Sometime in November the Second Amendment Foundation sent a letter to a few municipal governments in Washington that have firearms bans which violate state law, requesting those governments to amend their codes to comply with state law (RCW 9.41.290, 9.41.300). On December 18, an amendment to the city code was presented to the Oak Harbor city council which would administratively correct their code to comply with state law. Amending the code would remove the words which banned the carrying of firearms on city properties. All but one of the city council members voted to table the amendment indefinitely - leaving the illegal gun bans in place with no future action to revise thier code. There were no public comments about amending the code (either for or against) even though it was on the public agenda.
On January 2nd, myself and another person open carried properly holstered handguns (like we normally do anyways) to the city council meeting and made public comments denouncing the city council's lack of action to correct their code. That made the local papers and started the whole "gun control" debate in Oak Harbor.
On January 15th, there were several people who showed up to the meeting to make public comments in protest of the carrying of firearms at city council meetings, and in support of retaining the illegal gun bans on city property. Not even planning on commenting, a citizen named Lucas Yonkman, who is a disabled veteran, felt compelled to respond to the anti-gun comments. After his comment, a member of the city council, Rick Almberg, questioned Yonkman as to whether he was carrying concealed because Mr. Yonkman mentioned he had a CPL and carried a gun for self-protection.
Mr. Yonkman answered that he was carrying a concealed handgun, and Councilman Almberg made a motion that anyone carrying a firearm at the meeting be required to leave or check their guns with the chief of police, a requirement which would violate Washington state law. Councilman Servatius seconded the motion, and only 2 of the 6 members (Almberg and Servatius) voted for the motion, 4 voted against. Mr. Almberg than walked out of the meeting before any of the business was conducted that was on the agenda. At the end of the meeting, Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley publically chastised council member Almberg for not upholding his oath of office to support the Constitution and laws of the state of Washington.
A youtube video was posted of the Yonkman questioning, Almberg's walking out, and the Mayor's comments. It got over 80,000 views and the Mayor and city council received more than 1,000 emails, the vast majority against Almberg's actions and praising the Mayor and Mr. Yonkman. Seattle TV stations picked up the story. The Los Angeles Times even ran it.
Since there was now much publicity about it, the Second Amendment Foundation decided to send a second letter to Oak Harbor, this time stating that they had plaintiffs lined up and a lawsuit prepared against the city and against individual council members. The Mayor put the city code amendments back on the agenda for the February 5th meeting.
2A supporters from across the state of Washington rallied together to attend the February 5th meeting. We wanted to show what a minority the gun grabbers really are. There was an estimated 150 people at the meeting and only about 10% of those were on the anti-2A side. It's been said that most conservatives are too tired for working hard all day to take part in politics. Our lack of participation is what fuels the gun grabbers into being able to convince the governments that they are the majority. They are not, they are merely the wheel that squeeks the loudest. This time we were the squeeking wheel.
My point in this thread is that we need to get off our couches and participate. We need to quit catering to the anti-gun crowd, quit hiding our guns so that they will be "comfortable", and we need to start standing up "LOUD AND PROUD" for our rights and visibly show them what an overwhelming majority we really are. If we don't, they will continue their marches and their squeeking and they will take away our rights little by little.
. 28+ years and still going!
