The Washington chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today released the following statement after the Washington House and Washington Senate included proposed funding for city gun violence prevention programs in the proposed 2020 supplemental operating budget. This funding would provide community-based organizations, nonprofits, and municipalities with the resources they need to combat city gun violence in Washington.
“Historically underserved communities in Washington are disproportionately affected by gun violence and deserve adequate funding to fight this crisis,” said Cause Haun, a volunteer leader with Moms Demand Action. “We’re grateful to see our lawmakers take action to secure funding for much-needed violence intervention and prevention programs.”
The budget proposal in both chambers includes $600,000 in funding for evidence-based violence intervention and prevention programs. The proposed funding is targeted at programs in South King County and Yakima County, the counties with the highest rates of gun homicide in Washington. An additional $421,000 was provided to implement Senate Bill 6288 creating the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention in the Senate’s proposed supplemental budget. Senate Bill 6288 passed out of the Senate last week and will be heard in the House Civil Rights and Judiciary committee on Thursday, February 26.
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.