By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A “Shots Fired” annual report from the King County (WA) Prosecutor’s Office showing a spike in gun-related murders and injuries last year provides positive proof that Evergreen State gun control laws have failed, and that anti-gunners “lied” to voters when they pushed through various schemes including a pair of gun control initiatives.
That is the contention of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the organization may be uniquely situated to make such an observation. CCRKBA’s national headquarters are in Bellevue, the second-largest city in King County.
Prosecutor Dan Satterberg released the report Monday, showing how last year produced the following:
- The number of fatal shooting victims (88 total) increased in 2021 (64% increase) compared to the four-year average of 2017-2020. There were 17 more fatal shooting victims in 2021 compared to 2020.
- The number of nonfatal shooting victims (372 total) also increased in 2021 (54% increase) compared to the four-year average of 2017-2020. There were 102 more nonfatal shooting victims in 2021 compared to 2020.
- The major takeaway is that the number of shots fired incidents (1405 total) increased in 2021 (26% increase) compared to the four-year average of 2017-2020.
- The number of overall shooting victims (460 total) increased in 2021 (56% increase) compared to the four-year average of 2017-2020.
Reacting to the report, CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, a King County resident, declared the new data “is more proof that gun control laws and anti-rights initiatives adopted over the past few years in Washington State have been abject failures.”
“Proponents of these laws, and especially the gun control initiatives passed in recent years, sold the public a bill of goods, and now everybody knows it,” Gottlieb said in a statement to the media. “Voters were told in 2014 that Initiative 594 would reduce gun-related violence, and today’s data proves they were misled. Four years later, the Seattle-based gun prohibition lobby promised Initiative 1639 would prevent gun-related homicides, and they lied again. In Olympia, anti-gun politicians are pushing more gun restrictions right now, with the same promises.”
There was no immediate reaction from the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility, the billionaire-supported gun prohibition lobbying group that bankrolled both initiative measures.
But a look at murder statics from the annual FBI Uniform Crime Report suggest Gottlieb’s allegations have validity. According to the FBI data dating back to 2015—the first year during which I-594, the background check measure, was in effect—Washington reported 209 total murders including 141 committed with firearms. In 2016, there were 195 slayings, including 127 with guns, and the following year (2017), the Evergreen State reported 228 homicides, including 134 committed with guns.
In 2018, Washington saw 232 murders, including 138 involving guns and in 2019, there were 194 killings including 135 involving firearms. In 2020, the state reported 279 murders, including 143 involving firearms.
Closer to home for the Seattle anti-gun lobby, the numbers are even worse. In 2015, according to Seattle Police data, there were 26 murders, and in 2016, the city posted 19 slayings. The number bounced back up in 2017, when 27 people were murdered, and in 2018, there were 32 killings. In 2019, Seattle logged 35 homicides and in 2020, the number spiked to 52 slayings. Last year, the number came back down to 43 murders.
But in 2015, the liberal Seattle City Council pushed through a “gun violence tax” on firearms and ammunition sales. It took effect in 2016, at which time one of the city’s top two gun stores closed and relocated to neighboring Snohomish County, taking customers and revenue with it.
The tax was supposed to raise between $300,000 and $500,000 annually to fund “gun violence reduction” programs. The revenue predictions have never been met, and homicides only increased.
Data for the “Shots Fired” report comes from 39 agencies in the county, though Satterberg’s office says in the report, “A majority of the data comes from 8 agencies: Seattle, Auburn, Des Moines, Federal Way, Kent, Renton, Tukwila, and the King County Sheriff’s Office (including unincorporated King County and 16 contract cities). These 8 agencies account for roughly 79% of King County’s population.”
Gottlieb and CCRKBA were leading opponents of the two anti-gun initiatives, and also gun control legislation that seems only to ratchet down on the rights of honest citizens. He said the new numbers on murders and non-fatal shootings are predictably alarming.
“We warned the public these gun control schemes were wishful thinking at best,” Gottlieb said. “The data provides all the evidence necessary to say anti-gun-rights initiatives and legislation have amounted to snake oil, giving the public a false sense of security while their rights are being steadily eroded.”
He thinks the leaders and big-dollar supporters of the gun prohibition lobby should admit their schemes have “failed miserably” to reduce so-called “gun violence,” not just in Washington, but nationwide.
