We want to take a moment to speak to you one on one, John. We here at the Alliance are a group of people. We’re not different from you. We’re humans who are exhausted by the current headlines. We are enraged at the lack of time to process one tragedy before needing to immediately move on to the next. And we are fearful that we, much like you, are beginning to become desensitized to these heinous attacks.

In the last few days, our team has reached out regarding mass shootings in Monterey Park, Des Moines, Half Moon Bay, Yakima, and now Robeson County. We’ve seen the cries on social media: Enough is Enough. We’ve heard public health experts share that the death toll due to gun violence surpassed 40,000 last year alone–that's more than 100 people a day. 100 body bags. 100 irreparable families.

But rather than stay in a feeling of hopelessness. We wanted–needed–to take a moment to share the successes we’ve experienced in this work. Because despite the persistent gun violence our communities are still facing, we have made real progress in this fight.

Just last year, in Washington we:

• Restricted high-capacity magazines with the passage of SB 5078 through the Washington state legislature–a victory six years in the making!
• Closed the ghost gun loophole, with the passage of HB 1605 through the state legislature.
• Extended protections against armed intimidation with the passage of HB 1630, which prohibits open carry at public government meetings and restricts firearms at school board meetings and election-related offices.

We believe that 2023 will be the year we ban the sale of military-style assault weapons here in Washington and pass other commonsense policies to stop the senseless bloodshed. As difficult as it is to picture, we are fighting for a future where this work is no longer vital because this country stops choosing to protect weapons and begins protecting people. People like you and me.

With Hope,
Renée (she/her)