Re: “Police take into custody man who allegedly had toy gun on UW campus” [Nov. 25, Local News]:
We at Grandmothers Towards Gun Violence are relieved that the police took this man into custody earlier than a tragedy passed off. Toy weapons look dangerously like actual weapons. Unable to tell apart clearly between them, police, and others, develop into harassed, make assumptions, and will attain for actual firearms. Keep in mind 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Not too long ago, his loss of life on Nov. 22, 2014, underneath precisely these circumstances, was commemorated.
Weapons are usually not toys. Toys are usually not weapons. Final yr, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed laws to strengthen restrictions on “imitation weapons.” Let’s hope Washington does the identical.
In the meantime, please don’t purchase your kids and grandchildren toy weapons this vacation season. It could actually all go terribly flawed.
Margaret Heldring, Seattle
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