{"id":233157,"date":"2010-01-25T20:26:25","date_gmt":"2010-01-26T01:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2010889812_assaultweaponsban.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-01-25T20:26:25","modified_gmt":"2010-01-26T01:26:25","slug":"assault-weapons-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/233157","title":{"rendered":"Assault weapons ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guns are like cars, when used safely and properly<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Seattle Times reported three state lawmakers wish to ban the sale of so-called military-style semi-automatic weapons in response to recent lives lost in Seattle and Lakewood [\u201cAssault weapons ban likely to fail,\u201d News, Jan. 25].<\/p>\n

First of all, these state lawmakers are Democratic, secular progressives that quite simply do not like guns and will selfishly use horrible tragedies to help fulfill their anti-gun agenda. This has nothing to do with right or wrong.<\/p>\n

If these Democrats \u2014 who have been in power in Olympia forever \u2014 were serious about repairing recurring problems involving repeat offenders, they should attack \u201cfeel-good\u201d laws that return repeat offenders to our streets only to harm and murder in a more violent manner.<\/p>\n

Blaming guns for violence is like blaming cars for drunk drivers. Both can be dangerous weapons in the wrong hands; Both can also become lifesavers in the right hands when being used safely and properly.<\/p>\n

The next time re-offenders are released into society and do re-offend violently, remember these names: Rep. Ross Hunter and Sens. Adam Kline and Jeanne Kohl. Every effort to reform laws that allow violent offenders back to society should be taken immediately without delay.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Vern LaPrath, Bremerton<\/em><\/p>\n

Mantra \u2018guns don\u2019t kill people\u2019 is false<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are constantly reminded that the Second Amendment guarantees Americans the right \u201cto keep and bear arms.\u201d I suppose that was the message of the 10 civilian men I saw wearing side arms in Mill Creek last week. Armed strangers make me shy, otherwise, I might have reminded them of the second and third words in the Amendment: \u201cwell regulated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyday we hear horrific reports of gun violence, yet it is ludicrously easy to carry a gun. Everyday we hear the absurd mantra \u201cGuns don\u2019t kill people, people do.\u201d Actually, it is largely men who kill people; Less than half the population, they are responsible for 91.3 percent of gun homicides.<\/p>\n

So let me pass along a suggestion from Randy Cohen, The New York Times ethicist, to the more responsible half of our population. If we can\u2019t or won\u2019t curb gun violence by restricting the availability of guns, let\u2019s expand and reorient it. Require all women to get a gun \u2014 preferably pink \u2014 and carry it in plain sight everywhere they go. \u201cFeminizing gun ownership, could ultimately reduce its appeal to men, making gun-toting as unmasculine as carrying a purse,\u201d Cohen says.<\/p>\n

That idea is saner than anything we are doing now to confront a very serious problem.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sue Griswold, Mill Creek<\/em><\/p>\n

Bill is too broad<\/strong><\/p>\n

The assault-weapons bill is stated to ban the sale of \u201cassault weapons\u201d but it is far more reaching.<\/p>\n

The public would be amazed at how many firearms would be classified as \u201cassault weapons\u201d that are common recreational firearms, hunting rifles and personal-protection firearms. The language of this bill is so broad, most firearm owners I know will have a firearm newly defined as an \u201cassault weapon!\u201d<\/p>\n

There are \u201cexceptions\u201d listed in Senate Bill 6396 for law enforcement. Clearly this was done with the thought that police should not be \u201coutgunned\u201d by criminals. This raises the question then, when the private citizen has to face the same criminal as the police, why should the law shackle the law-abiding by outlawing suitable self-defense firearms?<\/p>\n

There is a provision to keep those firearms, redefined by SB 6396 as assault weapons, but only if the owner is willing to open up their home to law-enforcement inspection. A U.S. citizen should not have to sacrifice their Fourth Amendment rights just to keep their Second Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jeff Doane, Port Angeles<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guns are like cars, when used safely and properly The Seattle Times reported three state lawmakers wish to ban the sale of so-called military-style semi-automatic weapons in response to recent lives lost in Seattle and Lakewood [\u201cAssault weapons ban likely to fail,\u201d News, Jan. 25]. First of all, these state lawmakers are Democratic, secular progressives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}