The Alliance’s 2022 policy agenda calls for prohibiting high-capacity magazines, expanding protections against armed intimidation, funding the Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention, and more 

SEATTLE, WA – The Alliance for Gun Responsibility released its 2022 legislative agenda on the ninth anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. The agenda reflects the urgent need for legislative action to build on recent progress and establish new safeguards to prevent gun violence. 

Washington saw record-breaking levels of gun violence in 2020 and initial data suggests that 2021 has been worse. While high-profile mass shootings slowed during the pandemic, everyday gun violence in the form of community violence, domestic violence, and suicide persisted. The communities hardest hit by the pandemic, chiefly BIPOC and low-income communities, have also been hit hardest by the surge in gun violence. In the face of this continued violence, bold action and meaningful investments in gun violence prevention from the Washington State Legislature are urgently needed. 

“The Alliance was founded in the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook,” said Renée Hopkins, CEO of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility. “In the years since, we have proven that change is possible. The legislature has made meaningful progress in recent years to close deadly loopholes and address the root causes of gun violence. But the persistent gun violence in the wake of the pandemic makes it clear that there is so much more work left to do. 

We are counting on our elected leaders to build on recent progress to address all types of gun violence by closing dangerous loopholes, establishing accountability for the gun industry, expanding protections against armed intimidation, and investing meaningful funding in the Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention.

And finally, we are once again urging lawmakers to pass commonsense restrictions on excessively high-capacity magazines that make shootings more deadly. The Sandy Hook shooting, which stole the lives of 20 first and second graders and six others involved high-capacity magazines. So did the Oxford High School shooting in suburban Detroit just a few weeks ago. These lethal devices have no place in our communities. For three years in a row, lawmakers have failed to act on this evidence-based proposal. We are counting on them to get it across the finish line this year.”

The 2022 legislative agenda includes a range of proposals to build on and strengthen existing community safety policies and programs. Highlights include: 

• Restricting access to excessively high-capacity magazines
• Prohibiting untraceable firearms
• Expanding protections against armed intimidation
• Building on policies to address inequity and bias in policing 

The full 2022 Gun Responsibility Agenda is available here. 

A fact sheet with current data about the gun violence epidemic in Washington is available here.

###