Watch full interview below

Last week on The Day with Trae, guest host Deaunte Damper sat down with Eleuthera Lisch, the Director of the King County Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention. In this episode, Damper and Lisch discuss the current state of gun violence within King County and what actions are being implemented to deter it. 

"We believe that gun violence is a health equity issue," Lisch said. "People who are in despair or in crisis need an exceptional amount of support, care, and wellbeing in order not to get engaged [in gun violence] or prevent incidents of gun violence."

Lisch highlights one of the reasons behind the massive spike in gun violence post-pandemic. 

"The truth is there are depths of despair happening," Lisch said. "With the onset of COVID, I think fear increased, and young people were disconnected from schools and places where they had a safe space to be with each other, to congregate and celebrate, and spent a lot more time in social media spaces rather than human contact spaces."

This lack of connection and dread, in turn, has led to an unprecedented outcome. 

"Gun violence is the leading cause of death above all other forms of death for young people, specifically children and teenagers [for] the first time in history," Lisch said.

In response, Lisch, her office, and others like it are trying to counteract the current epidemic of gun violence plaguing the United States. 

"The most important thing I think that's happening is that we are advancing here locally, which is part of a national movement," Lisch said. "Community is a key ingredient to a holistic public safety framework.”

This framework comprises people working in outreach and acting as violence interrupters, reaching out to their communities and individuals who need support and are in a mental health crisis. Individuals focused on preventing gun violence, such as Lisch and others working at the Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention, are also currently pushing programs that will avert gun violence.

"At Public Health, we have the Lock It Up Program. We're actually partnering with the Seahawks to do a mass gunlock box distribution as one of our key activities," Lisch said. "It's not enough; it's just that we're going to have to keep hitting it from every angle we possibly can.”

Lisch emphasizes those other angles that need to be touched upon regarding the issue of gun violence.

"Investing in community-led public safety efforts, convening people to work alongside each other to each do our particular role, safely storing guns, and continuing dialogue about legislation that needs to be passed to ensure that guns aren't in the hands of special young people in crisis," Lisch said. "That we increase the access to mental health supports and wellbeing, that we do those things in schools and other places where young people are, and that we also recognize that responsible gun owners have to be a part of the solution by locking up their weapons."

The King County Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention is currently busy setting up different partnerships throughout the city to tackle gun violence, such as with the Washington State government, King County Metro, and local advisory groups.

For those who want to get involved in curbing this issue, learn more here. 

For more community news, tune in to "The Day With Trae" live at 11 am Monday through Friday on all Converge Media platforms and The Day With Trae's new YouTube Channel.