Drafter
Clerk 09/07/2017
Title
A RESOLUTION calling on lawmakers to take meaningful action to address firearm tragedy.
Body
WHEREAS, firearm tragedy is one of the leading causes of premature death in the United States, Washington State and King County, and
WHEREAS, the number of Americans who die each year from firearms, which was 36,247 in 2015, exceeds the number of babies who die each year during their first year of life, which was 23,215 in 2014, or people who die from HIV/AIDS, which was 6,465 in 2015, and will soon exceed the number of Americans who die in traffic related causes, which was 38,818 in 2015, and
WHEREAS, lawmakers pass protective measures for other threats to the public's health and public safety, such as seat belt laws and distracted and impaired driving laws, childhood vaccinations and regulations around the safety of our drinking water, food and other products, and
WHEREAS, in 2015, 716 Washington State residents died as a result of firearms, and
WHEREAS, in 2015, 147 King County residents died as a result of firearms including six children under age eighteen, and an additional 95 residents were hospitalized due to non-fatal firearm injuries including 9 children under age 18, resulting in an estimated $200 million in medical costs and lost productivity in King County alone, and
WHEREAS, firearm suicide accounts for 75 percent of firearm deaths in Washington State, being 535 of the 716 deaths in 2015, and
WHEREAS, of all the women killed by intimate partners in the United States between 2001-2012, 55 percent were killed with firearms, and
WHEREAS, in 2015 an estimated 21 percent of King County adults, which is 340,000 people, reported firearms present in their homes, including an estimated 150,000 King County adults who reported keeping at least one firearm unlocked, and
WHEREAS, during the 2015-16 school year, the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction reported 130 incidents involving a gun on school premises, tr...

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