"Taking aim at current gun laws," by Nicole Brodeur, Seattle Times

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa writes in his book God Has a Dream, ... before we can become God's partners, we must know what God wants for us. "I have a dream," God says. "Please help Me to realize it. It is a dream of a world whose ugliness and squalor and poverty, its war and hostility, its greed and harsh competitiveness, its alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts, when there will be more laughter, joy and peace, where there will be justice and goodness and compassion and love and caring and sharing ..."In God's family, there are no outsiders. All are insiders. Black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight. Jew and Arab, Palestinian and Israeli, Roman Catholic and Protestant, Serb and Albanian, Hutu and Tursi, Muslim and Christian, Buddhist and Hindu, Pakistani and Indian--all belong ... God says, All, all are My children. It is shocking. It is radical.

Ugliness. Alienation. Disharmony. Shocking. Radical. What on Earth is happened here in Seattle last Saturday at 7 a.m.? Not far from my home Kyle Huff of Whitefish, Montana, summarily executed six people, the youngest of which was 14. He committed these horrendous acts before blowing his own head off with his shotgun. Nobody knows why, including his twin-brother with whom he shared an apartment where the ammunition and guns were stored.

At church class on Sunday I heard the usual excuses: Alcohol. Drugs.

I don't think so. There was a very deep-seated anger present in this person. I've read stories about Kyle Huff's Mother, but no mention of his Father.

In church class Sunday I asked: Why has Bill Gates become a success entrepreuneur with a spirit of charitable compassion whereas Kyle Huff is now infamous as a mass murderer of the youngest among us in their most joyful, playful moments? To some questions there are no simple answers.

Imagine a group of people, mostly sixty plus, in a class still trying to discern God's call for our lives? Eighty-five year old Glen Asher told a story about Bill Gates being given responsibility by a school librarian for organizing the school library during his formative years. Glen speculates that Bill discovered he could organize anything and because he did he now helps many of us organize our daily routines. A school prinicipal suggested that vision is a primary contributor to evolution. What we picture we can become. That's why positive role models are so important. People who love us, and show us the way. Like Jesus.

What picture was in Kyle Huff's mind when he pulled the trigger leaving our world a lot darker than the blossoms of springtime were we hoping for instead? ... Sky

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Nicole Brodeur

Taking aim at current gun laws

By Nicole Brodeur

Seattle Times staff columnist

Even before the shock subsided, The Blame Game began.

It was the rave scene that killed those poor kids Saturday on Capitol Hill. It was the city's weak All Ages Dance Ordinance. It was the weed they smoked, the beer they drank, the music that drained their heads of reason. It was the parents who didn't keep track. Stop.

What killed those people was a 28-year-old man named Kyle Huff, who took advantage of American gun laws and packed his pickup with an arsenal of weapons that no person should ever want or need: An assault rifle. A handgun. A shotgun. A machete. Hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

"There's plenty for everyone," Huff said as he started shooting, according to witness statements to police.

We all want to know why Huff opened fire on a houseful of innocents. But what confounds me is why anyone should have such weapons, and so many.

Huff used a pistol-grip shotgun and a .40-caliber semiautomatic Ruger.

He used them six years ago to blast a moose sculpture in his hometown of Whitefish, Mont. Police seized the guns, then returned them to Huff — their rightful owner. And why not? He had committed no felonies. And no one could have known then what would happen years later in a house in Seattle.

On Saturday, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske walked through that house before the bodies were removed. Afterward, he called Huff's shotgun "not for hunting purposes, but for hunting people."

It was a wretched moment: Less than 24 hours earlier, Kerlikowske and Mayor Greg Nickels were honored by Washington CeaseFire for "their work to end gun violence in Washington state."

"It doesn't feel for naught," Kerlikowske said Monday. "Reasonable, common-sense gun laws are going to be an issue for a while.

"Looking at those bodies put it in perspective as to why I speak on this issue. That progress has slipped away in the last few years, and we're all trying to bring it back to a level of sanity."

John Rosenthal has a plan. Last year, the Boston real-estate manager founded the American Hunters & Shooters Association ( www.huntersandshooters.org), a nonprofit seeking "common sense gun-safety measures."

Rosenthal wants to represent the millions of American gun owners who act responsibly and expect the government to do the same, like restricting access to military-style weapons, and requiring training and permits, and tightening rules for gun-show sales.

I told him about the guns Huff used.

"People are asking where these guns are coming from, and I think the question is, 'Where aren't they coming from?' " Rosenthal said. "National gun policy has been to allow unrestricted access to all firearms, including assault weapons, which had been banned until last September."

Why would someone want to buy an assault rifle?

"Because they can."

Kyle Huff owned an arsenal. And then he killed six people.

Because in America, he could.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com . They were just kids.

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