Cebu can learn so much from these developments abroad
EXTRA! Seattle park attacks underscore why gun groups opposed ban
Two high-profile attacks on joggers in Seattle parks over the past couple of months, the most recent being Wednesday afternoon, underscore why gun rights organizations and five individual citizens challenged the City of Seattle’s attempt to ban firearms in park facilities, an illegal act under this state’s preemption statute.
Yesterday's attack occurred in Colman Park. The earlier incident happened in October in Seward Park, and in that attack, the unidentified perpetrator was armed with a knife, according to the on-line Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
The man, armed with a knife, then grabbed the woman from behind and threw her to the ground. Police said he punched her several times, but the woman fought back and he ran into the park.
Seattle Police are reportedly looking into the possibility that the two attacks are related. In both cases, single female joggers were grabbed from behind and wrestled to the ground. Seward and Colman parks are both on the west shore of Lake Washington, south of I-90.
Last year, the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation, National Rifle Association, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Washington Arms Collectors and five private citizens sued the city in King County Superior Court over the ban, initiated by former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. Earlier this year, a judge ruled that the ban violates state law.
Judge Catherine Shaffer ruled from the bench that the gun ban, adopted under former Mayor Greg Nickels, violates Washington’s law, which placed sole authority for regulating firearms in the hands of the State Legislature. That law was adopted in 1983 and amended in 1985, and has served as a model for similar laws across the country.
The city has appealed, and arguments should occur sometime early in 2011.
The city maintains that parks will be safer if legally-armed citizens are kept out, or at least their guns are kept out. This column is sure that makes sense to joggers at Colman and Seward parks. It would be just awful if some knife-wielding attacker got shot by his next intended victim.
A 44-year-old woman was jogging in the park when someone came up from behind and grabbed her clothing. She fell to the ground, and her attacker got on top of her. But she kicked and screamed, managing to break free.
If these attacks are the work of the same individual, he’s going to strike again, and if history tells us anything about such assaults, he is likely to ramp up the violence.
If the City of Seattle wants to strike a blow against crime, maybe they ought to drop the ridiculous “Sanctuary City” policy and go after illegal aliens. According to the Seattle Times, the armed man shot by a Seattle police officer Tuesday night near Pioneer Square had been deported in 2008 after being convicted of a drug charge. That makes him an illegal alien, and that guarantees that he was not legally carrying that Ruger semi-automatic .22-caliber pistol with the 6-inch bull barrel and target sights that was in his waistband, pictured on the Seattle Police website report. Illegal aliens can’t get concealed pistol licenses.
The Times has tentatively identified the man, but since he hasn’t been charged – he is still in the hospital – this column will not name him.
Reports indicate the pistol was not loaded, but how was the police officer, identified by the Times as 20-year-veteran Chris Myers, supposed to know that? A review board will look at the circumstances, but this has the earmarks of a justifiable shooting.
EXTRA! Seattle park attacks underscore why gun groups opposed ban - Seattle gun rights | Examiner.com
Decade long ban reversed, guns soon allowed on Amtrak trains
Passengers will soon be able to carry guns in checked baggage aboard Amtrak trains. Gun rights advocates pushed Congress to reverse a near-decade-long gun ban on the government-owned railroad.
Beginning Dec. 15, passengers can pack unloaded, cased guns aboard trains that have checked baggage service.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says there are fewer than 200 stations where one can check luggage, and many routes that are short in length don’t check luggage.
Magliari says of the five daily trains to Chicago from Springfield, for example, four of them are Lincoln Service trains that allow only carry-ons. Just one train, the Texas Eagle, checks baggage and would accept guns as checked luggage.
Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, believes this is just the first step in making rail friendly to sportsmen. He believes as high-speed rail comes into the picture, additional trains will carry baggage and allow firearms.
“I think this is just the first step,” Pearson said. “Years ago people got on the train and they shot buffalo from the windows. Firearms and trains are not strangers to each other.”
Gun owners must inform Amtrak officials 24 hours ahead of departure and guns must be in locked, hard-sided containers for storage in train lockers.
Magliari says rail cars are being retrofitted with weapons storage lockers.
Decade long ban reversed, guns soon allowed on Amtrak trains KMOX-AM
musaka noon cguro ang crime rate ani.
Originally Posted by AmorsoloX
Reply With Quote
Posting Permissions
