Kelli Scott | Respect the process, uphold the law

Last October, Chelan County Sheriff Brian Burnett wrote an op-ed in this newspaper opposing Initiative 1639. He shared his concerns about the package of new gun regulations that was on the general election ballot. He argued that I-1639 would place too heavy a burden on law enforcement agencies, and he lamented the initiative-writing process, which he said had left out county sheriffs. In November, I-1639 passed. It didn’t pass here in Chelan County, where only 45 percent of voters supported the initiative, but it passed big time in big cities, which was enough. Now, somewhere between 13 and 20 sheriffs (news reports differ) in mostly rural parts of the state have said they will not enforce the law. Thankfully, Burnett is not one of them. Initiative 1639 raises the minimum age for buying a semi-automatic rifle to 21 years old and requires 10-day waiting periods and more thorough background checks to purchase those rifles. It also makes a gun owner liable in some circumstances if their gun was stored carelessly and was used in a crime. The age limits provision took effect Jan. 1. The rest of the law is scheduled to be implemented July 1. In an interview with KOHO Radio, Burnett said that while he didn’t vote for the initiative, “I don’t think it’s my opinion that matters so much as the courts’, and there’s a system there that we have to follow, and as soon as we no longer follow that system, then we’re going to walk away and abandon everything that America was created for. … We have to respect the process.” Kudos to Burnett for his measured, professional handling of the situation. (Douglas County Sheriff Kevin Morris seems to be on the same page, though his rhetoric has been a bit harder to decipher. He says enforcing the law isn’t going to be a

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