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Rantz: Democrats’ bill effectively ends self-defense at dangerous bus stops Jan 15, 2024, 6:00 PM
democrats self defense bus stop...
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BY JASON RANTZ
AM 770 KTTH host
Despite a slew of violent crimes, Washington Democrats are trying to
strip away your fundamental right to self-defense in the very places you
need it most. Their newest bill bans weapons, including legally
purchased guns and knives, at bus stops and transit centers.
SB 5444 isn’t just an overreach; it’s a direct attack on law-abiding citizens. And it disproportionately affects those demographics the
Democrats always claim to champion. The irony is as thick as it is
infuriating.
Current law already prohibits weapons in places like courtrooms, bars,
and certain restricted areas. But SB 5444 takes it to an absurd level,
adding public libraries, zoos, aquariums, parks, community centers, and
other public buildings to the no-go list for self-defense.
The most alarming part? Transit stations and facilities are included in
this ban. Washington Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies have already
turned our buses and light-rail into hotspots for danger. By banning
weapons for self-defense, they’re not just ignoring the problem; they’re exacerbating it.
Mass transit can be dangerous — especially in and around Seattle
Western Washington has seen a number of high-profile, violent crimes in
2023. Many took place at the very transit locations of SB 5444 targets.
A homeless man was charged in the hammer attack against two random
victims in their 60s in September at a Sound Transit station. In another unprovoked July incident, a man stabbed a passenger 18 times at the
light-rail train near Othello Station. A Sound Transit station in SODO
in July also featured an attack when a man was bludgeoned in the head
with a rock. And in a November stabbing at the Northgate station, a man
was critically wounded. These, and many other attacks, prompted Sound
Transit to hire more security.
In November, a 21-year-old man was murdered on a Metro RapidRide H Line
bus in White Center, shot in the dead as we apparently sleeping. In the
same month, a 64-year-old man was stabbed after getting off a Metro bus
in Seattle. Plus, a bus stop in Parkland, across the street from an
elementary school, was the site of a shooting that left two young men
dead. Police say a man killed a 64-year-old man by striking him in the
head with a skateboard at a Spokane Transit Authority bus stop.
If you’re armed to protect yourself against these threats, you’d be violating this law.
Say goodbye to self-defense
Ignore the transit advocates who try to hide the truth. Our mass transit
is not as safe as it must be. Yet Democrats want to take away reasonable
means of defending ourselves.
Washington Democrats routinely push legislation making it easier for
criminals to suffer fewer — if any — consequences for their crimes. But
at least the rest of us have been left with means to protect ourselves
and our families from the criminals Democrats keep out of jail. But if
this bill passes, we’ll again be sitting ducks.
It’s unclear what bill sponsor State Senator Javier Valdez (D-Seattle)
hopes to accomplish. He did not respond to a request for comment. It’s
safe to say the intent is not to add more jail time to criminals caught
with weapons because that’s already against the law, and Democrats are pushing legislation that lessens punishment for gun-related crimes. This specifically targets law-abiding citizens, disproportionately impacting low-income communities that rely on mass transit.
Targeting riders
Under this bill, you cannot be a full-time mass transit user and carry a
weapon for self-defense. SB 5444, thus, deprives low-income
Washingtonians of their right to bear arms.
The same would be true for black Washingtonians. King County Metro data
says they are more likely than white people to ride the bus. A gol of
the Democrat party remains to take guns away from law-abiding citizens. Perhaps they stopped caring if legislation disproportionately targets communities they pander to. Regardless of race or socio-economic status,
should residents forgo self-protection in order to ride the bus? Law enforcement won’t be searching passengers for weapons. That means the
bill is poised to punish people for using a weapon in self-defense
because they shouldn’t have had the weapon to begin with.
And the ban on weapons is unlikely to stop with the current list of
no-go locations. If this passes, it all but ensures another bill will be introduced in the next legislative session to expand the ban since the
goal is to ban guns. In the meantime, Democrats are purposefully making
gun ownership more onerous — except on criminals.
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