Children need to be protected

Gun control.

Few words have the power to polarize us so quickly or completely. Conversations about gun regulation devolve to emotional accusations and hyperbole. We shout but we don’t listen.

Whatever we believe about the issue, most of us share three commitments. First, we want the full protection of the rights guaranteed by the U.S. and state Constitutions. Second, we want to protect our freedom to engage in the pastimes and sports we choose. Third, we care about public health and safety, and don’t want people to suffer injury or death because of the misuse of a firearm. How we think those three commitments should be balanced differs widely.

The recent news conference by Mayor Greg Nickels, following a gun-control summit with 14 other big city mayors held in New York City, adds impetus to this discussion. Nickels urged state lawmakers to strengthen gun laws, and specifically supported several measures we sponsored this past session.

One bill would have made unsafe storage of firearms a violation of Washington’s reckless-endangerment law if a child’s death or injury resulted. The owner could get up to a year in jail only if a child under the age of 16 obtains possession of a loaded firearm. The law would not apply if the child’s access to the gun was supervised by an adult, and in certain other cases. Eighteen states have this law. It’s time that Washington gave its children the same protections.

Another bill would have required background checks for all firearm purchases at gun shows. Currently a firearms dealer must have a federal firearms license and conduct a background check on each buyer. About 70 gun shows are held each year in Washington, and about half of the sales are made by people who are not required to have a federal firearms license. In those sales, no background check is done on buyers.

Most people who buy and sell at gun shows are law-abiding citizens. But if we don’t allow felons and domestic violence suspects to purchase guns in shops, why would we let them make such purchases at a gun show? Washington is the only state on the West Coast with this loophole. It’s time we closed it.

In 1994, Congress adopted the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which imposed a moratorium on the manufacture, transfer and possession of certain semiautomatic firearms. It expired in 2004. Seven states have recently enacted laws on assault weapons. We introduced a bill to make Washington the eighth state to offer this safeguard. It’s hard to fathom the need for the several thousand assault weapons — little different from machine guns — now registered in Washington.

Our bills did not pass — not enough support. But the horrifying event that claimed six lives on Capital Hill all too clearly brings the debate into sharp focus.

Constitutional issues aside, consider our youth: In Seattle, firearms are the leading cause of death among 15 to 24 year-olds. In King County, an estimated 32,000 children live in homes with unlocked firearms; about 7,000 of them live in homes with loaded firearms and about 2,000 in homes where guns are stored loaded and unlocked. Does this make sense? Don’t our children deserve to live in a community where guns are safely stored, their purchase closely regulated and weapons clearly intended for maximum damage banned?

Sen. Adam Kline, 37th Legislative District

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, 36th Legislative District

Kline is the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and serves on the Senate Government Operations & Elections; Health & Long-Term Care; and Rules committees.

Kohl-Welles is chair of the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research & Development Committee and serves on the Early Learning, K-12 & Higher Education; Ways & Means; and Rules committees.

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