Seahawks owner Paul Allen is offering up more than thoughts and prayers.
According to Liz Matthews of USA TODAY, the Microsoft co-founder has donated $1 million to a campaign trying to raise the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 in Washington.
The latest donation went to support Initiative 1639, which supporters say would create a background check system for semi-automatic rifles similar to the one for handguns, along with requirements for training and safe storage. The measure needs 260,000 signatures on petitions to get it on the ballot in 2018.
He announced the donation on Twitter, and issued a statement of support.
“Initiative 1639 is a reasonable and necessary measure that will improve the safety of our schools and our communities, which is why I have contributed a million dollars to the campaign,” he said. “I hope people throughout the state will support the campaign, so that we can qualify and pass this important initiative into law.”
It’s not the first time he’s dropped a big check on gun reform initiatives. In 2014, he donated $500,000 to a campaign which sought to expand background checks on gun sales in his home state.
Washington lawmakers declined a chance to raise the age to buy semi-automatic rifles after February’s school shooting in Florida, which, as it happens, was not the last school shooting in America.