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The article below has been updated since I scheduled my post. It’s now touted as “safe-storage” legislation.
From Seattle Times: Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Councilmember M. Lorena González plan to propose legislation to require gun owners to lock up firearms left in their homes and vehicles, Durkan and González said Wednesday.
The legislation also could increase penalties for people who fail to report lost and stolen guns, they said, describing the move as a response to a nationwide gun-violence crisis and to shootings in Seattle. Many shootings happen with guns that were available because they weren’t properly secured, the officials said.
The legislation has yet to be written. Details are to be worked out over the coming months.
State law prohibits Washington cities from regulating guns, and Durkan said she expects the legislation would be challenged in court. The mayor said she’s confident the city would prevail because the legislation wouldn’t stop anyone from buying, carrying or transporting a gun.
“This is not an anti-gun measure. This is a gun-safety measure,” Durkan said.
Durkan and González made the announcement alongside City Attorney Pete Holmes at Harborview Medical Center, where the city has been helping to fund a gun-violence research program.
The program provides some gunshot survivors with services ranging from substance-abuse and mental-health treatment to employment assistance. Revenue from Seattle’s tax on the sale of guns and ammunition, adopted in 2015, is supposed to support the research program.
Durkan took part in a town-hall meeting at Chief Sealth High School earlier this month to talk about curbing gun violence.
Read the rest of the story here.
DCG