Results tagged “gunviolence”

• West Seattle's Alki beachgoers have suspected that an algae bloom is to blame for the "scungy yellow stuff" mucking-up the local waters. Until an official report is in, our toes are staying on land.
• The hiphop concert series Rock the Bells opted out of making a repeat Washington stop during the 2009 tour. After pissing and moaning about Seattle getting the shaft, Rock the Bells is back on for an intimate--not really affiliated, just didn't want to hear bitching anymore--show come August at the Showbox.

First Black Prez is now awake and able to talk to people, report friends who are with him at Harborview. He was shot in the abdomen and the neck with a .45 at Chop Suey on Saturday night, and immediately taken to Harborview; it now appears that the violence was not gang-related. Over the course of the next twelve hours, we heard everything from "He's not gonna make it" to "They just won't tell us anything until his mom gets here" to "Don't even think that he might not make it through! Thoughts are too powerful!" We're pleased the speculation is over, and downright thrilled that this tragedy didn't result in a second death.

Because we couldn't make it to the gun ban public hearing, we've been trying to catch up via online accounts of the meeting. "I personally view carrying a gun as kind of like wearing a seatbelt," one of the opponents of the ban said, caught on tape by King5. "You'll probably never need it but I still buckle up." (Of course, in a car crash the seatbelt would probably be a net positive, while a gun would just rattle around in your glove box.) Other opponents argued that the ban would prevent law-abiding citizens from being able to protect themselves against gun-toting criminals. Proponents of Nickels' questionably legal executive order were, of course, concerned about accidental firings. Still no conversation, at least not recorded in the accounts we've read, about addressing gun violence from the angle of making guns and/or bullets (and/or seatbelts, which are just like guns) more difficult to obtain--our favorite angle.

We've said it before and we'll say it again: the mayor's proposal to ban guns on public property is an ill-founded idea. Attorney General McKenna has said Nickels doesn't have the legal authority to follow through on this plan, but so far all the opposition seems to have barely registered with the man and the ban is barrelling full steam ahead. That is, unless enough people make it clear that there are better ways to combat gun violence. Tonight is your chance to speak up in public on how you feel about the gun ban, as City Hall is hosting an official City of Seattle hearing on the subject at 6:30 p.m. No word on whether Mayor Nickels will be there to sign autographs (sorry!).

While the rest of the world was glued to soccer shoot-outs on the field, Lakewood, Wash., police were investigating the deaths of two men from a soccer related shoot-out off field. While the names of the victims have yet to be released, KOMO News is reporting two young men were killed after a soccer dispute escalated into gunfire on Saturday night. Police have said that one of them was an innocent bystander, and another bystander was injured by an errant bullet. Two gunmen were involved in the shooting—one is in the morgue and the other remains at large. Lakewood police did detain and question a suspect about the shooting, but he has since been cleared of involvement and released.