“Today, the governor announced his plan to combat our state’s surging gun violence epidemic. It’s insulting. He thinks the answer is new state bureaucracy. He’s imposing new mandates on law enforcement. He’s spending $60 million to create state-funded jobs at a time when employers are cutting back services and operations because they can’t find any workers. He said he’ll crack down on illegal guns while providing no serious details about how.

“We don’t need more government to tackle this problem. We need to take the handcuffs off our law enforcement officials and provide them with the resources they need to crack down on violence in our neighborhoods. We don’t need new executive orders from the governor. We need him to be honest about the fact that so many of his policies, especially bail reform, are the direct cause of this bloodshed.

“Progressives in the Legislature have had two terms to prove their agenda could maintain law and order and would not compromise public safety. They’ve failed badly. It’s not time for them to do more. It’s time for them to get out of the way and let our law enforcement officials do their jobs,” said Ra.