Washington State Gun Control Bills

[runscott]

Senators in Olympia had hearings yesterday and today regarding various gun-control bills. The one I have the most interest in is 6077, which "would ban the manufacture, possession, sale, transfer, etc. of standard capacity magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition."

The bill will fail but, ironically, its discussion will cause sales of pistols with 10+ capacity to increase, just as the discussions in Virginia have done in that state. I personally bought such a pistol yesterday, only because my lawmakers are trying to stop me from doing so. Thanks Senators - I will think of you while I'm having fun at the range with a 21-rd semi-automatic that I never had any desire to own until you told me I couldn't.

[akoda]

nice, good luck. I am in Va and never had a desire for an AR until they wanted to ban them. I have one on the way now

sales are way up now thanks to our governor

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[PALADIN85020]

Originally Posted by runscott

Senators in Olympia had hearings yesterday and today regarding various gun-control bills. The one I have the most interest in is 6077, which "would ban the manufacture, possession, sale, transfer, etc. of standard capacity magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition."

The bill will fail but, ironically, its discussion will cause sales of pistols with 10+ capacity to increase, just as the discussions in Virginia have done in that state. I personally bought such a pistol yesterday, only because my lawmakers are trying to stop me from doing so. Thanks Senators - I will think of you while I'm having fun at the range with a 21-rd semi-automatic that I never had any desire to own until you told me I couldn't.

I understand that a very well-heeled billionaire from NY has been spending tons of money in Washington promoting his gun-control Utopia. Are these bills strictly coincidental? I think not. However, I hope he wastes the rest of his money by continuing to try to buy the Presidency. And I will then wish him well in his new career as a hobo.

John

[runscott]

I got a good chuckle from your "hobo" comment, then realized that if there was a 'hobo checklist', I'm almost qualified. I do enjoy sitting around a fire drinking cheap whiskey with like minds.

[k22fan]

Forum "hobo checklist"

1. big bed of hot orange coals
2. large cast iron kettle full of bullets just dug out of the back stop
3. cup cake pan for casting ingots for later use casting bullets
4. large long handle ladle
5. genuine BEER beer. The great beer with an otherwise all white label printed BEER.

[runscott]

I would add: "Big safe with no money to put in it, only guns"

[fordson]

I don’t wish to hijack this thread but Bloomberg is doing the same thing here in Florida. He’s contributed to Republican Senators ($500K to just one) campaign fund and just by coincidence there is now a host of nonsensical gun control bills working their way thru our Senate. Don’t give your Senators a break: email them every day, twice on a Sunday’s.

[Jessie]

Make no mistake...this is nation wide and definitely financed by someone who can.
I think more gun sales can be attributed to the gun grabbers than any other group. Ironic, isn’t it?

[ladder13]

His net worth is 60 billion, he has a long way to go unfortunately.

[k22fan]

Shifting back to Washington, the founders of Microsoft, which in case you've forgotten started here, are viciously anti-gun and willing to spend millions to make it harder to own guns. In 2012 partnered with Bloomberg's groups they donated $11,000,000 to get the first of our three evil initiatives passed. During the months before the 2012 election I watched the same commercial promoting that initiative run repeatedly back to back enough times to fill every second of every break in prime time TV shows. I do not recall how many million each of their next two initiatives received but it was, to quote PALADIN85020, "tons of money."

[Jessie]

That stinks. Obviously money is their golden egg. There has to be a way to crack that egg. I wish I was smart enough to know how, but somebody does.
BTW, I want to thank those good people who came from your state to Richmond, Va. on Monday.
We’re in this thing together.

[stansdds]

A few very wealthy people are controlling the legislatures in a number of states and have a pretty good hold in congress. This is what an oligarchy looks like.

[Doug M.]

While the individual from NY is a disaster of epic proportions in many ways (and those of us in the criminal justice/legal arena know him for his responsibility for the blatantly unlawful and racially biased activities of NYPD that resulted in major civil litigation and real damage to community relations), the lunatic fringe in WA has an ample basis and support without him and his money. Our Governor and AG are major proponents of this stupid (and counterproductive, and unconstitutional, and ...) path. To the best of my knowledge, neither of them has any relevant background in government law or criminal justice.

