I’m writing the Seattle Times (www.seattletimes.com) in response to this misguided editorial and I hope you gals will also do so.

Posted at 06:10 a.m. Pacific; Tuesday, January 25, 2000
Editorial
Fix gun-show glitch

One small gap in the nation’s gun laws continues to cause a lot of trouble: the so-called gun-show loophole.
Tired of the infinite ineptitude of Congress on this matter, state Rep. Ruth Kagi, a Democrat from Lake Forest Park, wants to do the work, take the heat and close the loophole at gun shows and flea markets in our state.

This legislation ought to pass without a fuss, but gun politics being gun politics, she has her work cut out for her.

Due to a glitch in the law, a felon or mentally unstable person can buy a gun at a gun show or flea market from an unlicensed vendor – no tough questions asked. Yet, the person buying from a licensed dealer at the next table at the same show undergoes a sensible background check. The checks are designed to weed out people with criminal records, mental problems and those convicted of domestic violence.

One gun used during the Colorado school shootings was obtained from a gun show. The shooter at a Los Angeles day care, a man with severe mental problems, also used a weapon that previously had been sold and traded at a gun show. If we wait for Congress to get its act together, there will be more inexplicable tales.

This is not complicated. Some people should not be buying guns – not from a licensed dealer and not from an unlicensed dealer.

Kagi’s plan, House Bill 2707, merely applies the same laws to all sellers and removes a popular avenue for unqualified buyers to purchase guns.

It is time to pass this simple legislation and send a message that this illogical approach will no longer be tolerated in this state.

Copyright ? 2000 The Seattle Times Company