Nickels seeks laws to keep guns from kids and criminals

The timing was coincidental, but hours after a student was shot dead at a Tacoma high school, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels called on Washington lawmakers to pass new laws to keep guns away from children and criminals.

Aggravated assaults with a firearm in Seattle are up 48 percent since 2004, according to statistics Nickels cited at a news conference Wednesday morning. He wants Washington to become the eighth state in the nation to ban assault weapons and said recent crimes — including Wednesday morning's shooting in Tacoma and last year's fatal shootings on Capitol Hill and at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle — show that current gun laws aren't keeping people safe.

"We want our kids to be safe ... and we can't guarantee that anymore," he said.

Nickels also proposed stricter laws for buying guns at gun shows, as well as trigger locks and safe-storage requirements for firearms. He hopes his call for action will spur lawmakers to write and pass new legislation this session. Many of the suggestions have already been proposed as laws in years past but not enacted.

Not only are criminals getting a hold of too many weapons illegally, said Nickels and Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, but children are using guns to hurt themselves and others.

Under previous proposals, parents who neglect to have trigger locks and safely store their guns would face up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine, Nickels said.

Only 13 percent of guns used in crimes and recovered in Seattle come from licensed dealers. The rest are obtained through other means, such as family members, theft and illegal dealers, according to statistics cited Wednesday.

Nickels made a similar plea in May shortly after returning from a mayors summit on illegal guns and gun violence in New York. He said he and the 14 other mayors in attendance want to see some common-sense changes to make sure illegal guns are kept off the streets.

But Joe Waldron, the executive director of the Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and president of Washington Arms Collectors, which holds local gun shows, says Nickels' proposals would not have prevented any of the recent high-profile shootings.

He also argues that existing laws, such as the one that covers reckless endangerment, can already be applied to parents who irresponsibly allow their children access to guns.

"We want to keep out of the hands of criminals," Waldron said. "But we shouldn't make it harder for law-abiding citizens to own guns."

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com