Drafter

Clerk 03/21/2016

Title

A RESOLUTION supporting collaboration for the purpose of promoting compliance with Washington state law related to the surrender of firearms by individuals subject to certain court orders as described in ESHB 1840 (2014).

Body

                     WHEREAS, a staggering portion of violence against women is fatal, and a key driver of these homicides is access to guns, as reported by the Center for American Progress in 2014.  From 2001 through 2012, 6,410 women were murdered in the United States by an intimate partner using a gun, and

                     WHEREAS, the Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy asserts that the best available research shows that the most important element in preventing fatalities is to remove the firearm from the situation, and

                     WHEREAS, in 2013 through 2014, according to the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, more than half of abusers responsible for domestic violence related fatal shootings in Washington state were prohibited by law from owning firearms, and

                     WHEREAS, the Washington state legislature passed ESHB 1840 in March 2014, addressing the possession of firearms with regard to persons subject to no-contact orders, protection orders and restraining orders, and

                     WHEREAS, there is a need for coordination, research and education to remove obstacles to the implementation of effective turnover and removal processes for firearms in these situations as provided for and prescribed in existing law;

                     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Health of King County:

                     The board calls on Public Health - Seattle & King County to seek appropriate funding and convene a process of interjurisdictional collaboration across King County with relevant stakeholders, including those that represent racially and ethnically diverse communities disparately impacted by domestic violence, to develop a program model for improving compliance with state law by implementing more-effective turnover and removal processes for firearms for individuals subject to no-contact orders, protection

orders and restraining orders, where the court has ordered firearm turnover under existing law, and notification of victims of the return of those firearms.