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King County Sheriff Warns Against 'Celebratory' Gunfire on New Year's Eve

A person can be charged with Reckless Endangerment for firing a gun in a public place and can land the shooter in jail for up to 364 days and imposed a fine of up to $5,000.

The King County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday urged residents with firearms preparing to fire off a few rounds to celebrate the New Year tomorrow night with three words: “Don’t Do It!”

“Any bullet fired from a gun must land somewhere and the risks of causing an injury or death is significant”, said King County Sheriff John Urquhart in a news release.

Every year around the country people are injured and killed by celebratory gunfire and law enforcement officials want to keep that from happening in King County.

The Sheriff’s Office said if they can pinpoint someone shooting they will fully enforce the law.  At a minimum a person can be charged with Reckless Endangerment and if convicted can land the shooter in jail for up to 364 days and imposed a fine of up to $5,000.

Sheriff Urquhart said the bottom line for New Year’s Eve was a simple calculation.

"Have fun but don’t risk lives," he said. “Don’t spend your last day of 2012 in jail.”

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William Kratz May 20, 2013 at 05:36 pm
I'll be a bit more direct than Jerry. The new site is a mess. Visually it's extremely cluttered.Read More It's slow, very slow. There appear to be no RSS feeds, a major negative. Following a few links sometimes sends you to a different community's Patch site. And what happened with the editing staff. Unless I missed something, suddenly there are new editors without any warning. No matter what the circumstances, normally such a move would be accompanied by an announcement of some sort. Venice may be the greatest editor ever, but it looks like she is splitting her time among several Patch sites, so the odds are stacked against her. Her "latest activities" list even suggests that she is editing a Patch site down in the San Francisco Bay area. With all due respect, Patch sites should be hyper-local, and the best route to that is a local (i.e. Mercer Islander) editor.
Jerry Gropp Architect AIA May 15, 2013 at 02:07 pm
The Jury is still out. I liked the "Old Patch". J