Legislature must act for gun safety

Legislature must act for gun safety

Sunday, December 3, 2000

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

Buoyed by the success of initiatives in two Western states that are considered "pro gun," advocates of gun control legislation in Washington state are again preparing their assault on Olympia.

The first order of business must be the Whitney Graves bill.

It is beyond shameful that the Legislature has failed, several years running, to approve this bill, which would hold adults legally responsible for the actions of children if firearms are left unsecured. Named for the Marysville girl accidentally killed by a playmate in 1996, the bill would also require gun stores to sell safety devices such as trigger locks.

In this post-Columbine massacre era, the common-sense bill is the bare minimum required of the Legislature next session. At the same time, gun control advocates must move to close the gaping loophole in firearm sales. If Colorado and Oregon can do it, so can Washington.

Despite well-financed opposition from the traditional gun lobby, voters in those states agreed last month to require people who buy guns from unlicensed dealers to pass the same kind of criminal background checks that federally licensed dealers are required to administer. In Colorado, the initiative was born of the deadliest of experiences: the four weapons used by the two Columbine killers had been purchased at gun shows without background checks.

This sane step in regulating -- not taking away -- guns can happen one of two ways in Washington. We prefer the legislative route, as it reflects the best of representative democracy. But if need be, the same end could be accomplished by initiative, and Washingtonians have shown they have no distaste for this alternative process.

After watching community after community be wracked with grief over mass shootings on school campuses and avoidable firearms deaths at home, the majority of Americans have lost patience with those who champion unfettered gun ownership and are choosing their elected officials accordingly.

As Mark Pertschuk, legislative director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, rightly says, "No longer is the debate about whether candidates support gun control measures; rather it is about how strong those measures should be."

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