JOHN CURLEY

Have Seattleites become desensitized to the sound of gunfire?

Jul 27, 2015, 1:18 PM | Updated: Jul 28, 2015, 12:55 pm

Another day, and another gun shot or three. Has Seattle become so riddled with gunfire that locals ...

Another day, and another gun shot or three. Has Seattle become so riddled with gunfire that locals have become desensitized to rising numbers of shootings? (AP file photo)

(AP file photo)

Another day and another gun shot … or three. Has Seattle become so riddled with gunfire that locals have become desensitized to a rising number of shootings?

“We now have so many gunshots, some 227 gunshots have been fired so far (this year) and so far very few people have been hit, which means that gun shots are random around this city,” said KIRO Radio’s Tom Tangney. “And even the Seattle Police Department doesn’t put it on its blotter because there are so many of them.”

“We’re now so used to that, we are not up in arms trying to quell the gunshots,” he said.

Related: Do you know the two men in this video who shot a pregnant teen

Tangney and co-host John Curley were discussing a recent column by Seattle Times’ Danny Westneat, who wrote that gunfire has become nothing more than background noise for Seattle. Local police rarely report shootings on their own blog unless something dramatic happens, he wrote.

“The good news is that we only cover it if someone gets hit. The bad news is … that more and more of us will start getting hit. [Gunfire] is up 24 percent over last year and 40 percent up since 2013,” Tangney said.

But Curley felt it spoke to a political sentiment that Washington’s stricter, and recently passed, gun laws should have stopped the gunfire trend.

“How can that be? We have stricter gun laws. How is this happening?” Curley said sarcastically. “We need to stop the law-abiding citizens from shooting at us.”

“There are so many people that are armed and rather than screaming or yelling at one another after they get into an altercation about something important, like your car, or your girlfriend or drugs, they just pull out the gun and just shoot at the general direction of someone,” he said.

Curley said that not all gunshots are from shootings, rather, some people choose to fire randomly, such as in Mount Vernon where people shoot at signs. He noted a recent a drive-by shooting occurred where a TV news reporter was taping a story.

John Curley on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
  • listen to tom and curleyTune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 3pm for The John Curley Show.

John Curley

John Curley

wa natural gas ruling...

John Curley Show

‘They’ve put political hacks on the WA Supreme Court’: Jim Walsh says justices timed natural gas ruling to discourage voters

Washington Supreme Court struck down a voter-approved natural gas initiative in a 6-3 ruling, and state Republican Party chair said the timing was no accident.

7 hours ago

shon barnes katie wilson seattle city hall rally...

John Curley Show

‘City council would rather blame the mayor’: Saul Spady argues 7 of 9 seats are up, nobody wants fingerprints on the crisis

Quality of Life Coalition founder Saul Spady said the Seattle City Council is letting Mayor Katie Wilson absorb all the public anger while doing nothing itself.

1 day ago

wdfw commissioners...

John Curley Show

‘This is improper’: Tom Nelson on WDFW commissioners found to have violated open meetings law

An independent investigation commissioned by Gov. Bob Ferguson found that WDFW commissioners violated the state's Open Public Meetings Act and, in some cases, the Public Records Act.

3 days ago

Katie Wilson gun violence plan seattle - budget...

John Curley Show

‘Her budget reads like somebody that is not part of the DSA’: Curley gives Wilson’s spending plan a rare nod

KIRO host John Curley said he was surprised by Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's new budget — and not in the way he expected.

4 days ago

tipping washington...

John Curley Show

Washington ranked second-worst tipping state in the country, new data shows

Washington ranked as the second-worst tipping state in the country, according to data from restaurant payments platform Toast.

5 days ago

landlord...

John Curley Show

‘Where’s the emergency for the landlord?’: Curley questions Spokane’s new rent ordinance after fire

KIRO host John Curley had a question after the Spokane City Council passed a new tenant protection ordinance. What about the landlords?

7 days ago

Have Seattleites become desensitized to the sound of gunfire?