I have a couple important updates to share about our push for a $100 million gun safety budget in Pennsylvania. First, this week, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis, for the first time in American history.1 As part of that declaration, he echoed our call for more investment in community violence intervention programs as a way to alleviate this crisis.
This couldn’t have come at a more pressing time, because my next update is this: the General Assembly is required to pass the 2025 PA State Budget by June 30, meaning we have just three days to advocate for the very investments Dr. Murthy calls for in PA.
Last year, we went through a similar process, and that ended in compromise. The budget we ended up with made a $40 million allotment in community-based gun safety initiatives, and these are already starting to bear fruit.
One quick example: In March, the city of Erie received an $836,000 grant2 to fund youth counseling through the District Attorney’s Office. By connecting youth who are at-risk for engaging in violence with more access to support services they're preventing shootings before they destroy lives.
