MILWAUKEE, Wis — Tuesday morning, Gov. Tony Evers announced a new statewide office to help prevent violence. It's a $10 million investment that Evers said will fund grants and programs to address crime, prevent gun violence, and keep communities safe.
“If it's placed in the right areas that truly need it, it could help tremendously,” Debra Gillespie said.
Gun violence hits home for Gillespie and many others.
“My son had just come home from college, graduated, and was out celebrating his new position, and was gunned down and shot,” Gillespie said.
Her son Kirk was killed in 2003. Two years later, she founded Mothers Against Gun Violence.
“It’s been important for me to find ways for survivors to elevate their voices and share their truth,” Gillespie added.
For decades, Gillespie has had her boots on the ground locally working to prevent and interrupt gun violence.
“The fact that gun violence went down is a plus,” she said.
Watch: Mother who lost son to gun violence reacts to new state-run office
“Over the last two years,” reporter Jenna Rae added.
“Exactly. So, something obviously is working,” Gillespie said.
Coming off the heels of the tragic, deadly school shooting in Madison just before Christmas, the state is dedicating millions to violence and gun violence prevention efforts across the state.
Evers said the $10 million will be used to help state and local agencies work together, provide technical assistance to local prevention efforts, give grants to schools, firearms dealers, and nonprofits, and develop public education campaigns to promote safer activities and mentorship programs.
“I think it would help a lot, especially for kids whose parents have to work, to be able to have a safe place to go, maintain your studies. We need to make sure it’s going into the cities or counties that truly need it,” Gillespie explained.
Some Republican lawmakers have already been vocally opposed to this, like Sen. Van Wanggaard. He sent the following statement:
“Let me get this straight, Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention was so ineffective at preventing violence that they fired the director and renamed the office. But now, Governor Evers wants to replicate that failure at the state level? And he wants to implement gun control that has failed to prevent gun violence anywhere in the country? This isn’t hard. You don’t need to grow government to prevent violence. If Governor Evers is serious about ending violence and crime, he should support law enforcement and give them the tools and resources they need. He should order Milwaukee Public Schools to follow the law and hire resource officers. He should tell his District Attorney buddies to charge and lock up criminals. Eliminating violence requires taking violent criminals off the street.”
At this time, it's still unclear how the $10M will be distributed among the 72 counties across the Badger State.
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