2021). <br />81 Id. <br />82 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Unemployment Rate [UNRATE], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of <br />St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE (last visited December 7, 2021). <br />72 <br />