Reading with heat: Gun ban lifted at Seattle libraries

SEATTLE --- Beginning today, visitors can carry pistols into Seattle Public Libraries after the library board voted to lift a decades old ban, deciding the Washington state Constitution grants citizens the right to carry firearms in public places.

City ordinances or laws cannot be more restrictive that the state law on firearms, leading to the ban lift. Even though the law has changed, many library visitors are voicing their opinions about the new policy change.

Octavia McAloon said, “I think it’s completely crazy and there’s no reason to take a gun into the library. You don’t need to shoot someone in the library you don’t need to protect yourself.”

Jeff Downey agrees that bullets and books don't mix.

“Horrible things happen every day, everywhere," Downey said.  "Yes, I would definitely be afraid that something would happen here and that would just increase the odds of something happening here."

A spokesperson for Washington Ceasefire, a group that opposes the ban lift, said that where you have guns you have gun violence. People on the other side of this heated debate said this policy change was long overdue.

Rob Goehrke said, “If you have a gun at a grocery store, why not a library? I see the concern but I am also aware that people have rights.”