Mayor Wilson and Seattle City Council Advance Separate Gun Violence Plans

On Sept. 15, Seattle's mayor and City Council offered their own plans to address the same issue: reducing gun violence.

Mayor Katie Wilson released her "new approach to reducing gun violence," which brings various city departments, social services, and community groups under the direction of the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department. The plan will seek to deter a small group of individuals from committing violent crimes and will increase police patrols in several neighborhoods, including Little Saigon and Rainier Beach. It will also provide $600,000 for services for youth and young adults, including for an after-school program at Rainier Beach High School.

Meanwhile, the Seattle City Council approved its own proposal, which recommends that Seattle contract with a college in New York City to develop a plan to curb gun violence. The plan, proposed by Councilmember Maritza Rivera, passed 7-0, with Councilmembers Dionne Foster and Alexis Mercedes Rinck abstaining.

Both plans rely on a strategy known as "focused deterrence," which, according to the nonpartisan research organization RAND, seeks to deter criminal behavior, such as gun violence. The strategy uses warnings and sanctions, including enhanced criminal penalties, and provides opportunities such as job training, after-school programs, and other social services.

But how the mayor's plan and the City Council's plan would implement focused deterrence differ.

The Mayor's 'New Approach'

Throughout the summer, gun violence has been a critical public safety issue. In June, when the city hosted FIFA World Cup games, Seattle recorded zero homicides, marking the city's first homicide-free month in 56 years. In July, three people died in a shooting during the Bite of Seattle at Seattle Center. Since then, more shootings have occurred, including in South Beacon Hill, First Hill, along Aurora Avenue, and most recently in Belltown.

In response to the Seattle Center shooting, many city and business leaders demanded Wilson do more to address gun violence. The mayor's recent plan is her proposed solution.

"We have a responsibility to make sure that communities in this city feel safe, and today I am acting on that responsibility with a coordinated, data-driven plan that brings every tool we have to bear on this problem," Wilson said. "We are acting together, and we are acting now to respond to gun violence and prevent it before it happens."

In South Seattle, on the enforcement side, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) will increase bike patrols in areas like Little Saigon and Rainier Beach to "improve visibility and response time." SPD's Narcotics Unit will also coordinate with the department's gun violence teams.

On the social services side, the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department will spend $600,000 on various youth services, including a new after-school program at Rainier Beach High School, continued funding for Teen Late Night, and peer-mentorship opportunities.

Wilson's plan also includes one major strategic change: CARE will now lead the city's efforts to reduce gun violence and assist people affected by it. Wilson said that CARE and SPD will partner with the community to concentrate efforts on the small group of people most responsible for causing gun violence.

But some Seattle City Councilmembers were not impressed with Wilson's strategy. Councilmembers Rivera and Debora Juarez offered the harshest criticism.

"I'm not seeing anything new here," Rivera said in a press release.

The Council's Strategy

In mid-August, Rivera released her own proposal to reduce gun violence in the city, a nonbinding resolution declaring the city's intent to consult with the National Network for Safe Communities (NNSC) at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. The proposal was approved by the Public Safety Committee on Sept. 8.

On Sept. 15, hours after the mayor released her plan, the full council considered Rivera's proposal. "I'm trying to find real solutions to address gun violence in Seattle," Rivera said. "My hope is that we're sending a strong message to the mayor that we want … true focused deterrence."

Under Rivera's plan, NNSC would conduct a "lay of the land" in Seattle focused on the city's gun-violence response and provide an evaluation, though ultimately the city and various stakeholders would do the work.

Before Wilson released her citywide proposal, she expressed reservations about Rivera's plan, telling KUOW that "it is a premature, very large investment in an out-of-state organization." She continued, "This is not a time for grandstanding and politicking."

Rivera claimed that Wilson's plan for focused deterrence would not work because it was not the "real" focused deterrence model developed at John Jay College. Rivera also pointed to other cities, such as Baltimore and Boston, that consulted with the NNSC and saw reductions in gun violence.

Although Baltimore had worked with NNSC previously, there is no public evidence that Baltimore's current Gun Violence Reduction Strategy, which saw a 60% decrease in homicides from 2022 to 2025, is based on the NNSC model.

Juarez, who supported Rivera's plan, criticized Wilson's effort. "There's no vision. And we are already doing these things," Juarez said in a nearly nine-minute speech. "[It's] not a plan."

After an hour-long discussion, the council passed the resolution 7-0.

Councilmember Eddie Lin, while voting in favor of the council's resolution, pushed back against some other councilmembers' characterizations of Wilson's plan. "I think there's a lot of good in there," Lin said. "I've never heard the mayor say she's anti-police, at least while she's in office. So this idea that somehow the mayor's approach was not including the police, that's not accurate."

After the vote, the mayor's office told the Emerald that the council's resolution "could be considered in [the mayor's] proposed budget."