They don’t speak for all

Rhetorical question: When will Washington lawmakers learn that “voters” doesn’t mean only Western Washington voters? I read in the S-R that representatives in Olympia are proposing yet another dictum to shackle the entire populace by declaring that “the voters” want more restrictions of freedoms when the subject is gun controls.

House Bill 1387, presented by Western Washington representatives but supported by Spokane’s Rep. Timm Ormsby, would require licensing of current and future owners of firearms, often wrongly described as “assault weapons,” but going much farther, including any semi-automatic firearms with ignorantly defined special features, as well as any magazine holding greater than 10 rounds. All of this because of the potential for great harm. Licensing to prevent future harm is ludicrous. There are great costs to all of us in adding laws, especially inane and unenforceable ones.

Drivers are licensed. Pilots are licensed. Physicians are licensed. Do those licenses preclude great harm to others? As it is, I currently have two “licenses” verifying my rights and responsibilities. One is a U.S. passport, stating I am a citizen of this constitutional republic, and the other is my military ID card, certifying honorable service to all U.S. citizens, not just Western Washington voters.

Ron Weaks

Spokane