As the highest regulation enforcement official in King County, it’s Leesa Manion’s job to maintain weapons out of the palms of kids. And the urgency is simply rising. Whereas violent crime typically is trending downward, amongst juveniles it stays stubbornly excessive.
As does the variety of youth victims.
Thwarted by the state Legislature, which, extremely, upheld a regulation permitting minors 5 convictions for gun possession earlier than a choose can sentence them to jail, Manion, the King County prosecutor, has been racking her mind for one more technique to intervene.
Her newest thought: utilizing the regulation that offers police the ability to briefly take away weapons from at-risk adults, however tweaking it for juveniles. Typically known as “purple flag legal guidelines,” these Excessive Threat Safety Orders (often called ERPOs) come into play when an individual threatens to hurt themselves or others. This yr, Manion’s workplace has obtained greater than 100 ERPO filings — principally concerning adults.
However since July, she has begun to deploy the identical device when younger individuals make threats, serving ERPOs within the houses of no less than six college students who indicated plans for mass violence and confirmed the means for carrying it out. That features children within the Bellevue, Renton and Bothell college districts.
That is nowhere close to the 140 referrals for juvenile gun crimes which have poured into Manion’s workplace throughout 2025. ERPO hearings are civil proceedings — not legal — aimed solely at barring entry to firearms. They’re a proactive, preventive intervention, in different phrases, not one thing that occurs after against the law has been dedicated.
Typically in these circumstances, the weapons are owned by mother and father who do not know their children are carrying weapons or making threats on-line. An ERPO served on a mother or dad about their little one will be, on the very least, a robust wake-up name.
Manion is now asking the Metropolitan King County Council to develop her fledgling pilot program with funding for an extra legal professional who would deal with youth ERPOs completely, in addition to cash for 2 sheriff’s deputies who would work with the venture.
County Councilmember Reagan Dunn, a staunch gun-rights supporter, says Manion’s thought deserves severe consideration. But the finances proposed for subsequent yr by King County Govt Shannon Braddock consists of not one dime for it.
Braddock additionally has declined to fund Manion’s second effort aimed toward combating youth violence: cash for an extra legal professional within the Safer Colleges program, which coordinates with Ok-12 districts when college students have been referred for gun costs or are truant. There’s appreciable crossover right here. Of the 51 youths charged with illegal gun possession in 2023-24, 85% had irregular college attendance.
Bulking up these initiatives would value lower than $1 million complete, a modest quantity when weighed in opposition to the potential carnage that might be prevented. Possibly the council can discover efficiencies, like funding an legal professional who may work with each the Safer Colleges and juvenile ERPO initiatives concurrently.
Powerful financial occasions drive robust selections, no query. However Manion’s efforts to get forward of youth crime ought to be recommended, supported and eyed for growth.
