Durkan Wants Gun 'Safe Storage' Law To Reduce Shooting Deaths

SEATTLE, WA - Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Wednesday morning proposed a number of initiatives to reduce gun violence in the city, including a proposal to require gun owners to secure firearms at all times. That could reduce the number of stolen guns and gun suicides, Durkan said.

Seattle police data show there are hundreds of intentional gun murders, assaults, and shots-fired calls in the city each year. Data from the Centers for Disease Control show that self-inflicted gunshot wounds are a leading cause of death in King County.

Between 1999 and 2016, 1,281 people in King County died of a self-inflicted handgun wound - more than the number of people who died over that same period of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or Type 2 diabetes. Another 327 died of a self-inflicted rifle or shotgun wound.

In 2017 in Seattle, there were 360 "shots fired" calls in Seattle in 2017, with the highest concentrations in the Rainier Beach, Rainier View, and South Park neighborhoods in South Seattle. Eighteen people died and 70 were injured in shootings in 2017. So far in 2018, 35 people have been assaulted with a gun, and three people have been shot to death.

Councilwoman M. Lorena González said requiring guns be stored securely could reduce accidental gun deaths among children. In 2011, for example, an 8-year-old girl in Bremerton was accidentally shot in a classroom. One of her classmates had brought a gun to school in a backpack, and the weapon discharged when the student dropped the backpack.

"My father always safely stored his guns in a secure and safe place," Gonzalez said. "It's a practice I wish other parents had also used."

In addition to safe gun storage, Durkan on Wednesday proposed:

• Sending revenue from Seattle's gun tax, which adds $25 to the cost of every firearm, to Harborview and the University of Washington to study gun violence
• Stiffen penalties for gun owners who don't report a stolen firearm within 24 hours

File photo courtesy Seattle police