Evers Signs EO Creating Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order on Tuesday creating a state Office of Violence Prevention and directing $10 million to support its violence prevention efforts statewide.
The governor’s action coincides with the release of his proposed 2025-2027 executive budget which includes funding for a number of new gun safety reforms efforts.
“Just weeks ago, we had a heartbreaking, deadly school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School here in Madison,” Evers said during a Tuesday news conference, at which he was joined by violence prevention advocates, local law enforcement, elected officials, students, and community members.
“As a father, a grandfather, and as governor, it is unthinkable that a kid and an educator woke up and went to school that morning and never came home,” he said. “That should never happen. Not to any kid, not to any educator, not to any person or family — not in this state or anywhere else in this country.”
Among other responsibilities, the new Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention will work to connect the dots between state and local government agencies, including law enforcement agencies, to ensure a whole-of-government approach to prevent violence, including gun violence statewide.
It will also provide technical assistance to local violence prevention and intervention efforts, and administer and award grants to school districts, firearm dealers, law enforcement agencies, nonprofits, and government agencies to support violence reduction and prevention initiatives.
Finally, the office will develop public education campaigns to promote safer communities.
Statistics tell a decidedly mixed story when it comes to violence and gun violence in the state of Wisconsin.
While the Wisconsin Department of Justice reports that violent crimes like homicide, robbery and assault are down from a few years ago, and the Milwaukee Police Department says homicide rates in the city fell for the second year in a row last year, the data specific to gun violence is far more sobering.
Statistics compiled by the group Everytown for Gun Safety show that the rate of gun deaths in Wisconsin rose 54% between 2014 and 2023, far outpacing the 34% increase seen nationwide during that same period.
Additionally, data collected by End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin also showed that in 2023 the state experienced the second highest rates of domestic violence deaths since they began tracking this data more than 20 years ago.
In addition, they said, 78% of these involved firearms.
And according to the governor’s offices, 60% of suicide deaths in Wisconsin have also been attributed to firearms over the past year, and the majority of these deaths have been in rural communities.
A recent analysis of gun violence in the state found that the rate of suicide by gun in rural communities in the state has risen from 81% of all rural deaths in 2018 to 91% in 2022.
During that same period, the rural firearm suicide rate increased from 8.1 per 100,000 to 11.4 per 100,000, the analysis found.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue
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