Guns do not equal peace or a more peaceful society.

Gun violence on sharp rise in Seattle

By CASEY MCNERTHNEY
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
photo
Brad Vest / P-I
Police at the scene of a November 2008 shooting in the 8600 block of Rainier Avenue South that officers said was gang related.

(Editor's Note: This story has been clarified to note statistics are based on preliminary police data provided by the department.)

Related content

·: Map and police database of Seattle assault calls involving guns

The young man was said to be in King County Juvenile Court because he was waiting for a friend. He'd looked over the 144 matters on the Aug. 14 court calendar and had heard that his friend might be released from juvenile detention.

But alleged members of a rival gang noticed him, authorities said, and the hostility escalated to the point where security had to escort out the 21-year-old. He was walking through the parking lot, approaching 12th Avenue, when a four-door sedan, possibly a 2004 Chevy Impala, stopped in front of the parking lot entrance to the Youth Service Center.

A young man got out of the back passenger side and made a derogatory remark before firing five or six shots, wounding the 21-year-old, who police have investigated in connection with a still-unsolved gang-related homicide from 2008.

The latest gang-related shooting outside the Youth Service Center -- a case that has brought no arrests -- was one of the most brazen assaults this year, and added to a troubling trend of increasing gun violence in Seattle.

Between Jan. 1 and June 15, 2008, there were 219 assault calls said to involve guns, according to preliminary police records. During the same period this year, police data show the number has jumped to 346, a 58 percent increase.

Follow this link to see a map of those assault calls said to involve guns, obtained through a public disclosure request by seattlepi.com.

Homicides have decreased in 2009. So far there have been 15 in Seattle, including 10 shooting deaths. That's down from 21 during the same period last year.

But total violent crime reported to Seattle police increased 22 percent during the first seven months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

Aggravated assaults, which involve a weapon or resulted in serious injury, are up 22 percent.

City Councilman Tim Burgess, who detailed the crime stats on his blog, told seattlepi.com that the increase in gun-involved assaults is not limited to gang-related violence. Domestic violence incidents involving guns also show an increase.

Of the 346 assault calls examined through June 15 this year, 271 of them were domestic violence cases, according to preliminary police records.

On the issue of gang violence, Judge Phillip Hubbard, chief judge of the juvenile division, was among a panel of people last week who addressed the King County Council's Law, Justice and Human Services Committee on the issue of better security.

He said rival gang members meet in the Youth Service Center lobby. The facility "is in one gang's territory and anyone who enters the facility has to enter rival territory to come to court or to leave," he told the committee.

Less than a week after the non-fatal shooting that locked down the facility -- and also brought a police response for alleged gang members at Harborview Medical Center -- there was another lockdown at the Youth Service Center. But police were unable to find the teen said to have a gun.

Hubbard explained efforts were made to increase security even prior to the incidents, but told the committee some judges have expressed concerns about coming to work.

"It's completely unacceptable to Superior Court for us to be forcing people with threat of legal process to come to a court when we can't guarantee the safety of those people," Judge Bruce Hilyer told the committee last week. "And that's the situation we're dealing with right now."

King County, which now has two senior deputy prosecutors working full time on gang-related cases, has also seen more 16- and 17-year-olds tried as adults after committing serious violent offenses -- something required by the state legislature.

In 2008 there were 19 teens tried as adults for such crimes. Already this year there have been 36 -- nearly all gun-related crimes.

While current law seems to mandate a 10-day detention for juveniles convicted of illegal gun possession, they have ways to avoid detention, including deferred disposition.

King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg has drafted reforms for the legislature to close the loopholes that allow juveniles to escape detention for gun crimes. He also wants legislative reforms to have juvenile gun possession crimes taken more seriously.

That includes eliminating the ability to set aside firearms sentence enhancements on juvenile crimes and eliminating deferred disposition sentencing in some cases.

"Sending a clear message to youth that juvenile gun crimes are serious may help prevent them from graduating to the adult system," he wrote, "where the penalties for gun crimes are very serious and include very long sentences."

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/410222_violence16.html

Cantor is a supporter of free trade, voting to promote trade with Peru, Chile, Singapore, and Australia. He also voted for the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). He voted against raising the minimum wage to US$ 7.25 in 2007. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the largest federation of trade unions in the United States, rates Cantor 0%, indicating an anti-Union voting record.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Cantor#Campaign_office_incident



well, his opinions are as valid as anyones,, I will wait for actual POLICY to be determined though,,,

again, I dont see it as asking PERMISSION to inquire review by an outside source


perhaps we should get second and third opinions more often

depends upon whom you ask,, the feds could give the same argument about the intrusion of the state(although illegal immigration numbers are actually DOWN)

at least the UN is being asked instead of just taking it upon themself

African Diaspora

The geneology (the family tree)of many people in the USA include branches that extend into Africa.

Tracing our family heritage and claiming all the branches of that tree as our own is not only a way to connect with the past, it is also a way to connect with the current global community.