UPDATED: Three shootings in downtown Seattle over a 24-hour period, the last being a wild melee that left one woman dead and seven others, including a 9-year-old boy, injured just might underscore what a national grassroots gun rights organization said ten days ago about how gun control had “failed miserably” in Washington State.
Wednesday evening’s chaos erupted at the notorious intersection of Third Avenue and Pine, long known as “one of the grittiest” areas in the city’s downtown area, according to the Seattle Times. One day before, a 55-year-old man was gunned down in a stairwell less than a block away, the newspaper noted.
Police have identified two suspects in the shooting as Marquise Latrelle Tolbert and William Ray Tolliver, both 24. They are considered armed and dangerous.
3RD AND PINE UPDATE: Detectives have identified two suspects in yesterday's shooting. Marquise Latrelle Tolbert (age 24, 6'1" 200 lbs) and William Ray Tolliver (age 24, 6'0" 145 lbs). Both men are considered armed and dangerous. Call 911 if you see them or know where they are. pic.twitter.com/vgg7Uez3zN
— Seattle Police Department (@SeattlePD) January 23, 2020
Last year, Seattle logged 332 shooting incidents, which was up from 313 in 2018, according to KIRO-TV News. There were also 18 firearm-related homicides last year, the most since 2012, according to Seattle Police data.
And that’s evidence the gun control crusade launched six years ago by the Seattle-based, and billionaire-backed Alliance for Gun Responsibility and state lawmakers whose districts are in the area has been a total failure, according to the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. CCRKBA is based in Bellevue, located across Lake Washington from Seattle.
As reported earlier this month by Ammoland News, “Seattle Police data show more reports of shots fired in the years following passage of Initiative 594 in 2014. I-594 was the so-called ‘universal background check’ measure that was supposed to keep guns out of the wrong hands. CCRKBA joined with several other groups to oppose that measure…
“Prior to 2014, incidents of shots fired in Seattle never topped 300,” Ammoland reported. “Since 2015—the first full year following passage of the gun control measure—the number of shooting incidents has not dropped below 300.”
The story also recalled how the Seattle City Council adopted a “gun violence tax” on the sale of firearms and ammunition inside city limits in 2015. In 2016, the city posted 18 slayings of which 11 were gun-related. In 2017, the city recorded 27 murders, including 16 involving firearms. In 2018, the number was 32, according to SPD data, and 13 of them involved guns. Last year, SPD said, there were 28 slayings.
Further demonstrating gun control’s failure are the FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics. In 2016, Washington reported 195 total homicides including 127 involving firearms. In 2017, the state posted 228 total slayings including 134 killings with guns and in 2018 there were 232 murders including 138 committed with firearms.
“We find it beyond ironic,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “that the exact opposite of what gun control proponents predicted has occurred. Their extremist agenda has failed to reduce gun-related crime as was implied when they pushed through their various measures.”
Now, in Olympia, Seattle-area lawmakers are pushing even more gun control legislation. Critic testified this week that such gun law proposals only penalize law-abiding citizens.
KIRO is reporting that police have identified as suspects in the shooting, and are “known to Seattle police.” Both are 24 years old and both apparently have lengthy criminal histories.
Meanwhile, licensed concealed carry in the state has surged as more citizens concerned with their safety are arming up. At the end of 2015, Department of Licensing statistics show there were 509,578 active concealed pistol licenses. At the end of 2019, there were 646,344 active CPLs.
Olympia’s reaction: Legislation has been introduced to require proof of gun safety instruction—more red tape—to obtain or renew a CPL.