Their support for this kind of stuff is only one of the reasons to loathe them. This state has a ghastly civil litigation/liability history, so bad that we can't get decent insurance. (A situation that has existed since I moved in here in 1993, and is NOT related to political party affiliation.) There are some pretty good folks working in the AGO, but there are also some serious buffoons, who for no reason at all are tolerated.

That office is considered such a dumpster fire by people I know and respect who could actually do a good job that they are unwilling to take it on, even though they know that they can count on at least two serious lawyers who would come in and help give the office a cleansing. (And it needs it - like Hercules cleaning the stables.)

There are a lot of votes for the dumb laws, and I will not be complacent about the outcome. I plan to work on a letter tonight to various elected officials about the need to overcome the stupidity. Sadly, these proposals have brought some other kooks out of the woodwork, people with whom none of us should want to be associated.

I sure hope this doesn't sound too political and get me a ding; I got zapped for something recently that was a complete surprise, so I'm a bit sensitive.

[runscott]

What craziness. So the WA St. Senate passes bill 6077 limiting magazines to 10. Now (January 31, 2020), the WA St. House passes a similar bill (same rules, grandfathering, etc) that limits magazines to 15. Other than the capacity, for those who already own them "These magazines have to be transported unloaded and locked separately from firearms".

[stansdds]

Who comes up with these magic numbers for magazine capacity? What is so special about limiting a magazine to 10 or 8 or 15 rounds?

[ladder13]

Originally Posted by stansdds

Who comes up with these magic numbers for magazine capacity? What is so special about limiting a magazine to 10 or 8 or 15 rounds?

10 is on it’s way to 0.

[BC38]

Originally Posted by stansdds

Who comes up with these magic numbers for magazine capacity? What is so special about limiting a magazine to 10 or 8 or 15 rounds?

It is all about imposing SOME kind of limit as a starting point.
Once that is the established norm, then the limit can be incrementally reduced one step at a time until it leaves you effectively disarmed.
Remember: gun control is not about guns, it is really about control.

[Racer X]

Originally Posted by BC38

It is all about imposing SOME kind of limit as a starting point.
Once that is the established norm, then the limit can be incrementally reduced one step at a time until it leaves you effectively disarmed.
Remember: gun control is not about guns, it is really about control.

Lots of more effective ways to save lives, and they AREN'T protected by the Constitution.

[runscott]

Originally Posted by BC38

It is all about imposing SOME kind of limit as a starting point.
Once that is the established norm, then the limit can be incrementally reduced one step at a time until it leaves you effectively disarmed.
Remember: gun control is not about guns, it is really about control.

I think it's just politics. Constituents say "No guns" and their elected officials come up with something that will keep getting themselves elected. Whether a law is effective or not doesn't enter the equation. It used to be 'pork' added to laws to get them passed. Now it's just 'pure pork'.

The WA St House Bill I mentioned (2240) also requires that if your 'high capacity' magazine is grandfathered in, you can't carry with it loaded, except on your own property, even when driving to the range.

[runscott]

A couple of questions for those out there who have been through this:

1). If both pass, will the two branches work together to merge the two bills, then run a single bill by the voters?

2). My 'high' capacity mags will be grandfathered in; however, the bills indicate that I will have to store them separately from my gun unless I am on my own property or at a gun range. Basically they are useless in public in situations that they are designed for.

Is the above the way it works in states that already have high-cap mag limits?;i.e-do you acquire some 10rd mags so that you can at least carry your gun in public?

[k22fan]

Originally Posted by runscott

A couple of questions for those out there who have been through this:

1). If both pass, will the two branches work together to merge the two bills, then run a single bill by the voters? [...]

Yes then not likely. With a governor who is eager to sign any bill that makes it more difficult to own guns there is no motivation to send the compromise to the voters. They can send it straight to the governor.

When the time comes we need The Notorious RBG replaced by Trump. The USSC is our best hope.

[Doug M.]

I spent a bit over a week doing a letter about some bills that I saw as important. I went through the (oh my, so very long) list of pending legislation on the official legislative website and picked the high points. Not all were about firearms, because I am a prosecutor and have some strong views on criminal justice policy in general. The level of ignorance displayed is truly frightening.

If any Washington residents want a copy of the email to peruse and consider plagiarizing, email me (do not use a PM) at "dmitchell(dot)jdmpa(at)gmail.com (you need to fix the parenthetical stuff), and I'll forward the email and it's attachment (in PDF).

