The Washington chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today released the following statement after the Washington legislature approved funding for city gun violence prevention programs in the 2020 supplemental operating budget. The budget now moves to the governor’s desk for a signature:
“This funding is a key source of support to help reduce daily gun violence,” said Lauren Owen, a volunteer with the Washington chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We’re grateful to our gun-sense champions in the legislature for keeping Washington’s communities at the forefront of the conversation in gun violence prevention and urge Gov. Inslee to sign the budget immediately.”
The budget approved by both chambers includes $600,000 in funding for law enforcement agencies to implement group violence intervention strategies. These strategies work with the community to 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.
Statistics about gun violence in Washington are available here, and information on how Washington’s gun laws compare to other states overall is available here.
