Loretta Cool, Tacoma police spokeswoman: We operate on a day-to-day, minute-to-minute basis, and we’re going to continue to respond to calls the way we do and respond to gun issues the way we do. We enforce the laws of the City of Tacoma, and until those actually change, it wouldn’t change how we operate.
Bob Calkins, Washington State Patrol spokesman: We enforce the law. At this point, there’s not much value in us getting involved in debating it. We will enforce the wishes of the public.
Bret Farrar, Lakewood police chief: If you look in our property room, we have very few assault rifles and we have tons and tons of handguns. I think a lot of these guns end up on the street because they’re stolen from people. I would like to see more emphasis on educating people who do own handguns on how to keep them from falling into the wrong hands.
There’s been many Department of Justice grants to keep police officers on the streets, and a lot of those over the last few years have dried up. If they’re going to re-fund some of those programs, I think that would be extremely helpful to local law enforcement.
The mental health community across the country over the past couple years has been decimated by budget cuts.
alexis.krell@thenewstribune.com
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