Letter to the Editor: State Leadership Has a Problem With Priorities on Guns

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Letter writer Joseph Tipler misses the point that Sen. John Braun was making on recent gun laws passed by the state Legislature. 

He quotes low death rates among other countries. Gun ownership is illegal in Australia, so how did over 200 people die when you can’t legally own a gun? The other countries don’t have our Constitution or our society’s outlook on death and violence. We are a country where violence is becoming a way of life, the answer to all problems or concerns, real or imagined. There is no middle ground any more. It’s my way or the highway, and I’ll beat you to a pulp if you don’t agree with me. 

Sen. Braun’s point concerns this societal outlook on violence. Face it, our children have grown up with violent games on computers and game consoles. They have become desensitized to violence. And yet, according to Yahoo News, America remains one of the safest countries in the world, with an extremely low crime rate compared to other developed countries.

The problem is that the left believes that if you outlaw guns, that will solve the problem. Sen. Braun realizes that is not the solution. Instead, it’s a basic change in our culture’s outlook on violence and crime that is needed. 

Further, our Constitution guarantees the right to keep and bear arms whether the left likes it or not. They continue to try, as with the recent legislation promoted by Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and it will surely be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, as this type of legislation has been for over 100 years. But they will continue to chip away and let the courts figure it out, rather than facing the real problem in this country today. 



Last year, there were over 700 drug-related deaths, but only 38 shooting deaths, in Seattle. Drug-related deaths increased 20% in just one year in Seattle. So which is the problem? Rather than do something about the out of control drug problem in the country, our fearless leaders would rather take on gun control. I would say that our state leadership has a problem with priorities.

 

Bruce Peterson 

Centralia