Is it time for new laws after another child shooting?

With three accidental child
shootings in our area in three weeks, two of them fatal,
is it time to pass new gun laws?

It’s the debate after a 3-year-old got ahold of
his father’s gun in the family car and accidentally shot and killed himself
early Wednesday morning while his father filled up at a
Tacoma gas station.

While 27 states have some form of law to prevent child
access to firearms such as criminal penalties, Washington
isn’t one of them.

“All I know is we’ve got to do something,” said Ross
and Burbank co-host Luke Burbank. “I’m not saying we need
a gun ban, but it seems like with three incidents in three
weeks it’s a good idea to send a message.”

But co-host Dave Ross isn’t convinced.

“It’s too muddy…now we’re back to defining what it
means to be in a place where your kid could get his hands
on a gun,” Ross said.

Instead of new penalties, Ross advocated new
requirements for manufacturers.

“It’s still probably a relatively small number of
incidents when the simple thing would be to require
manufacturers to make child proof guns. And apparently,
there are plenty of designs,” Ross said.

“I just think it’s reasonable to say ‘if you want to
have something dangerous like a gun, you need to take care
of it properly,’ and three incidents in three weeks seems
to illustrate that,” responded Burbank.

-Josh Kerns/My Northwest.com

Listen to
Dave and Luke debate whether new laws are needed
to protect against accidental child shootings