Debating Seattle mayor’s new firearm legislation

Seattle’s mayor wants to penalize irresponsible gun owners. Essentially, Mayor Jenny Durkan wants to make an example of people who fail to properly store their guns, or report them lost or stolen.

Study: Majority of gun owners don’t safely store firearms

But KTTH’s Todd Herman argues that the proposed legislation is tackling a nearly non-existent issue. He says most gun owners are responsible, but he doesn’t expect them to keep their firearms locked up most of the time — that would defeat the purpose.

Under Durkan’s proposal, all guns would need to be safely stored while not under the control of the owner or authorized user. It would increase penalties for failure to report guns lost or stolen, or improperly used. Read about all the regulations here.

Herman says he keeps two firearms, a Glock and tactical shotgun, near him while he sleeps.

“I’ll never need those, but I’d prefer to have them and not need them, than the reverse.”

How would he feel if someone with ill intentions got their hands on those guns and shot people? KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross asked.

Herman says if someone took the three hours to break into his gun safe while he wasn’t home and then hurt someone, he wouldn’t feel guilty. After all, he did his due diligence to properly store them.

“This is not about preventing deaths. It’s about making it difficult for gun owners…”

Even if stolen guns aren’t often used in crimes, is that really a reason not to support this legislation? Dave Ross wonders.

“It rarely happens that an engine blows up and someone is sucked out of the window. By that logic, we shouldn’t bother to inspect those planes because that’s very rare. It hardly ever happens.”

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Herman says it’s unreasonable for the city to expect gun owners to always have their firearms locked up.

Herman’s solution: Offer more tax rebates for gun store owners who make gun safes readily available and promote them.