Washington State Gun Bills!

[tarrigoni]

I got this in an email today. Not only do we get the election stolen, but now we'll get our guns stolen as well!

Neat! And I thought this was a good place to buy a house.

GOAL Post 2005-3

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Legislative Update from Olympia 21 January 2005

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MAJOR ANTI-GUN BILLS FILED

HEARING SCHEDULED 25 JANUARY

MAXIMUM ATTENDANCE REQUESTED

Recall during the campaign period Democrat presidential candidate John
Kerry taking photo ops at a trap range in Wisconsin, receiving a shotgun
at a union rally in West Virginia and going goose hunting in Ohio? Or
all the talk in the newspaper op-ed pages by Democrats after the
election about reaching out to “red staters?â€

Forget about it.

Several extremist gun control bills have been scheduled for a public
hearing – even before bill numbers are assigned (thus preventing the
public from obtaining copies of the bills or referencing bill numbers
when calling their legislators). One bill will ban possession of
“assault weapons†in the state, with the definition of “assault weaponâ€
being much broader than the recently-expired Clinton gun ban. For
example, under the Washington bill, M1 carbines and Ruger Mini-14s would
be banned, as would any detachable magazine semi-auto or pump rifle or
shotgun with a SINGLE “military feature.†No more than 10 rounds may be
loaded in any magazine (even in your HOME) except at a recognized firing
range. Another bill bans rifles chambered for the .50 caliber Browning
machine gun cartridge (.50 BMG). Both bills will allow those who
currently possess such firearms to keep them (if you owned it BEFORE the
effective date) – but ONLY after registering it with local police,
undergoing a background check (for an unspecified fee), renewing the
registration and background check ANNUALLY – again for an unspecified
fee, and the best part: Law enforcement agencies are allowed to conduct
an annual inspection of your home to ensure you are “safely and
securely†storing the assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle properly (no
definition of “safely and securely†is given). Assault weapons and .50
BMG rifles may only be possessed at home, at a range, or transporting
directly in between those locations. Under an “emergency clause,†the
laws take effect as soon as Governor Gregoire signs them.

That’s the quick and dirty explanation of the impact of the bills. As
soon as bill numbers are assigned and you can obtain copies from the
Legislative Web Site or the Bill Room, I will send another GOAL message.

The old “Whitney Graves†safe storage bill has been refiled as SB 5342
(Senator Kohl-Welles, D-36). If a child obtains your loaded firearm, you
may be found guilty of a gross misdemeanor and face a year in jail, even
if no harm resulted. Amazingly, if someone is harmed as a result of the
act, the prosecuting attorney is given explicit permission to DECLINE to
prosecute. This is bizarre!

SB 5343 (Senator Kohl-Welles, D-36) is the same old Washington Ceasefire
“gun show loophole†bill that’s been beating around for four years now.
It would require ALL firearms transferred at a gun show to be processed
by a licensed federal firearms dealer, subject to a background check,
with an unspecified fee to be charged by the state patrol (AND a fee to
be charged by the dealer, naturally). The definition of “gun showâ€
includes the parking lots and other curtilage areas of a gun show,
placing the burden of patrolling the parking lot on the gun show promoter.

SB 5344 (Senator Fairley, D-32) would make it a criminal offense to
possess a firearm inside the Legislative Building (capitol building) on
the state Capitol Campus. The Washington State Patrol would be required
to provide lock boxes or some other form of secure storage for
lawfully-carried pistols. This is the same provision that is in place
for court houses… that routinely refuse to accept firearms for safekeeping.

There have been a couple of pro-gun bills filed this week as well. SB
5167 (Hargrove, D-24) allows persons who lawfully possess suppressors
(silencers) to actually shoot with them, an act now prohibited by state
law. SB 5167 is not currently scheduled for a hearing. Another as-yet
unnumbered bill is one from Senator Pam Roach (R-31) that would extend
the validity of CPLs possessed by military members if they are deployed
out of state. Their 90-day clock on renewal would start upon their
return. That bill will be heard with the anti-gun bills on 25 January.

