The Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today is joining King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg in an effort to crack down on armed juvenile criminals.
CCRKBA joined Satterberg and other officials at a press conference Wednesday in Seattle, announcing the new initiative, which aims to toughen state law while not impairing the gun rights of law-abiding citizens.
“In our discussion with Dan,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “we were assured that this measure will not prevent juveniles and teens from lawfully using or possessing firearms for hunting, recreational shooting, competition or any other legitimate purpose.
“His proposed changes in the law will also have no bearing on the rights of legally-armed adults,” he continued, “including more than 384,000 citizens who are now licensed to carry concealed in Washington, or the growing number of citizens who openly carry.
“Law-abiding gun owners have never opposed efforts to crack down on people who deliberately misuse firearms,” Gottlieb added. “Juvenile thugs who shoot up neighborhoods, injuring or killing innocent bystanders, or who illegally carry guns as an adjunct to their involvement in other criminal activity are no friends of ours, and vice versa.
“The Citizens Committee has championed laws that punish criminals while not affecting legally-armed citizens,” he recalled. “We supported Three Strikes and Hard Time for Armed Crime initiatives because they focused on lawbreakers, without penalizing gun owners.
“We can support efforts to deter criminal misuse of firearms that do not impact the rights of law-abiding citizens,” he concluded. “It’s important to know the difference, and the approach outlined to us by Dan Satterberg suggests exactly that.”
