While this year our volunteers could not gather in Olympia in person to urge legislators to pass life-saving gun violence prevention legislation for our annual Lobby Day, we still made sure that our elected officials heard our voices loud and clear that the need for common sense gun safety laws is more urgent than ever. 

On Wednesday, February 17th, to encourage our lawmakers to pass gun violence prevention legislation this year, we held a socially-distant press event with a display of 842 orange flags, one to honor each person killed by guns in Washington state each year. Speakers, including gun violence survivor April Schentrup, Executive Director of the Federal Way Black Collective Lyn Idahosa, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and CEO of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility Renee Hopkins, shared the urgent need for legislators to take action and address the gun violence epidemic. 

In addition to our socially-distant press event, more than 700 Washington residents signed a letter asking our legislators to pass bills rejecting armed intimidation, limiting high-capacity magazines, and ensuring police accountability. Over 50 advocates also sent videos to our elected officials asking them to prioritize gun violence prevention this year. 

Despite the challenges of advocacy during the pandemic, we were still able to send a clear message to legislators about the necessity of taking action in order to end gun violence in Washington state.

You can read more about our 2021 Lobby Day here.

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–Samantha Eden is the Legislative Organizing Fellow at the Alliance