Bills have been filed in both the Senate (SB 5383) and House (HB 1213)
that would put a lower age limit on hunting license issuance, 10 years
of age. It would also limit attendance at the state-mandated hunter ed
courses to those aged 10 and over. Children younger than 10 could still
attend other firearms safety courses.

A public hearing on SBs 5131, 5342, 5343, 5344, the a/w ban, the .50 BMG
ban and the military CPL renewal bill will be held on Tuesday, 25
January in Senate Hearing Room 1, John A. Cherberg Senate Office
Building. The hearing runs from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WE NEED AS MANY
PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO ATTEND THIS HEARING, and to sign in on the sign-in
sheet taking a “pro†(for) or “con†(against) position.

If you know of any pro-gun police officers or retired officers who might
be able to attend and speak against the anti-gun bills, it would help
immensely. Without doubt the “cop lobby†will speak in favor of the bills.

BILL STATUS:

Bill # Subject Sponsor Status

SB 5041 Sentencing range McCaslin (R-4) S. Jud.

SB 5131 Insanity finding/firearms Carrell (R-28) S.Jud.

SB 5167 Firearm suppressors Hargrove (D-24) S.Jud.

SB 5342 Safe storage of firearms Kohl-Welles (D-36) S.Jud.

SB 5343 Gun show loophole Kohl-Welles (D-36) S.Jud.

SB 5344 Capitol campus gun ban Fairley (D-32) S. Jud.

SB 5383 Juvenile hunting licenses Oke (R-26) S. NatRes

SB xxxx Assault weapon ban Kline (D-37) S. Jud.

SB xxxx .50 BMG rifle ban Kline (D-37) S. Jud.

SB xxxx deployed military CPL renewal Roach (R-31) S. Jud.

HB 1133 Public disclosure law Nixon (R-45) H. StatGov

HB 1213 Juvenile hunting licenses Clements (R-14) H.NatRes

HJM 4002 Manufacturer protection Curtis (R-18) H.Jud.

Key to abbreviations: S. = Senate, H. = House, HJM = House Joint
Memorial, Jud = Judiciary, CJ&J = Criminal Justice & Corrections,
Fish/Ecol = Fisheries, Ecology & Parks, JuvJust = Juvenile Justice, Educ
= Education, LocGov = Local Government, NatRes = Natural Resources; W&M
= Ways and Means

GOAL position on bills:

SB 5041 Neutral

SB 5131 Neutral

SB 5167 Support

SB 5342 Oppose

SB 5343 Oppose

SB 5344 Concerns

SB 5383 Concerns

a/w ban Oppose

.50 ban Oppose

mil. CPL Support

HB 1133 Neutral

HB 1213 Concerns

HJM 4002 Support

Note: Our position on bills may change as they are amended and move
through the process.

HEARINGS SCHEDULED:

Senate Judiciary 3:30 p.m. 25 Jan Senate Hearing Rm 1

Public testimony will be taken on seven gun bills, three of which don’t
even have bill numbers as this is being written. The bills are SBs 5131,
5342, 5343, 5344, the assault weapon ban, the .50 BMG rifle ban, and the
deployed military CPL renewal.

LEGISLATIVE HOT LINE: You may reach your Representatives and Senator by
calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Toll free!!! The
hearing impaired may obtain TDD access at 1-800-635-9993. Also toll free!!!

1-800-562-6000 TDD 1-800-635-9993

OTHER DATA: Copies of pending legislation (bills), legislative schedules
and other information are available on the legislature's web site at
"www.leg.wa.gov". It's available in two versions: text (.txt) file or
Acrobat (.pdf) file. The "Acrobat" version is preferred as it is easier
to read and is an exact copy of the hard copy format the legislators
use. You may download a free version of Adobe Acrobat from Adobe's web
site. You may also obtain hard copy bills, initiatives, etc, in the mail
from the Legislative Bill Room FREE OF CHARGE by calling 1-360-786-7573.
Copies of bills may also be ordered toll free by calling the Legislative
Hotline at (800) 562-6000. You may also hear floor and committee hearing
action live at http://www.tvw.org/ (you need "RealAudio" to do this,
available free at the TVW web site).

