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Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn Friday urged lawmakers to close the so-called "Gun Show Loophole," which allows some weapons to be bought without a license and proper paperwork. (AP image)

Seattle mayor calls for tightened gun controls in wake of shooting

BY Brandi Kruse  on December 14, 2012 @ 4:55 pm (Updated: 5:12 pm - 12/14/12 )

Seattle city leaders held a press conference Friday afternoon to call for tighter gun controls in the wake of a deadly shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.

Mayor Mike McGinn called the massacre a "tragedy beyond words," and asked the state legislature to respond with meaningful reforms.

He urged lawmakers to close the so-called "Gun Show Loophole," which allows some weapons to be bought without a license or proper paperwork.

"They could give us more authority in the city to take action, and we have asked for that authority," he added. "They could fund, instead of as they've been doing, cutting funding for support for those that are mentally ill or unstable."

Mayor McGinn was joined by Seattle Police Chief John Diaz, who said his officers are trained annually to respond to mass shootings.

"It's unfortunate that we in law enforcement have to train the way we do each year on rapid intervention," he said. "We have to be ready in case a situation like this occurs."

Chief Diaz echoed Mayor McGinn in calling for tighter gun controls, saying the country's "gun culture" needs to change.

Brandi Kruse, KIRO Radio Reporter
Brandi Kruse is a reporter for KIRO Radio who is as spontaneous and adventurous in her free time as she is on the job. Brandi arrived at KIRO Radio in March 2011 and has already collected three regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her reporting.
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Comments (17)


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  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    We have taken God, morality, discipline, responsibility and respect out of the classroom, the home, our cities and our Nation, beginning in the White House.
    December 15, 2012 2:12 pm
    Yep. As a result, the end is near...
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  • shark75 wrote...
    Mayor McStupid also calls for illegalizing murder.....
    December 15, 2012 3:15 pm
    You freaking stupid idiot. Law won't stop anyone from committing a massacre. You have to be retarded to believe it. Now go out and get run over by a car, please.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Greg Takemoto wrote...
    Another Gun Free Zone
    December 15, 2012 10:19 pm
    Well aren't all the anti self defense gun control fanatics that support aid, abet, and protect rapist, robbers and murders are feeling good, today. Knowing that no law abiding citizen was legally armed in their GUN FREE ZONE. I imagine they are quite proud that their Gun Free Zone assured their good buddy have a safe work environment to slaughter innocent victims in without any risk to himself. 100% of these mass shootings occur in GUN FREE ZONES. Not 70%, 80% or 90% but 100% of the time that large groups of defenseless people are slaughtered are in GUN FREE ZONES. Places that violate not only our civil rights but our basic human right to live and defend that life. Forcing the law-abiding to be unarmed defenseless victims assuring only murderous criminals are allowed to carry weapons. As opposed to places that respect human life and our right to defend it such as A university in Virginia. A student with a grudge, an immigrant, pulled a gun and went on a shooting spree. It wasn’t Virginia Tech at all. It was the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, not far away. Two students immediately ran to their cars. Each had a handgun locked in the vehicle and stopped the mass murder Luke Woodham murdered his mother and put on a trench coat. He filled the pockets with ammunition and took a handgun to the Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi. In rapid succession killed two students and wounded seven others. Assistant Principal Joel Myrick. Myrick heard the gun shots. He couldn’t have a handgun in the school. But he did keep one locked in his vehicle in the parking lot. He ran outside, retrieved his gun and stopped the mass murderer before more innocents were slaughtered In Edinboro, Pennsylvania. Andrew Wurst entered a school graduation dance to take out his anger on the school. First he shot teacher John Gillette outside. He started shooting randomly at the 240 students there. Restaurant owner James Strand, armed with a shot gun, stopped the shooter and held him for police. There would be no further victims that day, thanks to armed resistance. A young man entered the Trolley Square Shopping Mall, in Salt Lake City. The mall was a self-declared “gun free zone” forbidding patrons from carrying weapons. He wasn’t worried. In fact he appreciated knowing that his victims couldn’t defend themselves. He opened fire even before he got inside killing his first victims immediately outside the front door. As he walked down the mall hallway he fired in all directions. Several more people were shot inside a card store immediately inside the mall. The shooter moved on to the Pottery Barns Kids store. When Kenneth Hammond, heard the shots. The killer found himself under fire much sooner than he anticipated. From this point on all his efforts were focused on Kenneth Hammond, he had no time to kill anyone else. Hammond was able to pin down the shooter until police finally arrived and one of them shot the man to death. There would be no further victims that day, thanks to armed resistance Jeanne Assam, a private citizen with a Colorado concealed carry license was at church,when a psycho brought an rifle, two handguns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition to her church. Having already killed four people he was intent on killing all 1,000 remaining church members. Legally armed Jeanne Assam, stopped him saving lives no one else was murdered that day ONLY WHEN LEGALLY ARMED CITIZEN ARE PERMITTED TO CARRY THEIR LAWFUL WEAPONS ARE THESE MASS MURDERS EVER STOPPED. Time to grow up get a clue I could care less if guns make you feel uncomfortable. Whether or not you "FEEL" comfortable or not is irrelevant. That innocent people stop being slaughtered is the only thing that matters. The only thing that has ever stopped a mass shooting in progress is a legally armed citizen it is time to excursive some real gun control by legally armed citizens hitting their target.
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  • shark75 wrote...
    Whats the penalty for entering a Gun Free Zone with a firearm?
    December 16, 2012 3:08 pm
    Once we can figure out what that slap on the writs is, lets move on to the penalty for committing mass murder....we should try, convict and....wait, he's dead. They're almost always dead afterwards. Do you think they care about the stupid law they break when they bring a gun onto the school grounds when the act they are about to commit is a million times worse and they plan on being dead after all is said and done? Only a liberal like Mayor Horse'sAss would believe that. Hey Mayor Stupid, how about you take the guns away from your security detail if they are so bad?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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