Editor,

It is unfortunate that those wanting to address the “gun show loophole” didn’t stay to the task and give us an initiative that dealt with that issue. Instead, we got 18 pages of new regulation aiming to make criminals out of law-abiding citizens and making it difficult to stay on the right side of the law.

Don’t take the word of the proponents of this; read every page of the proposal for yourself. This does nothing to end gun violence.

Heck, if I want to buy a gun from my dad, he has to pay to have a background check done on me, and we also have to pay someone to process all the required paperwork.

Your first violation would be a misdemeanor, but any further violation of this complex initiative would be a felony and could result in you having all of your handguns confiscated. Also, parents who leave any type of gun to their heirs create a burdensome paperwork nightmare that must be addressed within 60 days, or, again, you’re in violation of the law.

These are just two of the problems.

This law is promoted by people who want guns banned for all segments of society. It’s funded by millionaires and billionaires, many of whom live out of state and employ armed bodyguards for themselves. No thanks.

Also disgusting about those pushing this initiative are emails they started sending out within a few hours of the tragedy at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. Claiming this is another reason to pass this initiative was not only disgusting, but an outright lie based upon what we’ve been told about this terrible tragedy.

Criminals don’t buy guns at places where background checks are required, and they aren’t going to start doing so with this initiative. They steal them or buy them in back-alley deals from other criminals.

You want to address the gun show issue? Great. Most all of us can support something reasonable for that, but this is so much more than that.

Again, this does nothing to lessen gun violence. This just makes criminals out of law abiding citizens. Vote No on I-594.

Chuck Krieg

Oak Harbor