“The public health crisis posed by gun violence worsened during the past year and a half as the coronavirus pandemic raged, disproportionately impacting many of the same communities. The spike in the numbers did not surprise Renée Hopkins, who leads the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, an organization that fights for improved gun laws and policy responses to gun violence.

‘When you have major disruption in society from the global pandemic, it makes sense that other public health crises like the epidemic of gun violence would also increase,’ Hopkins said. ‘The economic stressors alone are enough to really drive an increase in all kinds of gun violence.’

Framing gun violence as a public health crisis would put it in the same category as other major causes of death that the country regulates, from car accidents and speed limits to cigarette smoking, Hopkins said. The Alliance for Gun Responsibility has been behind nearly 30 laws to regulate gun use and sales in the state in the past six years and has its eye on high-capacity magazine restrictions in the next legislative session to reduce the harm caused by firearms in the community.”

Read the full story by Ashely Archibald in the South Seattle Emerald.