Volunteers with Moms Demand Action Join Pennsylvania’s Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis in Press Conference to Discuss Statewide Office of Gun Violence Prevention

HARRISBURG, PA – Today, volunteers of the Pennsylvania chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network, attended a press conference hosted by Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis to highlight the critical work of the Pennsylvania Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The Office of Gun Violence Prevention is part of the announcement made earlier this month during Governor Josh Shapiro’s budget address that the Shapiro-Davis Administration would be putting $100 million in funding to support gun violence prevention in Pennsylvania. 

“While our investments in safer communities are making a difference, now is not the time to stop those investments. Now is the time to double-down on our efforts and make sure they’re even more effective,” said Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis. “That’s why Governor Shapiro and I are proposing to invest $100 million to address the epidemic of gun violence. And an important part of that is standing up a statewide Office of Gun Violence Prevention to coordinate our efforts and make sure our investments are smart and strategic…We’re proud to be one of the first states to take action since the White House put out their call to action last fall.”

“This amount of funding and support for the Office of Gun Violence Prevention is unprecedented in the Commonwealth and we’re grateful to the leadership of Lieutenant Governor Davis who will be spearheading its efforts,” said Shayna Frost, a volunteer with the Pennsylvania chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Combined with the additional funding from this month’s budget address, a dedicated Office of Gun Violence Prevention will help community violence intervention programs to improve and strengthen their critical work keeping guns out of our communities. It’s time for our lawmakers to meet this moment by finally getting long overdue gun violence prevention measures to Governor Shapiro’s desk, so that we can all work towards a safer Pennsylvania.” 

The Office of Gun Violence Prevention will be housed within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD), which is chaired by Lieutenant Governor Davis. In addition to $1 million in funding for this Office, last month’s budget address also included $37.5 million for the Violence Intervention And Prevention program, which will support a wide range of models focused on reducing community violence and community violence intervention programs and more than $60 million for other programs to reduce gun violence in Pennsylvania. 

In an average year, 1,713 people die by guns in Pennsylvania and another 1,992 are wounded. Gun violence costs Pennsylvania $21.7 billion each year, of which $470.7 million is paid by taxpayers. More information about gun violence Pennsylvania is available here.