Felony proposed for unsafe storage of firearms used in crimes

Lawmakers heard passionate testimony from both sides today on a proposal to prosecute gun owners when an unsecured gun is used in a crime.

It would create a Class C Felony with a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Nyla Fritz's brother was one of three killed by 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis at a Moses Lake school 21 years ago.

“Barry was armed with a rifle and two handguns and carried 78 rounds of ammunition that he obtained from his father's house. Listen to those words. A 14 year old was armed with a rifle and two handguns and 78 rounds of ammunition.”

Fritz and others hope lawmakers will make it a crime to leave guns around where people who aren't supposed to get them can easily find them.

That's what happened in 2012 when a 9-year-old Bremerton boy took his stepfather's gun to school in his backpack. The gun went off, and the bullet hit an 8-year-old girl. State law didn't allow prosecution of the stepfather.

The law didn't require “to have him bear any responsibility for the damage done by that gun in the hands of a 9 year old at school,” said former Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hague.

But opponents said responsible gun owners shouldn't be treated as criminals.

“It'd be the same difference as if somebody broke into one of your homes, took a kitchen knife and went out and stabbed somebody with it. Would you be guilty of a felony then?” said Oak Harbor gun owner Grey Wunderly.

Fritz and others know they are up against the politically powerful National Rifle Association.

“Guns are involved in point 4 percent -- that's less than one-half of one percent -- of all accidental deaths among children. Today the odds are a million to one against a child in the U.S. dying in a gun accident," argued NRA state liaison Keeley Hopkins.

Cox Media Group