When Governor Josh Shapiro signed Pennsylvania’s new $47.6 billion budget into law on July 11—he gave $56 million towards community gun violence prevention programs and a new after school program.
That is a $16 million dollar increase from last year.
“This is about people's right to live safely in their communities, to walk down the street without fear of getting caught in the crossfire,” said Josh Fleitman, campaign director for CeaseFirePA. “To send their kids to school, and go to the grocery store without fear of being gunned down.”
Gun violence community programming got $45 million. The state’s Violence Intervention & Prevention (VIP) program got a $5 million dollar increase.
This helps groups like Bench Mark (in Lancaster, PA) mentor kids after gun charges and help those at risk of getting involved with gun violence.
“Before that, we're going to try to implement these services and see what the need is,” said Ayanda McGill, program director at Bench Mark. “Because we found that majority of the people that are working with these guns or have these guns, there's another need."
"So whether it's a basic need or they're looking for that family or they're looking for friends or something that they need. And we try to attack that before it gets too far,” said McGill.
There was also $11.5 million given to create the new program BOOST- Building Opportunity through Out of School Time.
Lt. Governor Austin Davis, who chairs the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime & Delinquency (PCCD) has celebrated progress in a slew of press conferences this week. He said Pennsylvania has had the 2nd largest decline in homicides in the U.S. in the past year.
But Davis has also highlighted there is more work to be done on gun violence in the state… especially in rural areas.
“While we often focus on interpersonal violence when we talk about guns, the majority of gun deaths in Pennsylvania are suicides. Gun suicides are more prevalent in rural communities in Pennsylvania. We need to make sure we're addressing that as well.”
Gun violence in Pennsylvania is close to pre-pandemic levels, which is around the time there was a spike in gun purchases with COVID-19 and the George Floyd riots.
The budget also gave $5 million to a grant program for non-profits (like places of worship) to enhance security protocols.