On Feb. 20, I attended the “town hall” in Maple Valley convened by state representatives Jay Rodne and Chad Magendanz. Last week’s slaughter of four members of a family by a suicidal man near Belfair in Mason County reminded me that both Rodne and Magendanz supported a bill (HB 1245) in Olympia that would repeal I-594, the universal background check for gun sales supported by a strong majority of Washington voters. In fact, Jay Rodne is a sponsor of the bill.

When I asked about their opposition, Rodne said I-594 was not effective and gave a difficult-to-believe hypothetical of employees of a security firm having to go through a gun background check every time they withdrew or returned guns to a central storage area. Magendanz said he knew of a better alternative – an unnamed 10-minute, background-check process that he implied would do just as well. He gave no specifics.

I’m concerned that Republican politicians continually find fault with any and all solutions proposed by the opposition party or others without offering any viable solutions of their own. America is a disturbingly notable outlier among developed nations in the amount of gun massacres we accept.

It is time to stop the slaughter and for this reason I would never vote for Rodne or Magendanz. Their position does not represent the will of the citizens of Washington state or our 5th Legislative District.

D. Philip Miller

Issaquah