Panaceas, pistols, politicians and Puyallup gun show…what a week!

PUYALLUP — It is shoulder-to-shoulder at the monthly Washington Arms Collectors’ gun show at the Puyallup fair grounds, where thousands of firearms owners are gathered at the end of a brutal week that has seen an accidental school shooting, a deliberate cop killing, and an interesting encounter between open carry advocates and Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

This column covered the events of the past few days, and was even quoted by the Kitsap Sun in a discussion about proposed preventive measures in response to the terrible incident at Armin Jahr Elementary near Bremerton. KOMO’s Ken Schram wants to require every new handgun buyer to also purchase a gun safe.

That probably wouldn’t work in the case of the mother of the 9-year-old boy now in trouble for having brought a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol to school in his backpack; the gun that he reportedly obtained during a weekend visitation with her, in anticipation of running away. The mother, according to published reports, has a criminal background that would have apparently precluded her from ever legally purchasing a pistol at retail. No retail purchase, no gun safe.

If the gun belonged to someone else, it was still in her house. People don’t normally carry around gun safes from house to house.

In a related development, the Kitsap County prosecutor appears prepared to recommend probation and counseling for the 9-year-old taken into custody.

Still, anti-gunners will try to capitalize on this incident to push tougher gun control measures. If they try to turn this into one of those “sky-is-falling” situations, they already have a credibility problem, courtesy of a sharp reporter at the Kitsap Sun, who noted:

Data available from the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction contradicts the common perception that more kids are bringing guns to school.

In the past 10 years, the cases of weapons (including knives, replica guns and other items) found in Washington schools has not significantly increased. The rate of incidents involving kids, schools and guns has been between 0.6 incidents and 1.4 incidents per 100,000 students each year from 2000 to 2010.—Kitsap Sun

As this column reported earlier in the week, there are now more than 353,000 active concealed pistol licenses in this state. By some estimates, there are more than a million gun owners, among whom you will find somewhere in the neighborhood of 90,000-plus members of the National Rifle Association. By contrast, Washington CeaseFire claims “more than 5,000 members.”

CeaseFire would have cringed Friday had any of their members turned out for the Newt Gingrich gathering down at SeaTac. In the audience were two good friends of this column, Jim Beal and Nick Smith, both Open Carry advocates. They were in the room for “about three hours,” and long enough to be noticed by a Seattle Times photographer.

When they approached Gingrich, they noticed a couple of his aides raise their eyebrows, but Gingrich didn’t bat an eyelash. He was, said Beal, far more interested to learn that Beal is a Vietnam vet, which earned he and Smith a photo op with the former House Speaker.

By coincidence, Open Carry is making headlines elsewhere. It is currently being debated by the Oklahoma Legislature, and the Tulsa World editorialized Friday:

Oklahoma, according to open-carry advocates, is one of only six states in the entire U.S. that do not allow open carry under any circumstances. That's a little surprising, given the popularity of guns in the state.

There are some arguments for open carry. It is easier to draw a weapon that isn't concealed. And it's probably accurate that criminals will not open carry because they don't want to draw attention to themselves. Would law-abiding residents who openly carry a weapon serve as a deterrent to crime? Maybe, in a limited number of incidents.

There may be no greater deterrent to some crime — according to this column’s readers — than a few highly-publicized righteous shootings of criminals. Earlier this week, we discussed a surge of shootings involving residential burglars. Public opinion appears go follow the logic of famed American philosopher “Dirty” Harry Callahan: “Nothing wrong with shooting, so long as the right people get shot.”

Lawmakers in Minnesota are currently discussing a “castle doctrine” law, which anti-gunners claim will cause more violence. Perhaps it will, but the people on the receiving end of that violence will likely have it coming, if recent events in Washington are any indicator. Here’s what a CBS affiliate in Minnesota is reporting:

Critics said the so-called “Castle Doctrine” law will cause more violence, but we found that cannot be accurately predicted. There is no national database tracking the effect of Castle Doctrine laws on crime rates or shootings.

There are only anecdotal stories of “justified” shootings.

But the FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics show that nationally those “justified” shootings are up, from 238 in 2006 to 278 in 2010.

In Minnesota, critics are predicting more violence if Gov. Dayton signs into law what supporters call the “Personal Protection Act,” and opponents label the “Shoot First” bill.

Many also predicted more violence when Minnesota legalized concealed weapon permits, and they were wrong. Minnesota did not turn into the “Wild West,” but it’s also not accurate to say nothing happened.

What has happened, in response to the CBS piece, is that an increasing number of burglars have been shot and people aren't terribly upset. If that discourages other people from committing crimes, it just might be a plus.

The gun prohibition movement lost traction and credibility when it tried to lump everyone with a firearm into the same category as armed criminals. This column was discussing legally armed citizens and the rash of shootings in Seattle the other day with a Seattle police officer. His observation: “We’re not worried about all the people with permits to carry. The people typically involved in shootings have criminal records and they can’t legally have guns in the first place.” Likewise, police round up people all the time who are not licensed to carry, and they are doing stupid things with guns.

That was certainly the case with the man who murdered State Trooper Tony Radulescu, it was the case with the man killed by U.S. Marshals in Mount Vernon the other day, and it will probably be the case with the people police round up in connection with recent slayings in Seattle.

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