Bad week ignites war on guns in Washington State

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s school shooting near Bremerton and Thursday’s slaying of a Washington State Patrol trooper near Gorst, gun prohibitionists are already talking about the Evergreen State’s allegedly weak laws.

They’re getting some subliminal help from the Associated Press, which has managed to quote the Legal Community Against Violence, the Brady Campaign and Washington CeaseFire, and anti-gun State Sen. Adam Kline, but has mysteriously failed to quote anyone from the National Rifle Association or the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation or Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Call it press bias or just lazy reporting, but it is perhaps indicative of what firearms owners will be facing as these cases unfold. Friday morning’s Tacoma News Tribune is already carrying an editorial calling for a “safe storage” law:

In years past, lawmakers tried to enact sensible firearms storage legislation. The Whitney Graves bill, named for the 8-year-old Marysville girl accidentally shot by a playmate in 1996, would have made it a misdemeanor to leave a loaded gun easily accessible to a child.

Gun advocates, including the National Rifle Association, successfully blocked that legislation. If only the NRA had worked as hard to protect children as it is working to get its vanity license plate approved by the Legislature this session.

Lawmakers should not give up trying to bring Washington state into the national mainstream regarding safe firearm storage.—Tacoma News Tribune

The Associated Press information was picked up and used by the Kitsap Sun, Seattle Times and other newspapers, none of which sought comment from any gun rights organizations listed above.

So far, there has not been any indication whether the boy’s parents, Jason Cochran and Jamie Lee Chaffin, will face charges. The 45-caliber Heckler & Koch semiautomatic pistol apparently was obtained from Chaffin’s home, during a weekend visitation by the 9-year-old boy, who is living with his aunt and uncle.

Facts are emerging about the youngster who brought that pistol to Armin Jahr Elementary that were not available 24 hours ago. According to the Seattle Times:

When he was 2 ½, police found methamphetamine and syringes in his mother's belongings, court documents say. Later that same month, (Jamie Lee) Chaffin was charged with forgery after trying to cash stolen checks. She was later convicted.

When he was 3 ½, Chaffin was charged with selling marijuana out of a Kitsap motel. By this point, she had four children, according to court records. Meanwhile, Jason Cochran was convicted of domestic violence for assaulting Chaffin. He later violated the protection order. He repeatedly failed to pay child support and was held in contempt.

In a follow-up, the Seattle Times elaborated a bit about Chaffin’s criminal history:

In 2005, she was arrested for possession of meth in Bremerton, but pleaded guilty to a drug paraphernalia charge. She also was convicted of marijuana delivery and forgery.

It is not clear how anyone could reasonably argue that Chaffin or someone like her would be affected by a safe storage requirement. Even the News Tribune admits in its editorial:

Some adults would still ignore such a law, but the deterrent would save lives. And there would at least be a way to hold adults criminally liable for putting lethal force within reach of children.

Meanwhile, the investigation is also continuing in the slaying of Trooper Tony Radulescu during a traffic stop early Thursday. The suspect in that case, Joshua Jearl Blake, took his own life a few hours later as police closed in on him. Blake, 28, was a convicted felon with a violent history, and he could not legally purchase or possess a firearm under state and federal statutes.

Blake reportedly made threats about killing anyone who tried to arrest him, which translates to killing a police officer.

It is not clear where Chaffin got her pistol, if it was hers, or where and how Blake got his.

Earlier this week, this column checked with the Department of Licensing and learned that, once again, the state has a new record number of Concealed Pistol Licenses in circulation. More than 353,000 Washington CPLs are now active, and police sources observe that these are not the people they are concerned with; people who go through all the legal hoops to legally carry a concealed handgun for personal protection.

Typically, noted one police contact Friday, people involved in shootings – particularly those that are gang-related – have criminal histories that preclude them from legally carrying. They couldn’t qualify for a CPL under any circumstances, and they can’t legally possess a firearm at all, same as Blake.

But some Seattle Times readers show just what the firearms community will be up against:

It will happen, one day guns will be banned in the US - and that will be a GREAT day.—‘Talula’ Seattle

This is typical outcome for gun owners. Let this be a lesson to all gun owners and to society. We need to work to make guns illegal in this country.—'Frank ly,' Seattle

This has been a bad week, not just for residents of the Kitsap Peninsula, but for all law-abiding citizens, including possibly more than 1 million gun owners whose rights should not take the rap for the bad judgment of a 9-year-old, or the unforgivably heinous act of a cop killer.

PLEASE FORWARD the link to this column and share with all of your chat lists and forums

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE by clicking on the link above

And Don’t forget to visit:

Hunting-Washington.com

HuntFishNW.com

GunnersLair.com

TheHighRoad.org

Northwest Firearms.com