OrangeIsTrouble
Regular Member
imported post
A while back I posted about a project I am working on, and I gotten some interested folks but not much evidence of support. I hear all this talk about carrying to protect our lives and people running to the Capitol to keep their "assault" weapons but apparently nobody cares about the 18-20 year olds!
What I am asking for now, is for anybody to write letters of support addressed to Washington Legislators urging them to sponsor and support this bill (attached).
I'll also include an op-ed, so any of you can look at it and use it for ideas.
As for added cookies, this bill will also make Washington accept any CPL from any state. Cheers! Please PM me your letters that are addressed to Washington Legislators and I will get them to them!
Latest version of the CPL bill is attached!
A while back I posted about a project I am working on, and I gotten some interested folks but not much evidence of support. I hear all this talk about carrying to protect our lives and people running to the Capitol to keep their "assault" weapons but apparently nobody cares about the 18-20 year olds!
What I am asking for now, is for anybody to write letters of support addressed to Washington Legislators urging them to sponsor and support this bill (attached).
I'll also include an op-ed, so any of you can look at it and use it for ideas.
Code:
Give Young Adults Right To Protect Lives
A lot of attention has been given to a murder
that took place in Seattle last year, the killing
of 18-year-old Aaron Sullivan. His name was
invoked by Washington Ceasefire and his own
mother in promoting the so-called Assault Weapon
bill this year. During the hearing for that
bill, Mrs. Sullivan was asked if she knew the
model of weapon that was used to kill her son,
and she answered no. Ceasefire may have
neglected to mention that to her because the gun
was an SKS, a rifle that has a fixed 10 round
magazine, no pistol grip, and would not have been
touched by the ban that Ceasefire brought to her as the solution.
Also glossed over was the fact that he was killed
with a single shot from the rifle, meaning that
even a single shot rifle would have done exactly
the same job. And further ignored was the fact
that as required by law, Aaron Sullivan was
unarmed and had no possibility of deterring or
stopping his killer, even if he had been fired
upon with only a single-shot weapon.
A bill was introduced this year however that,
unlike Ceasefire’s bill, really could save the
next Aaron Sullivan. HB 3082, introduced by Rep.
Brendan Williams of Olympia, would lower the age
requirement for a Concealed Pistol License to 18 years of age.
If you question the need for an 18-year-old man
or woman to be armed for protection, consider
these quotes from a 1997 Department of Justice
report titled “Age Patterns Of Victims Of Violent Crime”.
“Persons age 18 to 21 were the most likely to
experience a serious violent crime…”
“Rates of serious violent crime for 18-21 year
olds are 17 times higher than for persons age 65 or older.”
“Persons age 21 or younger -- slightly less than
a fifth of the general population – suffered close to half of all robberies.”
“For whites and blacks, persons 18 to 21 were
most at risk of becoming a murder victim.”
“…young women 18 to 21 reported the highest rates for robbery.”
“Rates of rape/sexual assault for individuals 18
to 21 were almost 22 times higher than those for age 25 to 29.”
It is unfortunate but clear that Aaron Sullivan
has a lot of company in his age group.
There are some who question whether an
18-year-old has the maturity to carry a weapon,
and at times some of them can make that tough to
argue. But an 18-year-old man or woman lives in
the adult world, assumes all the responsibilities
of adulthood, and is responsible for their own
safety. They face even greater risk of criminal
attack than older folks, and Mom and Pop aren't
responsible for looking out for them
anymore. The bottom line is that every adult is
entitled to protection, and whether others are
comfortable with that is frankly of no
relevance. Every person who turns 18 faces a
three-year window of opportunity for anyone who
wishes them harm, and there is no justifying that.
Currently 14 states allow concealed carry by
people under 21. If young adults in those states
are misusing their handguns over trivial issues
at a rate that warrants any great alarm, it has
yet to be in the news. Treating people like
grownups often has the effect of making them act like grownups.
Unlike many gun-related bills this session, this
bill is a real life-saving measure and Rep.
Brendan Williams should be thanked for it by
everyone. It unfortunately can't be enacted this
year, but it will be back next year. We all know
young adults, or teenagers who will soon be young
adults, and it’s their lives and safety on the
line in this issue. So for their sake, we should
all tell our reps we want them to see this one through.Latest version of the CPL bill is attached!
.
