Tired of WA’s strict gun laws — and its assault on the Second Amendment? Speak up | Opinion

Strict gun laws

For my civics class, we were told to choose an injustice and say how we will try and solve it. The injustice I chose to use is Washington state’s strict gun laws. Namely, the two new bills that were recently passed by the Washington state legislature.

One is a bill that would make the selling, distributing, purchasing or manufacturing of magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition a gross misdemeanor. The penalty for a gross misdemeanor in Washington state is up to 364 days of jail time and/or fines up to $5,000.

The second is a bill that bans the sale, importation and distribution of assault-style rifles, one of the highest-profile firearms-regulation bills in the nation, signed by Gov. Jay Inslee on April 25.

What can we do to fix this injustice? We can support the National Rifle Association by donating to them. If you want, you can join them too. You can also support other gun rights activists at protests like the one held at the state capital in Olympia on February 9. We can get a petition started to help.

Corban Hansen, Lakewood

Higher education

We believe that a major problem right now in America and Tacoma is the lack of higher education and the main issue with this is the accessibility to higher education; to fix this we start with the prohibitive cost of higher education is a concern for students and parents, hindering their ability to pursue a college degree.

To make higher education more accessible and affordable, lawmakers must prioritize funding for universities and colleges, while state and federal governments can provide grants and scholarships to financially needy students. Online courses can be a cost-effective alternative, while job training programs and apprenticeships can offer valuable real-world experience.

To reduce costs, universities can streamline operations and increase efficiency, passing on savings to students through lower tuition fees. Overall, these actions will help ensure that every student has the opportunity to pursue higher education and achieve their goals. And we believe at IDEA (Industrial Design, Engineering and Art) high school in Tacoma that this would be a major improvement for both the city of Tacoma and the U.S.

Jacob Brincefield, Dyana Perkins, Tacoma

Debt ceiling

Once again, like clockwork, the nation is about to engage in our debt ceiling dance. Both sides will try to stare each other down. Who will blink first? It would be almost funny if the stakes weren’t so high.

We know well what happens if the debt ceiling is not extended, and if the US defaults on its obligations for the first time in history. A catastrophic cascade of events — recession, market crash, job loss, interest rate hike, chaos engulfing Social Security and Medicare, loss of AAA rating for the U.S. and global financial turbulence — would ensue. Even approaching the precipice has serious costs. The consequences are so dire that basic sanity, one would think, would be more than adequate to prevent it.

But maybe not this time.

It was predictable that Republicans, who had no problem adding $6.7 trillion in new debt under President Donald Trump, would suddenly become paragons of fiscal responsibility. In the past, such hypocrisy always ultimately yielded to common sense.

This time, however, Kevin McCarthy has zero room to maneuver. His earlier concessions to the fringe wing of the Republican party ensure that just one member can put his Speakership in serious jeopardy. McCarthy knows that only too well.

This time, God help us.

Sankar Ray, Sammamish