The Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program (SCIP) was created and funded by Congress in 2022 through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (Pub. L. No. 117-159, 136 Stat. 1313, 1339); 28 U.S.C. 530C. Through grant awards from the US Department of Justice, each state is allocated a share of the money based on population and crime rates. The funds are intended to assist state, local, and tribal efforts to prevent or reduce gun violence through various strategies including, but not limited to

• Training to improve implementation of protection orders involving firearms
• Communication, education, and public awareness about protection orders
• Specialized court-based approaches such as drug, mental health, and veterans treatment courts, including those that specifically accept clients with firearm violations
• Behavioral health deflection for those at risk to themselves or others
• Funding for law enforcement agencies to safely secure, store, track, and return relinquished guns
• Research to determine the effectiveness in preventing violence and suicide

The SCIP program will run for at least five years. Through grant processes, subawards will be made from the Department of Commerce to government agencies, nonprofit organizations, consultants, researchers, and other qualifying entities, building on efforts already started in the state. At least 40% of the funding will be passed through to local and tribal governments.

SCIP provides our state with a timely opportunity to improve on current efforts to mitigate firearm-related risks. Research has increasingly identified connections between armed intimate partner abusers and mass violence, community violence, and violence against law enforcement. Suicides constitute 75% of firearm fatalities in Washington. For all of these types of lethal risks, one of the most important harm reduction measures is court orders that prohibit firearm possession by individuals who present a heightened risk of harm. We know there are steps that can be taken to more effectively, timely, and uniformly issue, serve, and enforce those orders.