Another Officer Shooting in Wash. May Lead To New Laws
December 27th, 2009 . by TexasFredAnother Officer Shooting in Wash. May Lead To New Laws
OLYMPIA, Wash. — The murders of five police officers and this week’s shooting of two more have lawmakers thinking about more than a looming budget deficit as they prepare to return to the state capital in January.
A handful of bills sparked by the recent shootings have already been prefiled in advance of next month’s start of the 60-day legislative session, and more are expected.
Gov. Chris Gregoire has called on law-enforcement groups to meet next week to compile a list of potential changes to state law, policy or the state constitution, and to meet with her on Jan. 8. And one lawmaker already has a public hearing scheduled to discuss the circumstances surrounding one of the shootings.
“The bottom line is we owe it to our law enforcement personnel to do everything we can to make sure they’re safe and secure out there,” Gregoire said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
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Another Officer Shooting in Wash. May Lead To New Laws
Do we have any doubt as to what the next cry from Washington State will be?
Any time there is a shooting, the anti-gun crowd goes into full blown histrionics regarding what they perceive to be a need to ban ALL guns and take each and every gun away from Americans.
The fact that this potential, and highly probable anti-gun push is going to be based on the shootings, and murders of, police officers only inflames the issue more.
I am seriously concerned about the safety of our police officers too.
As my long time readers know, I have many friends and relatives that are active duty officers. Their safety is of great concern for me, but all things considered, their safety is not endangered by LEGAL gun owning citizens, their safety is endangered by the criminals that they have sworn to protect and defend this nation from.
There are millions of LEGAL, safe, sane and responsible gun owners in this nation. 99.999% of those gun owners have never broken the law where gun usage is involved! But any time there are more gun control laws put into play, that vast percentage of responsible American gun owners suffers the consequences because of the actions of a minute few.
“When you have a tragedy of this magnitude, you’ve really got to be thoughtful, you’ve really got to be deliberate,” she said. “Your impulse is to just go enact legislation, but good intentions don’t necessarily bring about good results. So I defer to those who have boots on the ground.”
That may well be the best, and safest stance Gov. Chris Gregoire could take at this time. Make a positive statement about gun violence and then throw the ball into the court of others. She isn’t going to come out looking like the villain that way, and future anti-gun legislation that she signs will only be the will of the people.
After those shootings, Rep. Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw, announced he was going to hold a public hearing to look into why Clemmons was out on the streets in the first place.
Hurst, chairman of the House Public Safety Committee and a retired police officer, said that his hearing, planned for Jan. 18, will examine every aspect of the Clemmons case.
That’s a great idea, look into it. Clemmons should not have been on the street, there was a breakdown in the judicial system in this case. I also believe that there are many breakdowns in our legal system. Far too many violent felons are released and placed back on the streets, only to return to the life that put them in prison in the 1st place.