By reading the House and Senate "bill reports" (hbr, sbr) for each bill,
you can see how individual committee members voted. By reading the "roll
call" for each bill, you can see how the entire House or Senate voted on
any bill. The beauty of the web site is that ALL this information is
available, on line, to any citizen.

 

[Chupacabra]

:banghead:

Major suckage, but thanks for the update Tarrigoni.

 

[tarrigoni]

yes, very major suckage. But, on the other hand, crap like this has been tried t o slipped by for the past 4 years anyway and the balance of d/r is still at about the same ratio.

 

[priv8ter]

Ick

Yeah, if you look back, bills like this have been intoduced just about each year, and routinely never get out of committee.

There are even some good bills that get submitted. Last year, a few State Senators started a bill that would have made money spent on gun safes tax deductable.

Unfortunetaly, these good bills just as rarely make it out of committee.

Still, it's important not to get complacent over these things. I suppose I will sit down and start writing e-mails to the new members of the Legislature who are supposed to represent my opinion.

Another important thing to do is send Thank You notes to the folks who attempt to introduce laws that help out our side. It's nice to let them know their efforts are appreciated, even if you aren't the one who elected them.

greg

 

[USP45usp]

Don't feel bad, Oregon (having lost the Senate and the house is full of RINO's) is going to try the same. Ginny burDICK is at it again and is basically doing the same here.

Right now, the only bill on the books is that CHL holders will be busted if they go near a school OR anyplace that a school function may take place (you're in the park, the school has a fieldtrip, bang, you're busted).

It is rumored that she also wants to have a very HUGE AWB in the state, where even if you own so called assault weapons right now, you turn them in with little or no payment to you for them. She wants to "outdo" california on gun control .

Also, unlike Washington, we Oregonians can still get Class III items, of which you never hear of any crime being committed by a person with one of these (yeah, like mr. drughead can afford the $10,000 min. for one and pass the checks) but yes, she wants to ban those as well, with NO compensation for them, turn them all in, who cares if it's a $10,000 dollar gun, you get jack because the state is "poor".

I can only hope that Rossi can get another revote going in your State (please, explain to me how Rossi can win twice and ms. (female dog) once and she is declared the winner?).

Wayne

 

[George S.]

Some of these keep getting introduced in one form or another. Public hearings on bills that have not been filed are not "bills" in that sense of the word. These are probably legislators who are doing some sort of favor to some splinter groups because of campaign contributions. Once a bill is assigned a number, it does become public record and it would be available on the Legislature website or by asking your representative for a copy.

This could be serious stuff, but it's only the bills with numbers, read into the record and assigned to committee are the ones that count in terms of possible legislative action.

As far as the Leg Building carry law, that was a suprise to a number of Legislators last year, and this bill may pass simply because it was a suprise. The carrying of a weapon on the Capitol grounds and in all of the rest of the state-owned buildings on the Capitol Campus is prohibited by WAC.

Washington is in trouble right now with a number of items, most of which involve the budget. This sessioin will most likely be devoted to budget issues and there my not be enough time or votes to get all of these bills to the floor for debate much less out of committee.

Besides, we don't really know if Gregoire is really the Governor yet. The court case has only just begun. :banghead:

 

[PaulV]

But, on the other hand, crap like this has been tried to slipped by for the past 4 years anyway and the balance of d/r is still at about the same ratio.

Don't bet on it! The house has been under D control for some time, but the previous slim R majority senate has been what has kept these bills from passing. In case you missed the election results we now have a slim D majority senate and rabid anti-gun governor. :banghead:

Hopefully a number of eastern Washington Democrats will join the Republicans in opposing this.

 

[Langenator]

Do you have a link to the GOAL post? I spent about 15 minutes looking around their site and couldn't find anything bu Mass. stuff.

EDIT: Nevermind. Found it. I'd post it if I could figure out copy and paste in Firefox.