Washington Ceasefire

Embracing the moment in the movement to end gun violence
by Bruce Gryniewski, Free Press contributor

The American Medical Association has described firearms as an independent health risk in the United States. Each year, more than 35,000 Americans are killed by guns. More people are killed each year in Washington State by firearms than in the countries of Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Japan combined.

The tragic shooting last April at Columbine High School has changed the political landscape of the gun issue in our nation. The magnitude of this shooting, the most violent school shooting in our nation's history, shocked Americans like no other single act of gun violence. For the first time since the Brady Act in 1994, public opinion in favor of stronger gun laws was so overwhelming that Congress was forced to act. In the months following the Columbine shooting, Congress considered a broad range of measures that would have reduced youth access to firearms. Unfortunately, as the result of an intense lobby campaign by the National Rifle Association (NRA), every one of these bills failed to pass.

This year, the issue of gun violence is resonating at every level of our political system. For the first time in a presidential campaign, gun violence prevention is a major election issue; state legislatures across the nation are debating various measures to keep guns out of the wrong hands; and over 20 cities and counties are suing gun manufacturers to recoup some of the economic costs of gun violence.

Washington Ceasefire is poised to make a difference in the movement to end gun violence. Over the past seventeen years, Washington Ceasefire has been the one statewide organization dedicated to the fight for reasonable gun laws. The organization was formed in 1983 by a group of citizens who had been directly affected by gun violence. From a small group meeting in private homes and working out of the back of Evelyn and George Benson's pharmacy, we have grown to an organization of nearly two thousand five hundred members throughout the State.

Legislative successes
In the past four years, we have moved to a permanent, fully-equipped office; hired an executive director and other staff; retained the respected firm of Washington Capitol Services as our lobbyists in Olympia; created the Ceasefire Foundation of Washington, our educational foundation; and established the only political action committee in the nation that rates, endorses, and gives contributions to candidates on the gun safety issue.

Among other successes, Washington Ceasefire successfully lobbied to pass state laws banning firearms in schools and public buildings; allowing local law enforcement agencies to destroy guns seized by police; and raising criminal penalties for felonies committed with a gun. We have also successfully defeated NRA-backed legislation that would have allowed non-licensed citizens to sell ammunition, would have removed many current restrictions to gun-dealer licensing, would have allowed thousands of convicted felons to purchase and possess firearms, and would have allowed concealed license permit holders from other states the ability to carry concealed handguns in Washington State.

For the past four years we have also been one of the lead organizations lobbying to pass the "Whitney Graves" child access prevention bill. In addition, after the shooting death of Yoshi Hattori in 1991, we established an annual remembrance day in which thousands of daffodils are planted in memory of victims of firearms violence. To date, more than 10,000 daffodils have been planted in Washington State, and this remembrance day has been replicated in at least two other states.

The board of directors of Washington Ceasefire includes health care professionals, a forensic child psychologist, business people, lawyers (including a federal prosecutor), a public relations specialist, a certified public accountant, and individuals such as Anne Voorhees and Ancil Payne, long dedicated to meaningful gun control in Washington State. The board also includes the past-president of the Seattle League of Women Voters, and a member of the board of Physicians for Social Responsibility. We are established and well-respected.