Hi John,

Nine years ago, 26 innocent lives were stolen at Sandy Hook Elementary School in a mass shooting that shook the nation. The Alliance was born out of that tragedy and we have been working ever since to honor the victims’ memory with action.

As we remember all those affected by Sandy Hook, we are reminded of how much work we have left to do to end the gun violence epidemic. That is why we chose today to release our 2022 Legislative Agenda. Because together we’ve proven that progress is possible and it’s clear that we can’t afford to slow down.

In the face of the continued challenges posed by the pandemic, a contentious political atmosphere, and record-levels of gun violence, bold legislative action to address gun violence is urgently needed. Our 2022 agenda prioritizes protecting and building on our recent progress to support a comprehensive public health approach to preventing gun violence. Highlights include:

• Prohibiting high-capacity magazines: The recent mass shooting at Oxford High School, along with Sandy Hook and all the deadliest mass shootings in the last decade have involved these excessive-capacity magazines. For the fourth year in a row, we will be demanding that lawmakers keep these deadly devices out of our communities.
• Expanding protections against armed intimidation: Building on protections passed last year to prohibit open carry at the state capitol and demonstrations, this bill will extend those protections to public meetings, special polling places, and ballot counting locations.
• Prohibiting untraceable ghost guns: Current Washington law prohibits the manufacture, sale, or possession of undetectable firearms but doesn’t address untraceable homemade guns—those without serial numbers. We must update existing law to close this deadly loophole.
• Expanding funding for the Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention: Among other things, the newly-formed Office is tasked with public education and allocating funding to community-led violence prevention programs. We must ensure these programs have substantial funding in order to be successful.

Last year, in an unprecedentedly challenging session, we saw ten community safety bills passed. That was only possible because of supporters like you. We’re hopeful that we can continue to build on that important progress in the year ahead.

Onward,
Renée (she/her)

P.S. Today we also released an updated fact sheet with facts about gun violence in Washington. Check it out!