Slide show at source.
Posted on 01/15/2015 8:19:50 PM PST by steve86
OLYMPIA — Gun rights supporters rallied on steps of the Washington Capitol on Thursday, admitting they were caught off guard by Initiative 594 while vowing to change and repeal the voter-passed initiative on gun background checks.
One legislator, Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, urged outright disobedience of the law, which requires criminal background checks for those purchasing firearms at gun shows and on-line.
“We will not comply: We will ask our sheriffs and prosecutors not to comply as well,” said Shea. Shea was a visitor last year to the compound of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who has refused to pay grazing fees on federal lands and staged an armed stand-off with federal law enforcement.
A group of 15 to 18 gun advocates did march into the Capitol.
They arrived in the House Gallery just as the state House of Representatives was adjourning. They heckled members on the floor, and made a show of violating I-594 by exchanging weapons in the Gallery. A Washington State Patrol officer instructed one demonstrator on how to more safely hold his gun.
The demonstrators talked about marching onto the House floor, but were dissuaded by staff and Washington State Patrol. Shea came in from the steps and gave them another speech.
Outside, State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, told the crowd that “we have at least six and maybe 10 bills to address problems” with Initiative 594.
“Hey, don’t tread on us,” shouted Roach, president pro tem of the Washington State Senate. (Gun rights advocates have adopted the Revolutionary-era flag that showed a copperhead snake with the slogan, “Don’t Tread on Me.)
The rally saw reappearance of Brian Judy, the National Rifle Association’s longtime Olympia lobbyist, who kept a low profile during the I-594 campaign.
In August, Judy used a gathering in Silverdale to liken I-594 to the gun policies of Nazi Germany, and to specifically question why any Jewish American — he singled out Seattle entrepreneur Nick Hanauer — would contribute to such a measure.
“Good morning, gun lobby!” Judy told the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, you ARE the gun lobby.”
The NRA lobbyist noted, however, that the gun lobby has had it good in Olympia. In 2013 and 2014, the Legislature refused to act on legislation requiring criminal background checks for gun buyers. The gun safety movement then took its cause to the ballot.
“It wasn’t government that struck our rights: It was voters in the state of Washington,” Judy said.
The anti-I-594 protest had a recurring theme: Criminal background checks are the first step down the path to gun registration.
“What it’s really about is a government list of law-abiding gun owners,” Judy claimed.
State Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, went further and declared: “Initiative 594 is just the tip of the iceberg with the people who want to control and confiscate your guns.”
Initiative 594 supporters dominated the airwaves, the editorial endorsements, and the public events in last fall’s campaign. The initiative had such billionaire supporters as Bill and Melinda Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The political shootout over gun laws now moves to close-quarters combat in Olympia, and to the federal courthouse. “We hope to get an injunction against enforcement of many parts of 594,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation in Bellevue.
Supporters of I-594 say they are ready to defend the law.
The Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility announced Thursday the creation of a Washington Gun Responsibility Scorecard. It will grade votes in the Legislature, as well as lawmakers’ willingness to hear out constituents on gun issues.
the Rev. Sandy Brown, a leading organizer of the I-594 campaign, said groups like the National Rifle Association like to operate behind the scenes in legislatures and Congress.
“Their strategy is to make deals behind closed doors and out of the public eye,” said Brown. “They are counting on people not to notice.”
The two sides actively dislike each other.
Joe Huffman, from a group called Boomershoot, quoted author Ayn Rand (“Atlas Shrugged,” “The Virtue of Selfishness”) at the rally, and declared, “We are standing up against evil, fools and appeasers.”
“The people who wrote I-594 want you to be in fear of going to jail every time you pick up your gun,” Huffman argued.
About the day’s only reflective remark came from State Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, a Democratic legislator who actively opposed I-594, which had the support of Gov. Jay Inslee and most members of his party.
“This is a culture war, folks,” said Blake. “They don’t like what we do.” Categories: gun control, gun laws, Gun rights, guns, Uncategorized
Slide show at source.
PING!
Side note: Gavin Seim, the catalyst behind this movement was apparently arrested in Douglas County today on charges of contempt of court or something. I saw his posts on Facebook earlier. I wonder why he was there and not in Olympia today?
Did everyone go to bed early?
State Trooper seems to be Cool with it.
I tried to convince folks from Washington State here on FR NOT to vote yes on this measure, but they told me I was wrong.
Fools!
Egads, is that a "cop-killer" "Assault" rifle?!?
I really think you’re talking about 591, not 594. No FReeper was going to vote for 594.
Bullcrap, who, name names.
I-594 was anti-2ndamendment, I don't see openly anti-2ndamendment folks here.
popcorn bookmark
Zeestephen (me) was leaning toward “Yes” on 594, but I eventually voted “No.”
I am not convinced that gun registration would lead to gun confiscation in the USA.
And, I think that gun registration does prevent at least some people who are criminals or mentally ill from obtaining weapons.
