Editorials / Opinion

A police officer collecting evidence at the Federal Way shooting scene carries a shotgun, a dictionary and a copy of a book, “Fight Back and Win: What to Do When You Feel Cheated or Wronged.” (Photo by Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)

Federal Way shootings turned my thoughts back to gun control. According to The Seattle Times news story, witnesses were hunted down and killed by the gunman after he shot his girlfriend. He had a history of domestic violence.

After the Aurora movie theater shooting, the Colorado state Legislature passed a bill that would have stopped domestic abusers from purchasing guns. The state also closed the gun-show loophole that allows buyers to get around undergoing a background check.

A bill to expand background checks failed in Washington state. Read our March editorial calling out lawmakers for favoring gun lobbyists over the people of Washington state, who overwhelmingly support the measure.

Here is some more food for thought from opinion writers:

I’ve made it clear in column after column that the public should have little tolerance for zero tolerance school discipline policies. Here’s another reason not to. A 7-year-old Maryland boy was suspended for two days for chewing a strawberry breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun and saying, “Bang, bang.” In Pennsylvania, a 5-year-old…

Emergence of a well-funded gun control group this week made me wonder about a rumored boom in recent gun sales. More than a rumor: the Department of Social and Health Services, which checks for serious psychiatric history during a gun-buyer background check, can barely keep up with the workload, according to spokesman Thomas Shapley. (Decoder for…