CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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AN ORDINANCE requiring the reporting of lost and stolen firearms; and creating a new Chapter 10.78 of the Seattle Municipal Code.
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WHEREAS, the Seattle Police Department has taken 2,657 firearms into custody since January 2012 through the course of its regular duties; and
WHEREAS, crime statistics show guns play a significant role in many crimes against persons in Seattle, with crime reports indicating the involvement of a firearm in 69% of homicides, 17% of robbery incidents, and 8% of aggravated assaults that took place from January 2012 to May 2015; and
WHEREAS, several hundred thousand firearms are lost or stolen each year, many of which go unreported; and
WHEREAS, lost or stolen firearms are frequently involved in the commission of crimes; and
WHEREAS, laws that require the reporting of lost and stolen firearms to police promote public safety by enabling law enforcement to better track firearms used in the commission of a crime and illegal guns; and
WHEREAS, mandatory reporting requirements also help return lost guns to their rightful owners and protect gun owners from being wrongly implicated in crimes committed with lost or stolen guns; and
WHEREAS, a January 2011 national poll conducted by the firms Momentum Analysis and American Viewpoint for the organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns found that 94% of the respondents favored mandatory reporting of lost and stolen firearms, with similarly high levels of support among gun-owning households; and
WHEREAS, another nationwide poll conducted in May 2012 by the firm Luntz Global for Mayors Against Illegal Guns likewise found strong, two-thirds support from gun owners for a reporting requirement; and
WHEREAS, federal law currently requires licensed firearms dealers to report lost or stolen guns, but the law does not extend to individual gun owners; and
WHEREAS, this ordinance does not impose criminal pena...
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