[runscott]

Update: both magazine bills stopped.

from the 'Seattle Times' yesterday:

...as House Bill 2240 prepared to move to a vote of the full House, Republicans rolled out dozens of proposed amendments to the bill. Under the weight of more than 120 amendments - and what could have resulted in days or weeks of debate on them - Democratic lawmakers decided agains bringing it to the floor ahead of a key deadline.
The novel tactic likely ended the debate over high-capacity magazines for this year's legislative session, which ends March 12.

It's companion bill in the Senate also did not move forward.

Attached picture is of Rep. Jesse Young, R-Gig Harbor, standing next to a stack of the amendments.

[BC38]

Originally Posted by runscott

Update: both magazine bills stopped.

from the 'Seattle Times' yesterday:

...as House Bill 2240 prepared to move to a vote of the full House, Republicans rolled out dozens of proposed amendments to the bill. Under the weight of more than 120 amendments - and what could have resulted in days or weeks of debate on them - Democratic lawmakers decided agains bringing it to the floor ahead of a key deadline.
The novel tactic likely ended the debate over high-capacity magazines for this year's legislative session, which ends March 12.

It's companion bill in the Senate also did not move forward.

Attached picture is of Rep. Jesse Young, R-Gig Harbor, standing next to a stack of the amendments.

Unfortunately that wasn't the end of it.

The sneaky so-and-sos added a magazine "buyback" section to it and re-introduced it as a "spending" bill. Unfortunately that means our side can't introduce a bunch of amendments to bog it down and stall it this time.

The state has a couple of billion in surplus right now but the left is still trying to pass new taxes and tax increases. They'll use our own money to fund this "buyback program" in order to get this mag ban passed through the finance committee.

[runscott]

Maybe we can think of things to sell them that fit a loophole.

This is the kind of horse manure you sign up for when you move to the PacNW. I knew it going in.

[BC38]

Originally Posted by runscott

This is the kind of horse manure you sign up for when you move to the PacNW. I knew it going in.

Not me. I moved here 36 years ago when the PNW was a lot more like Idaho and a lot less like California.

[Racer X]

I was born in Seattle and have lived here since '65. Things started to go downhill in the mid '90s as people moved in from out of state, mostly California.

Not happy about the shift from personal responsibility and self sufficiency to I want others to look out for me and catch my fall when I do stupid stuff. This isn't a political shift as much as it is a social shift.

And as others here have posted, the shear ignorance on the part of the lawmakers is appalling.

[BC38]

Originally Posted by Racer X

I was born in Seattle and have lived here since '65. Things started to go downhill in the mid '90s as people moved in from out of state, mostly California.

Not happy about the shift from personal responsibility and self sufficiency to I want others to look out for me and catch my fall when I do stupid stuff. This isn't a political shift as much as it is a social shift.

And as others here have posted, the shear ignorance on the part of the lawmakers is appalling.

That shift is political insofar as certain political groups want to pander to and promote it.

And yeah, those same lawmakers want to shear us ignorant sheep for sure

[runscott]

There is probably a different viewpoint whether you live in Seattle or Spokane. I talk about this often with friends - Seattle and Tacoma voters (mainly Seattle) make the rules for the rest of the state, and it's based on their needs, not ours, since the Governor and our representatives in Olympia are 100% aligned with Seattle.

That's how I see it. Hopefully I'm just seeing things wrong and have just been focusing on things that impact me directly, like my rental property, firearms rights, taxation and a few other things. Wait...no, I'm screwed.

[BC38]

Originally Posted by runscott

There is probably a different viewpoint whether you live in Seattle or Spokane. I talk about this often with friends - Seattle and Tacoma voters (mainly Seattle) make the rules for the rest of the state, and it's based on their needs, not ours, since the Governor and our representatives in Olympia are 100% aligned with Seattle.

That's how I see it. Hopefully I'm just seeing things wrong and have just been focusing on things that impact me directly, like my rental property, firearms rights, taxation and a few other things. Wait...no, I'm screwed.

