First Extensive Report Since 2018 Focusing on Gun Violence in Our Community
December 4, 2024
Oakland, CA – Today, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price released a comprehensive report on the gun violence epidemic and public health emergency in Alameda County: Tackling Gun Violence Epidemic in Alameda County: A Public Health Emergency (2019-2023).This report represents an unprecedented collaboration between public safety and public health partners and provides data and recommendations to guide the County’s continued work to reduce violence while advancing justice reform.
The 84-page report is divided into two parts: the Public Health Impact of Violence and the Contribution of Structural Inequalities; and the Public Safety Impact of Gun Violence and the Regulation of Firearms. Each section documents trends in rising gun violence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with special attention to the rise in gun-related deaths of women and children in our County. Each section further advises innovative approaches for the County to attack gun violence and build safe communities.
“Between 2019 to 2023, an average of three residents were killed by firearms each week in Alameda County and behind every statistic is a shattered family and community,” said District Attorney Price. “Under my administration, the DA’s office has taken bold steps to combat gun violence while promoting equity and healing for survivors.”
The report highlights strategies for keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Last month, the DA’s Office secured a $5.5 million grant from the California Judicial Council to help improve compliance and case management for gun cases and gun relinquishment orders —the removal of guns from people prohibited from possessing a firearm–with law enforcement and court partners.
This groundbreaking effort builds on District Attorney Price’s successes in 2023 and 2024 in attacking the gun violence epidemic. “We launched an innovative Gun Violence Restraining Order Outreach Project to educate communities about the availability of tools to remove guns and ammunition from people who are a danger to themselves and others and the intersectionality of domestic violence and gun violence, convened gun violence roundtable conversations with our law enforcement partners and collaborated with the Alameda County Public Health Department to produce this comprehensive report. We supported Oakland’s CEASEFIRE program through its transition and implemented a pilot Mentor Gun Diversion Program with our collaborative court partners, offering non-violent youth in possession of a gun pathways to interrupt the potential for escalating harm.” added DA Price.
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Contact: damedia@acgov.org
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office (DAO) is one of California’s largest prosecutors’ offices and is led by Alameda County’s first Black woman District Attorney Pamela Y. Price. Price brings her vision to this office to fairly administer justice in the pursuit of thriving, healthy, and safe communities for every person who steps foot in Alameda County, no matter their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, income, or zip code. Price has been recognized as one of the most progressive prosecutors through her forward-thinking, innovative strategies to interrupt cycles of violence and crime and bring change to a criminal justice system rooted in systemic racism. Follow Madam DA on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and @AlamedaCountyda on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.