I don’t think the state Capitol is a place for gun conventions. But our esteemed lawmakers do.
They refuse to ban guns from the opulent People’s House. If gun owners show their permits and keep their weapons holstered, no one will bug them as they roam the halls, sit among wide-eyed schoolchildren in the gallery or drop in on the governor.
Yet, in a seeming display of legislative lunacy, these same politicians are forcing all visitors to pass through an airportlike security system of metal detectors and X-ray scanners before entering the hallowed home of state government.
The logic: They’ll know who’s packing and who’s not.
I feel safer now.
Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, figured out that this makes no sense. He fiercely opposed metal detectors and wouldn’t even put funding for them in a construction budget he crafted. Senators disagreed. In negotiations in the final hours of this year’s legislative session, Dunshee relented in exchange for another vote on use of metal detectors next year.
Taxpayers are getting hosed in this deal. According to the state Department of General Administration, $237,000 will be spent to lease four metal detectors and three scanners for deployment at the north, south and southeast entries of the Capitol. Another $1 million will go to hire a chief security officer and 33 full-timer screeners during the session.
That’s enough money to give 165 high school students a seat in college.
As to the guns, I wish I could tell you that this mess about allowing them in the Capitol is traceable to a devilish scheme by the National Rifle Association. In reality, the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee snuffed out a proposed ban before the NRA even had time to take aim.
Rep. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, a state trooper who relies on a sidearm to stay alive, wrote the bill that would have added a line to state law to keep firearms out of legislative buildings.
But behind closed doors, his party failed him when it became clear that Democrats were not of like mind in keeping rifle-bearing Joe-Bob from sitting next to any of the 150,000 grade-schoolers who visit the Capitol each year.
Part of the problem is that many lawmakers are packing when they come to work on the floor of the House. It’s practically urban legend that one can suffer a hernia lifting Republican Rep. Lois McMahan’s purse because of the size of her gun.
Any chance that outgoing Democratic Gov. Gary Locke might summon lawmakers into special session to compel them to act is unlikely. Even lame ducks don’t take on the NRA.
If he did, he’d face a High Noon duel with Merton and Myrtle Cooper of Port Orchard. Five times in the last 11 sessions, gun bans have been debated. Each time, this couple, now in their 70s, have opposed the bans.
“A gun-free zone is a victim-rich zone,” said Myrtle Cooper, who has been known to pack a .32-caliber handgun when she visits the Capitol. “There is nobody there to act in defense.”
In that case, anyone know where I can get a permit for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher?
Reporter Jerry Cornfield’s column on politics runs every Sunday. He can be heard at 7 a.m. Monday on the Morning Show on KSER 90.7 FM. He can be reached at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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