BELLEVUE, WA – An increase in the number of shootings and gun-related homicides in Seattle during the past year is more evidence of the failure of gun control laws adopted in recent years, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
Shootings were up a reported 6 percent over 2018, and there were 18 fatal shootings in the city, the highest number since the city adopted a “gun violence tax” on the sale of firearms and ammunition, according to Seattle Police data. The numbers also show more reports of shots fired in the years following passage of Initiative 594 in 2014. Prior to that year, incidents of shots fired never topped 300. Since 2015—the first full year following passage of the “universal background check” measure championed by the Seattle-based gun prohibition lobby—the number of shooting incidents has not dropped below 300.
