The New York chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown of Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, released the following statement applauding New York Governor Kathy Hochul on her announcement of an Executive Budget proposal that includes $224 million in funding for gun violence prevention.
“What Governor Hochul has announced is a continued and expanded commitment to combating gun violence meaningfully and effectively,” said Katherine Schowalter, a volunteer with the New York chapter of Moms Demand Action. “This funding would greatly assist communities across the state as the gun violence epidemic rages on. We are grateful for this significant proposal and look forward to working with the Governor and the legislature to sustain and expand these life-saving efforts.”
The proposal includes:
- $24.9 million in increased funding to expand hospital-based and street outreach programs to touch all corners of the state. It will facilitate the piloting of several new initiatives which provide wrap-around services for youth, job-readiness and work-placement training.
- $20 million in new funding to support the people and places that have been most impacted by the spike in gun violence. This will allow the deployment of innovative community empowerment and crime-reduction programming that will facilitate the repairing and rebuilding communities impacted by gun-related crime.
- $50 million in funding for a grant program to meet the needs of communities most impacted by gun violence by supporting capital investments related to innovative crime-reduction strategies.
- $350,000 in funding to triple the state’s gun violence intelligence resources by staffing the New York State Intelligence Center (NYSIC) with a team of analysts necessary to process and investigate crime guns across the state.
- A call to create the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, under the Department of Health. Data collected on gun violence will be used by the Office of Gun Violence Prevention to track emerging gun violence hotspots and deploy resources to those areas that need it most.
In an average year in New York, 829 people die by guns and an additional 2,607 people are wounded. Gun violence costs New York $5.9 billion each year, of which $321.0 million is paid by taxpayers. More information on gun violence in New York is available here.
