Gun initiative: Young lives will be saved
Child access prevention laws hold firearm owners responsible if a child accesses and uses an unsafely stored gun to harm themselves or others.
Twenty-seven states, including Florida and Texas, have them; Washington does not.
These laws measurably decrease youth suicides and accidental child shootings after they go into effect. In our state, nearly 75 percent of gun deaths are by suicide and national youth suicide rates are increasing.
Without question, when Initiative 1639 passes and is enacted into law, lives in Washington will be saved.
(Ayer is a Tacoma pediatrician and secretary of the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.)