I also think the argument that armed citizens are the last line of defense between a constitutional republic and tyranny is not persuasive. Side arms, rifles, and shotguns are not a serious defense against bombs, artillery, and armored vehicles.
I can't recall if I discussed 594 with Satin Doll.
But, for me, Steve86 had the winning argument when he pointed out that the major contributors in favor of 594 were the Who's Who of USA Gun Haters.
What gets lost in all of this - even this article, I-594 isn’t just about gun sales. It is gun TRANSFERS. Hence the symbolic transfering of a gun to someone else in the capitol - it is ILLEGAL.
One can transfer (loan, let them shoot it with you, etc.) if they are under 18 or are your spouse at a recognized gun range. (No one is sure what ‘recognized” means). But, letting my wife shoot one of my guns at the gravel pit would be illegal.
I legally can’t let my 20-year old son shoot any of my guns unless he has a hunting license and is hunting.
Of course that whole aspect of the law (18 pages of that crap) is unenforcable. As can be seen by the state trooper just watching the illegal activity going on.
You can gift a gun to a close relative (to uncles, cousins I think is as far as it goes). If you sell or trade one to a relative you need to do the background check for each firearm.
It’s really amazing, but criminals typically don’t register their guns.
It’s the weirdest thing, I can’t imagine why all criminals don’t march themselves down to the police station and make sure all their guns are registered with the police.
The mentally ill, you mean, insane people ? I’ve never seen or heard any obviously insane person registering the guns they own. They tend to just not care about filling out forms, etc.
Now, maybe a person that the psychiatric establishment would classify as “mentally ill” that really is just a little on the wacky side, not full-blown insane, you know, like a “crazy” ex-girlfriend, some wacko dude that seems to always be drinkin’ an’ druggin’ an’ fightin’, but they somehow sort of hold down jobs from time to time and can sort of drive a car. Those folks... well, and, maybe... oh... “right wing extremists”... might be classified as “mentally ill”. But who is really to look into the crystal ball of the future and say, this one will shoot someone and this one will not ?
This “mentally ill” thing could be used very nicely to eliminate almost anyone from owning a gun. Perhaps someone who chews their pencils is “mentally ill”. Maybe someone yells a lot, or attends political rallies.
And people have this odd way... if they really want a gun and don’t want it registered... of finding a way to buy, borrow or steal one without filling out any forms.
Not to mention the whole knife thing. All those “mentally ill” people can simply go their kitchen drawer, pull out an unregistered chef knife, with no safety switch on it, mind you, and stab the living daylights out of dolls, rabbits, people - anything that strikes their crazy fancy.
In fact, perhaps if the “crazy” girlfriend and the “fighty” boyfriend are dating each other, and the boyfriend goes really crazy and starts stabbing the girlfriend with a chef knife, if the girlfriend had a gun she would have a much better chance to protect herself from her “mentally ill” boyfriend and his unregistered chef knife. The gun would work the same for self-defense, registered or not.
Rather than trying to guess who will commit a violent crime in the future, law enforcement should be concerned with its job - arresting, prosecuting, convicting and getting the death penalty awarded to those - “crazy” or “sane” - who commit murder, regardless of the weapon used, or no weapon used, registered or not.
Nice of the Seattle PI to sidestep the problems in I-594, like it requires a background check before you can let your buddy hold your rifle while you cross over a fence, then requires another background check before he can hand it back.
So you are just a borderline defender of the Constitution.
I also think the argument that armed citizens are the last line of defense between a constitutional republic and tyranny is not persuasive. Side arms, rifles, and shotguns are not a serious defense against bombs, artillery, and armored vehicles.
Whoops guess you just fell over the border with that observation.
Beautiful.
washington needs to get their CCW permitting process 100% in loine with the federal NICS background check system and then opt out of the NICS system like numerou s other states have done. So much for registration.
“Side arms, rifles, and shotguns are not a serious defense against bombs, artillery, and armored vehicles.”
Tell that to the Viet Cong or the Taliban.
A bunch of 7th century savages armed with AK47s stamped out in caves by 15 year olds, Enfield rifles of WWII vintage, and car bombs have managed to give fits to the largest and most powerful military machine the world has ever known for over a decade.
I suggest you check your premise. It’s wrong.
I don’t understand your comment.
You suggest that US citizens in armed combat with the US military would be similar to the Taliban fighting the US military.
The Taliban is financed by drug money and Islamic oil money.
The Taliban extort and terrorize the local populations they live among.
The Taliban dragoon many of their own soldiers and execute many of them, without trial, if they desert or disobey orders or lack fighting spirit.
And these criminal gangs are somehow comparable to lightly armed US citizens?
Do you understand that in your hypothetical war a tyrannical US military would become the Taliban, but with an overwhelming advantage in finance, logistics, manpower, organization, intelligence, and weapons?
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