Re: “Police take into custody man who allegedly had toy gun on UW campus” [Nov. 25, Local News]:
We at Grandmothers Towards Gun Violence are relieved that the police took this man into custody earlier than a tragedy came about. Toy weapons look dangerously like actual weapons. Unable to differentiate clearly between them, police, and others, grow to be careworn, make assumptions, and should attain for actual firearms. Bear in mind 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Not too long ago, his demise on Nov. 22, 2014, beneath precisely these circumstances, was commemorated.
Weapons are usually not toys. Toys are usually not weapons. Final 12 months, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed laws to strengthen restrictions on “imitation weapons.” Let’s hope Washington does the identical.
In the meantime, please don’t purchase your youngsters and grandchildren toy weapons this vacation season. It will probably all go terribly flawed.
Margaret Heldring, Seattle
