Level 3 sex offenders have by their actions convinced government professionals they are a high risk to the community and a threat to reoffend if provided the opportunity. They are predators. We the people, through our laws, give them that opportunity by releasing them into our community even though we are warned they will do again what they have already done.
By contrast, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels wants to deny concealed carry permit holders (who have no history of serious criminal behavior, having been screened by the FBI) the right to use their handgun for self-defense. Released sex offenders and murderers are allowed to roam free in the same places law-abiding, armed citizens are to be denied access in the name of public safety.
Through some perverted idea of liberty, those who’ve proven themselves willing and able to destroy lives can be free while government ever increasingly controls the lives of the innocent. We are considered too great a risk to our neighbors and our children to make some choices for ourselves. We must wear safety belts, helmets on motorcycles or in skate parks and use booster seats, not smoking in public or talking on cell phones while driving.
We have no problem denying liberties to all if it saves one person from harm yet murderers and Level 3 offenders who have proven themselves dangerous are given back their liberty.
When the state Supreme Court tossed some 500 murder convictions where death was the result of an assault, everyone I knew (without exception) was outraged. In the election that followed, every incumbent judge in the race was re-elected. If this is your idea of liberty, keep electing judges and legislators who lord over your life for your own safety while enabling those who actually prey on the innocent.
Lou Kitz
Darrington
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