But Roberta Carlson isn't buying it. "I don't think people going to my [yoga] class have guns," she tells Seattle Weekly. "I'm not in favor of a neighborhood vigilante group. The thought of people walking around with guns, no matter what their intentions are, is a little scary."
For its part, the Seattle Police Department is mum on the subject. "We are here to uphold the law," says Officer Jeff Kappel, a department spokesperson. "As long as people are exercising their rights lawfully, we have no issue or opinion."
Shelly Bates, a Beacon Hill resident and mother of three, feels that if she went on one of the patrols, she's not sure she'd ask who's carrying a gun—in large part because she doesn't want to know.
"I'm not sure I'd be ready to deal with [people carrying guns on the walk]," she says, adding that while she realizes she probably should ask the parents of her kids' playdates if they have guns at home, she doesn't do that either. "They don't appear like gun owners to me, but you ask a question like that and people you never thought might be. It could change your whole perspective of what you think of them. I'm not sure I could deal with that information.
