In the aftermath of a triple murder at a Seattle hookah lounge early Sunday, Democrat Mayor Bruce Harrell was accused of exploiting the crime to push his anti-gun agenda and public reaction has placed the blame on the city’s political leadership and its policies.
Seattle’s problem with crime may be reflective of what is happening in other large cities with liberal municipal governments.
Harrell’s reaction to the slayings was “predictable,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.
In a statement posted on his website, Harrell lamented the “awful epidemic of gun violence” and declared his office is “partnering with legislators at the state level to advance enhanced gun safety legislation and end state preemption over firearms so Seattle can finally set our own laws that keep Seattle neighbors safe.”
Harrell has been a perennial critic of the state’s 40-year-old preemption statute, which has prohibited the increasingly-left city administration from setting its own restrictive gun laws. It was that kind of local control which led the State Legislature in 1983 to adopt the first preemption law, and strengthen it in 1985, the year that the National Rifle Association held its annual convention at the Seattle Center.
But CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb issued a bristling response to Harrell’s statement, insisting the mayor’s proposal will only “impact law-abiding citizens and not prevent a single tragedy.”
“Bruce Harrell was on the city council in 2015 when they hastily adopted the city’s notorious tax on gun and ammunition sales,” Gottlieb recalled in a statement to local media. “In the years since, homicides have more than doubled in Seattle, the gun tax revenue has never come close to the forecast and the mayor and his allies continue blaming guns when they should be blaming the people misusing those guns.”
A check of Seattle Police Department records confirms Gottlieb’s claim. In 2016—the first full year when the gun tax was in effect—Seattle recorded 20 homicides. Last year, the city logged 52 murders, 25 of which involved firearms, according to SPD data. The city has already recorded 47 slayings this year, and may be on track to exceed the record of 69, set in 1994. A Twitter site, Seattle Homicide (not connected with SPD) keeps tabs on the body count.
https://twitter.com/HomicideSeattle/status/1693333538433900632?s=20
Seattle’s KOMO News—the local ABC affiliate—is running two online polls, which allow only a single vote per respondent. The results so far are not good for Harrell and his colleagues on the city council.
One poll asks, “Do you believe your elected leaders’ policies have led to an increase in crime? So far, 94 percent say “Yes,” while only 6 percent say “No.”
The second poll is multiple choice: “What do you think is the No. 1 factor in recent mass shootings in Seattle?” A staggering 77 percent say “No fear of consequences” is the most likely factor. Coming in at a distant second, respondents say either a surge in gang activity or low police staffing are equal problems, at 9 percent each. Lax enforcement of gun laws comes in at fourth place, at 6 percent.
Criticism of political policies doesn’t stop at online surveys. Public comments found on the KOMO websites are also telling.
One person criticizing Harrell’s focus on guns noted, “These are stolen firearms used by perps who don’t get prosecuted for home burglaries. Minimum mandatory prison sentences are needed for those convicted of stealing a gun or possessing a stolen one. No plea bargains. Minors included! Most often the charges are down-plead, and the perps continue on their merry way with murder and mayhem. That’s the Elephant in the Room that is being ignored.” Other respondents agreed.
Another noted, “There is no ‘gun violence.’ There is violence by repeat criminals who should not have been released to commit further crimes.”
In his criticism of Harrell, CCRKBA’s Gottlieb stated, “Instead of talking about getting guns off the street, how about focusing on getting criminals off the street?”
Harrell explained in his online statement, “We will continue to take a holistic approach to this ongoing challenge – partnering with community-based organizations to prevent gun crimes before they happen and support upstream proactive efforts…”
“The mayor and city council can take any approach they desire,” Gottlieb said, “but when they promote and adopt social policies which the public, especially the criminal element, see as soft on crime, at the end of the day all they are doing is pontificating. Preemption has provided uniformity in state gun laws for nearly 40 years, and what seems to escape Mayor Harrell and other gun control advocates is that you cannot prevent violent crime by penalizing people who don’t commit crime, or by repealing a law which protects the rights of law-abiding gun owners from one state border to the other.”
Washington’s preemption law has been used by other states as a model for their own similar statutes. Anti-gunners would be delighted to repeal the Evergreen State law—there was an effort earlier this year but it never gained traction—because the process might provide strategic information about how to attack the other preemption laws. Currently, about 42 states have such laws.
Shortly after taking office, Harrell held a press conference at which he claimed Washington was only one of a few states with such laws, and Gottlieb quickly took him to task for the canard.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Guns commit violence in the same way cars drive while drunk, spoons make people fat, and pencils are responsible for misspelled words.
spell check is responsible fro misss speld wrds
swm – THANKS – now I can quit blaming my typos on ‘fat fingers’ 😉
Lets all remind ourselves what Seattle is famous for… “Summer of Love”
Its love, quit being a hater.. lol
btw… guns don’t commit “violence”
its a left wing lie that retards swallow.
