The heroin epidemic and the gang violence due to drug-dealing turf wars are becoming a crisis in Washington state.

Nationwide, opioid overdoses killed more than 33,000 people. That’s a number greater than those murdered with guns (80 percent of which are gang-related) or those killed in traffic accidents.

So what’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s proposal for keeping Washingtonians safe? Some new initiative to combat drug trafficking? New laws aimed at the treatment of substance abuse? Perhaps a new educational push aimed at keeping intercity youth out of gangs? Don’t be silly! Those issues are complicated!

Ferguson has chosen instead to focus his attention on common semi-automatic rifles and standard capacity magazines who’s misuse grabs headlines, but which account for a tiny fraction of deaths caused by guns. In fact, rifles of all types are used in less than 2 percent of homicides, falling well behind deaths caused by fists or blunt objects. Civilian possession of real, military assault rifles (those capable of firing more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger) has been under strict federal control since 1934 and they cannot be legally owned by a private party in Washington state unless acquired under federal regulations prior to 1994.

This whole thing is a political sham. It’s designed to grab headlines and convince a gullible public that the attorney general’s “doing something” to combat crime. Call your state representative and tell them to stop wasting time with “Ferguson’s Follies” and get to work solving real issues.

Charles Ely

Bremerton