proposed laws

PA Bill Number: HB2170

Title: In assault, further providing for assault of law enforcement officer; and making editorial changes.

Description: In assault, further providing for assault of law enforcement officer; and making editorial changes. ...

Last Action: Referred to JUDICIARY

Last Action Date: Mar 28, 2024

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CCRKBA to Seattle, Chicago: 'How's that gun control thing working for you?' :: 02/06/2016

With 51 homicides posted by Chicago authorities last month and yesterday’s charging of two juveniles in the Jan. 26 double homicide in Seattle, the head of a national gun rights organization challenged the leaders of those two cities to explain how their gun control efforts have accomplished anything.

Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, sent out a scathing news release that not only blasted the so-called “gun violence taxes” in both cities, but also noted that Washington State’s Initiative 594, another gun control measure adopted more than a year ago, evidently hasn’t prevented any violent crimes, including the double murder in the infamous “Jungle” homeless camp for which three brothers have been charged, or a shooting Wednesday on a Metro bus in Seattle.

And there is much more to those stories. The suspects in the double homicide have criminal histories, and could not legally own or carry handguns. In this case, police recovered two pistols, a .22-caliber Ruger and a .45-caliber semi-auto. The .45, according to published reports, was reported stolen in a 1976 Seattle burglary. Where has that gun been all these years, and how did two teens get it?

More importantly, both teens could not have possibly gotten either gun through the now-required background check under I-594. Aside from their backgrounds, their age precluded them from legally buying a handgun in the state. One is 17 and the other 16, according to court charging documents obtained by this column. Gottlieb said this is the sort of case that shows I-594 was simply “one more false promise” of gun control.

And then there was the Metro bus incident. The victim in that attack once collected $42,000 in a settlement with the city for having been kicked by a police officer, according to the Seattle Times. But the man has other history, as a story in the Seattle Weekly more than three years ago revealed. He had been arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service, and had also been the subject of a warrant for unlawful possession of a firearm, the Weekly said.

Remember that study from 2014 by the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center that said there was a strong likelihood that someone suffering a gunshot wound was likely to be arrested in the future for involvement in gun-related crime, as reported by the Spokane Spokesman-Review? It seems to be working in reverse for the bus shooting victim. The motive for that shooting has not been determined, but it was described as a point blank shot to the face.

Meanwhile, the two brothers and their younger sibling have all been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree assault. The younger boy was a full participant in the alleged crime, according to King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.

“Anti-gunners in Seattle and Chicago need to acknowledge that their gun control efforts aren’t part of the solution to violence, they’re part of the problem,” Gottlieb said. “They are pushed with lots of promise, but they’re quickly revealed to be all flash and no substance. They penalize honest citizens and don’t impress criminals.”

There was something else Gottlieb mentioned. Seattle had another double homicide last month, with those two victims having been beaten to death. All this shows, Gottlieb observed, is that killers do not rely on guns, so even the toughest gun control laws won’t prevent such crimes.

On the subject of prevention, Gottlieb is on point with a push for a suicide prevention measure now making its way through Olympia. Friday morning, he was one of several people testifying in favor of Substitute House Bill 2793, the Suicide Awareness and Prevention Education for Safer Homes Act. This is the measure that has enlisted support from mental health experts, pharmacists, firearms advocates and others, and it appears to be on a fast track.

The measure, championed by State Rep. Tina Orwall with support from the Second Amendment Foundation, CCRKBA and the National Rifle Association, is aimed at intervention, not gun control. Gottlieb told the House Finance Committee that money invested in this effort would come back “tenfold” in the form of lower expenditures for emergency services, and the toll that suicide takes on families and society in general.

He called the legislation a positive step toward suicide reduction without penalizing gun owners. If passed, it will also include a business and occupation tax incentive for gun dealers to get involved as well.

http://www.examiner.com/article/ccrkba-to-seattle-chicago-how-s-that-gun-control-thing-working-for-you