Today’s Budget Signing is the Latest Example of Washington Leading the Nation on Gun Violence Prevention; Earlier this Week, Gov. Inslee signed SB6288 into Law
OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington chapter of Moms Demand Action, a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today applauded Governor Jay Inslee for signing approved funding for city gun violence prevention programs in the 2020 supplemental operating budget. The budget signing comes on the heels of Gov. Inslee signing into law Senate Bill 6288, legislation to establish the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention.
“Washington has been a model for gun safety laws for years, and today, we continue to make strides in the gun violence prevention movement,” said Toldy Dolack, a volunteer leader with the Washington chapter of Moms Demand Action. “This funding will provide critical support for underserved communities that are disproportionately impacted by gun violence. We thank Governor Inslee and the legislature for prioritizing and enacting measures to support violence intervention and prevention programs across the state.”
The budget, approved by the Washington legislature earlier in March, includes $600,000 in funding for law enforcement agencies to implement group violence intervention strategies. This will help identify individuals most at risk of engaging in gun violence and provide participants with social services to put them on a path to progress. The funding is slated for programs in South King County and Yakima County, the counties with the highest rates of gun homicide in Washington. An additional $421,000 has been approved to help implement Senate Bill 6288, legislation to create the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention.
There are nearly 14,000 gun homicides in the U.S. every year. In 2015, over a quarter of these gun homicides occurred in neighborhoods containing less than two percent of the country’s population. In Washington, an average of 753 people are killed every year by gun violence, with the rate of gun deaths increasing by 13 percent from 2009 to 2018.
Statistics about gun violence in Washington are available here, and information on how Washington’s gun laws compared to other states overall is available here.