No, I think you've got it about right.
I've only been a denizen of the RIGHT side for 6 years.
Before that I was a resident in the People's Republic of Puget Sound for 29 L-O-O-O-N-G years. Mostly Kirkland and Kent. Boy did I see things change around there in that 29 year stretch. Mostly for the worse and especially the last 15-20 years of it.

The different viewpoint of most of the locals is one of the many reasons I moved over here in the first place. I wouldn't move back there for love nor money. Unfortunately that whole I-5 corridor around the Sound still holds sway over my life too since the leftists in that area outnumber all the rest of us combined.

On a brighter note, anyone interested in trying to change the direction in regards to WA gun laws might want to consider joining the new Washington State Firearms Coalition
Washington State Firearms Coalition - Home | Facebook

[runscott]

Originally Posted by BC38

Unfortunately that wasn't the end of it.

The sneaky so-and-sos added a magazine "buyback" section to it and re-introduced it as a "spending" bill. Unfortunately that means our side can't introduce a bunch of amendments to bog it down and stall it this time.

The state has a couple of billion in surplus right now but the left is still trying to pass new taxes and tax increases. They'll use our own money to fund this "buyback program" in order to get this mag ban passed through the finance committee.

Could you please provide a link to news coverage? I can't find anything on the web or in the Seattle newspaper. Thanks

[Racer X]

It is true. Reported on the NRA-ILA website. I have already let my elected officials how I feel.

Washington: Ask Rep. to Oppose HB 2947 Mag Ban

[runscott]

Thanks. I guess. it is kind of selfish to have my attitude, but I generally just expect to have my legislators try to take away as many of my rights as they can get away with. The Seattle elite are directly opposed to everything that a Libertarian like me believes in.
I knew that when I moved here.

The selfish part is that such beliefs keep me prepared for their next moves, and I am not very sympathetic to those who do not prepare themselves.

Buy your semi-autos and 'high' capacity mags before these bills become law. Stock up on ammo before we follow in the footsteps of Oregon.

I feel that we live in a civil society and I don't actually 'need' a gun to feel safe. I have a permit but don't carry. But I might change my mind at some point, it's my right, and besides - I love shooting guns. Don't tell me I can't when my Constitution says I can.

Originally Posted by BC38

Unfortunately that wasn't the end of it.

The sneaky so-and-sos added a magazine "buyback" section to it and re-introduced it as a "spending" bill. Unfortunately that means our side can't introduce a bunch of amendments to bog it down and stall it this time.

The state has a couple of billion in surplus right now but the left is still trying to pass new taxes and tax increases. They'll use our own money to fund this "buyback program" in order to get this mag ban passed through the finance committee.

Originally Posted by Racer X

It is true. Reported on the NRA-ILA website. I have already let my elected officials how I feel.

Washington: Ask Rep. to Oppose HB 2947 Mag Ban

[BC38]

Originally Posted by runscott

Could you please provide a link to news coverage? I can't find anything on the web or in the Seattle newspaper. Thanks

Yeah, unless you know the bill number to search for, you probably won't find much.
The MSM isn't talking much about this underhanded back door effort - especially since the legislature had to change (a.k.a.BREAK) a couple of their own rules to pull it off.

The MSM certainly doesn't want us prolls getting riled up and opposing this one like we did the original version.

Link to the legislative page for supporting/opposing it
Washington State Legislature

Link to the text of the bill itself
http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/bienni...20200220150205

[Suburbanite]

I offer a big thank you to everyone who contacted their legislators or went in person to testify against HB 2947. After the public hearing on 2947 in which strong opposition was heard the committee chair never brought the bill up for a vote.

[Racer X]

I emailed everyone on all the bills the NRA-ILA posted about, or sent me e-mail blasts on, and made a few calls about the very egregious ones.

There was a local meet and greet with my particular "people" (two were on the NRA-ILA blast lists) and I put one blued 15 rd 59xx MecGar mag next to a 17rd blued one, and said which one causes irrational fear? Then I asked if you can't tell the difference, why are you afraid of it? Got some REALLY stumped looks. I also asked them to show me in writing where they were given the power to ignore the Constitution and Due Process and enact Red Flag ERPO laws. I said I don't disagree with the need, but the process is legally flawed. They all took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, and I said I thought they were failing.

I ended with you cannot ignore a law you disagree with without consequences. I hope they got the message.

[St0rmshad0w]

WA will son enough ban everything gun related.