Washington state Republican promotes lie to protect gun rights
Feb 22, 2018, 10:38 AM | Updated: 12:26 pm
Students and parents participate in a "lie-in" during a protest in favor of gun control reform in front of the White House. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
A Republican lawmaker from Snohomish lowered himself to the level of those elsewhere in the country in an attempt to deflect the conversation about the latest mass shooting away from gun control.
Apparently, it takes a police state to be truly free
Dan Kristiansen, leader of the Washington House Minority, placed himself in the same basket as those who created smear campaigns and conspiracies surrounding the school shooting in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead by inventing a massacre that never happened.
During a conference earlier this week, Kristiansen recounted an attack on a youth camp in Norway that left dozens of children dead, The Seattle Times reports. The weapon: a knife.
His story backed up the argument that more people are killed by knives than firearms every year around the world.
The main problem with his story is such an attack never happened. A professor at the University of Oslo told the Times that Norway has never had a massacre by knife. The only massacre in recent history was in 2011 when a gunman killed 69 people. That did happen at a youth camp.
Kristiansen was the same Republican leader who, after the State Senate failed to vote on a proposed law that would require rifle buyers to be at least 21, suggested the law be changed to allow armed civilians to defend schools, KIRO 7 reports.
“Why are we not allowing for the training of citizens out there who can be certified to go out there to carry and protect these kids among us?” he asked.
The fabricated story from Kristiansen comes as lawmakers debate bills that would make Washington state’s gun control laws more strict. The only bill the NRA has publicly supported is SB 6298, which would include the crime of “harassment” to domestic violence convictions for which a person is prohibited from possessing a firearm.
Gov. Inslee pushed lawmakers to pass tougher gun laws on Wednesday, telling them to pass “commonsense measures” that would make it more difficult to buy military-style rifles and require the buyer be 21 or older, The Spokesman-Review reports.
