It is all all-too-predictable pattern: Every time a mass shooting happens in this country — and they occur with sickening frequency — calls for gun reform rise from growing segments of the populace. Politicians offer “thoughts and prayers” but often little else in terms of real change to a gun violence problem that seems uniquely American.
Closer to home, the state Legislature has failed several times to implement measures to curtail gun violence – the exception being the ban on bump stocks signed into law earlier this year.
So, with a lack of political will, it is left to the voter-initiative process to try to break the governmental gridlock on gun safety. Which brings us to Initiative 1639, a wide-ranging measure that attempts to solve an arsenal of issues: an age requirement of 21 to buy semiautomatic rifles, in line with the law on handgun purchases; a law specifying “safe storage” of weapons in homes; mandatory training; and a 10-day waiting period on semiautomatic rifle purchase.
Read the complete article: The Yakima Herald-Republic Editorial Board