Washington: Anti-Gun Senators Attempt to Exploit Tragedy

[trippledigitss]

I just sent the following to Sen McAuliffe. I used some of Pianoman's letter and some of NRA's article, and then customized it a little bit as well. Its a little repetitive but I figure that cant hurt since you need to say things over & over before the people in Olympia even begin to hear it! 

Senator McAuliffe,

I am writing you today in regards to my opposition to Senate Bill 6628. Senator Adam Kline and two other state Senators have introduced Senate Bill 6628, an unnecessary firearm storage bill, in an attempt to exploit the recent tragic shooting at a Bremerton elementary school.

Please oppose the Senate Bill 6628 that has been proposed by Senator Kline. We already have laws which punish people for leaving weapons accessible to children, namely Washington's Reckless Endangerment Statute.
 
In addition, both incidents of gun violence last week, the murder of our State Trooper and the accidental shooting of that little girl, were the result of felons illegally in possession of a firearm. No new law is going to prevent a felon from acquiring a firearm when they're already ignoring the existing laws.
 
SB 6628 would single out firearms in the Washington statutes and make it a crime if a child obtains access to a loaded firearm that was stored in a location where the person reasonably knows that a child is likely to gain access.  Again, this is already covered in Washington’s Reckless Endangerment statute! I feel it is much more important and effective to enforce the laws we already have on the books.

Besides using the recent tragedy for publicity and momentum , the only reason to push this duplicative law is yet another attempt to demonize firearms in Washington law.  Fatal firearm accidents are at an all-time low.  If Senator Kline really cared about saving children, rather than trying to exploit this tragedy to attack firearms, he would be targeting poisons, items that suffocate children and objects on which kids choke because all three cause more accidental deaths to children than firearms.  But we know that Senator Kline, who sponsored the semi-auto ban two years ago, is only interested in banning firearms and making life miserable for law-abiding gun owners.

This legislation is nothing more than a knee-jerk response to the tragic shooting of an 8-year old girl at a Bremerton school last week.  Rather than go after firearms, Senator Kline might better spend his time going after people like the boy’s mother, whose lengthy criminal record included possession of meth, marijuana delivery and forgery.  The boy found the gun, which allegedly belongs to the mother’s criminal boyfriend, during an unsupervised visit to her house. I feel our State's time & money would be much better spent pursuing those criminals that allowed the boy to get a hold of the firearm in the first place and use our current laws to prosecute them to the fullest extent. That would be much more productive than exploiting the current tragedy to pass more restrictive laws that most likely will not be utilized much the same as the current laws.

Do not allow our state to demonize people who legally and safely possess firearms because of the illegal actions of criminals. Please vote against this bill. I would appreciate the courtesy of a reply.

Please OPPOSE Senate Bill 6628!!

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Mr. Tripple Digitss

[Dave Workman]

Kitsap County authorities take action with current law
 
   Kitsap County authorities have taken action against the mother of a 9-year-old boy who brought a gun to Armin Jahr Elementary near Bremerton several days ago; the gun that accidentally discharged and seriously wounded a 8-year-old girl.
 
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/kitsap-county-authorities-take-action-under-existing-law