Gov. Wolf Announces Efforts To End Gun Violence Days After 6 Philadelphia Officers Shot
HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA/AP) - Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is directing state police and other agencies under his control to focus greater efforts on addressing gun violence, two days after a gunman shot and wounded six Philadelphia police officers.
The Democratic governor on Friday announced changes that include a new Special Council on Gun Violence, which will have six months to recommend how to reduce mass shootings, domestic violence, suicide and accidental shootings.
Wolf is setting up a new Office of Gun Violence Prevention at the state commission on crime and delinquency.
He wants state police to expand and support gun buy-back programs and increase monitoring of hate groups and white nationalists.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald issued a statement on Gov. Wolf's order, saying in part:
"Governor Wolf's actions today are common-sense steps that will allow us to address the growing amount of gun violence in our community. I support his efforts to ask the General Assembly to move forward on safe storage legislation, the red flag law, and institution of a state-level universal background check on all gun purchases. Legislative action, alone, isn't enough and the Governor's order recognizes that.
Fitzgerald also said Allegheny has been trying to reduce violence and promote positive mental health by creating a Public Health Commission and an Office of Violence Prevention.
The governor's office says more than 1,600 people in the state died of gunshot wounds in 2017.
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