Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell announced the launch of the office’s gun violence prevention unit Thursday, which she said will aggressively enforce the state’s gun laws and consumer protection statute, as well as defend those laws from ongoing and potential legal challenges.

“As senseless acts of gun violence continue to terrorize and harm children, families, and communities in Massachusetts and across the country, we must step up and ensure that each one of us has the right to live free from gun violence,” Campbell said in a statement. She added that the unit will both “lead the way in holding accountable bad actors in the gun industry,” while still “respecting the rights of responsible gun owners.”

Campbell appointed Christine Doktor and Ryan Mingo to lead the unit with the goal of further driving down shooting injuries and deaths, which have decreased in Boston and statewide in recent years, according to city and federal data.

Massachusetts has the lowest firearm death rate in the country, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Massachusetts reported 247 gun fatalities in 2021, down from 268 the previous year. In Boston, the decline is even more striking: as of last week, the city reported a total of 92 shootings, down nearly 30 percent from the same time last year. In April, the city pledged to sharply curb shootings in an effort to reduce the number of homicides by 20 percent over the next three years.