Time For Sleeping Washington State Gun Owners To Wake Up And Face 3 Active Threats

Politics can be an arena of tiresome hyperbolic fearmongering. This has caused Washington state gun owners, who are a moderate, non-partisan bunch (see previous blog post), to tune out. But there are movements afoot in Washington state which gun owners will dearly regret ignoring. Please consider that we are facing at least three active threats and take what steps you can to defend your rights.

1) Attempts to weaken and eliminate state firearms preemption in King, Snohomish and possibly other counties. 

Washington state has a firearms preemption law in place. State laws says that individual cities and counties cannot enact their own gun control laws...all gun controls have to exist at the state level. This law provides the benefit of making it easy to comply with gun control laws.

For example, imagine you have a Concealed Pistol License and are driving from Lynnwood to Federal Way. If preemption was revoked, you could end up having to obey different gun laws in multiple cities in between or face criminal charges that remove your gun rights. Does Seattle now ban concealed carry? Does Edmonds ban having loaded guns in your car or magazines that hold over 8 rounds of ammunition? Is there another city in between with some other rule?

Preemption is one of those laws that quietly prevents gun ownership from being a maze of easily and unintentionally violated capricious rules. King County has already stated that they will enact an "assault weapon" ban if preemption falls. (link)

2) Initiative I1639 - a 30 page ballot initiative and gun control smorgasbord

This initiative is an incoherent mashup of a number of gun control laws rejected during the 2018 legislative session. The initiative itself is 30 pages long. According to state law, that makes it illegal because signature gathering forms have to include the full text in a readable font with relevant existing legal text marked up with strikeouts and additions. Washington state courts and the Secretary of State have chosen to ignore that little fact.

This site (link) gives a really good overview of what this initiative covers. The high points are:

• Requires safe storage of firearms without defining what that is
• Defines ALL semiautomatic rifles as "assault rifles"
• Enacts a 10 business day waiting period when purchasing them (even if you have a CPL)
• Bans 18-20 year old from purchasing these rifles
• Enhanced background check with registration during purchase
• Appears to require firearms training every 5 years, possibly a de facto licensing scheme

I1639 is currently being challenged in court by the NRA and Second Amendment Foundation but it could easily appear on the ballot. Incidentally, a large number of law enforcement groups have already expressed opposition to this initiative.

3) Washington state may join New York state financial attacks on the NRA

New York state's Andrew Cuomo is financially attacking the NRA over its Carry Guard Concealed Carry Insurance. Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the state's Insurance Commissioner said this week that they want to join this effort. Do you want your tax dollars used to attack the NRA? I mean, beyond Bob Ferguson's use of state resources to lobby for gun ban legislation and ballot initiatives.

So now...

I've spelled out the significant attacks currently pending against our rights. We Washington state gun owners have actually had it fairly easy, in terms of serious threats. This is not California, which makes the deliberate, malicious baiting of gun owners a legislative sport. This is not New York or Illinois, with frequent serious gun control attacks.

But gun owners in California, New York and Illinois know how to have an unflinching gut fight and wage war to protect their rights. Do Washingtonians have the heart and guts to do the same? Or are we weaker than other states and too timid and polite to fight for the freedoms we exercise responsibly every day.

At the very least, join gun rights groups and register to vote before the first week in October. If you are ready to do more, there are many options, including writing or calling your legislators and volunteering the campaigns of gun rights supporting legislators.