Seattle has quite a record with mayors. The one before the previous one was a child molester and as a counselor, groomed young boys in orphanages and homes for troubled boys. The “summer of love” mayor was elected primarily because she’s a dyke. Bruce Harrell, the current loser ran on cleaning up crime. Fat chance there, like all the rest of them, he’s going after the 2A and law abiding citizens, not criminals.
Ope – true enough – a totally made up term and even as good at sleuthing as Dave W is he still (afaik) hasn’t been able to track down the anti-gun person who invented the term. He did an excellent job of doing so on the “assault weapon” term so he is batting 500 😉
There are only two explanations for this.
One: Seattle have the government HEY desire because THEY voted it into place
Two: Seattle have a voting system so corrupt the “selected candidate” is shoehorned in despite the will of the people.
Either way, Seattle now must eat the fruit of the corruption THEY allow
Me? That town is a “no go zone” for me these days.
@Ti, no go zone is spot on! Never go into it…..just try to go around somehow, keeping a watchful eye on the overpasses and the highway’s edges for lunatic rock throwers who should be caught, charged with attempted murder and locked up for good. I don’t care that they are homeless, addicted, or extreme sociopaths.
l Iook forward to when the west coast snaps off and slides into the Pacific.
Give me a warning so I can head inland. The east coast needs to do the same.
geologically impossible, but not a bad idea.. except I’d rather it get cleaned up/ We’ve got some VERY amazing territory hereabouts. It would be a shame to lose it. Take out the trash and let we who live here in spite of it enjoy the place.
Tio – not totally “geologically impossible” the ring of fire runs more or less thru Seattle and/or Mt. Rainier so that is really all that needs to go slip sliding away. Along with the comparable parts of orygone and kalypornia.
Agreed about there being lots of nice territory up there.I spent much of my career in it.
As an aside – where were you when the mountain blew?
Not picking on you Dave, the title should be “so what else is new?”
LOL! You’ve got me there, PM.
Thanks for reading and sharing this AMMOLAND report!
Except that the left’s laws and policies are all about protecting criminals. The question is why.
Socialist/communist strategy of destabilizing a country by the appearance of crime and anarchy to seize control and establish an iron fist.
That’s one out of two.
It’s known as Anarcho Tyranny. The criminals are given almost Carte Blanche to do what they will. Regular people who resist or attempting to defend themselves are arrested and prosecuted to the fullest.
Historically, big city machine politics, largely (if not exclusively) associated with the Democrat party, were funded by organized crime, i.e. gangs. Moneys from prostitution, gambling, graft, extortion, protection and so forth would flow into the machine’s coffers and usually the politician’s pockets as well. This, and the destabilization of society as noted by Boz, are the two logical reasons identified so far. The question “why” was posed rhetorically and if we had any real investigative journalists and news organizations in this country they would follow the money and publish the results. Ditto those who are supposed to investigate and prosecute… Read more »
We are watching a pretty clear picture of the “follow the money” game these days back n DeeCee. The BuyDin familiglia are providing a developing and deepening “here’s how ya do it” Guide to Success.
So far it doesn’t look likely anyone “inside” will suffer any consequences beyond getting cut a bit short here and there.
True on both counts. But whereas the Clinton Gang makes Trump look like a saint, and the Biden Crime Family makes the Clintons look like penny ante operators, they are still small potatoes compared with what the Democrat party appears to have going on. And neither the press or the government show any interest in doing anything about it.
Biggest concern is that a lot of people well and truly believe this. They have been fed the propaganda for generations and are sure it is right. Example…been married 43 years now, wife’s ex was a Methodist minister. Total dirtbag and long gone out of the scene. But, she kept in touch with some of their friends. People are nice but totally liberals. They talk to her but avoid me, because I am “so right wing”. Lots like them In enclaves feeding on each other’s feelings. “They want to do the ‘right’ thing and be nice”. Sadly, no matter what,… Read more »
My wife told my sister that I spend a day shooting at least once every month (really more like 2-4 times a year!). My sister’s response was to ask how she got such a violent brother! Good grief. Talk about brain washed about “gun violence.” Inability to separate two entirely independent concepts: violence (action) versus gun (multipurpose tool). Still love my sister and wife – but wish wife could control her mouth and unlikely to ever again live in same state as my sister. Such interactions push me ever further from the D-party. When an entire party vilifies me, attacking… Read more »
Democrat promoted violence is being used to disarm lawbiding citizens it’s a page right out of Hitler’s play book. The Marxists will do what it takes for total control . The train will be waiting for everyone to go get a shower at a Democrat controled station while they take possession of all your property if they succeed in taking our guns .
they can have mine led first