On January 23rd, the Washington Senate Law & Justice Committee approved three anti-gun bills. Here’s the reader’s digest version: None of the bills submitted will make you safer.
The longer version of this is that they have introduced quite a few bills that build upon the disastrous bills that were passed last year. I oppose 6077, 6294, 6288, and 1010 and hope that you will too.
Senate bill 6077 seeks to ban the manufacturing, possession, sale, transfer, etc. of standard capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. This measure is “strongly supported” by the Governor and the Attorney General.
6077 makes no one safer and only imposes more restrictions upon the law-abiding. Senator Patty Kuderer was quoted as saying, “We are here today to interrupt the cycle and say enough is enough.”
I ask you to consider though, how does a magazine capacity restriction make you safer? Where is the data to support this claim? The data actually supports no restrictions on magazine capacity! Extensive studies were done following the magazine ban that was done at the federal level by the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC concluded the ten-round limit on magazines had NO IMPACT on crime and did not have any effect on multiple victim crimes.
It’s a Violence & Mental Health Problem
Kuderer also claims that, “America has a gun violence problem.” I do not agree with this assertion. Instead, I would agree that America has a criminal violence problem and a complete failure of the system to hold people accountable for those crimes. For instance, consider the most recent “mass shooting” in Seattle. The persons responsible for the shooting were both convicted felons and prohibited from possessing any firearm, much less restricted capacity magazines and neither would have obtained obligatory training like that which would be imposed by Senate Bill 6294!
How about we Reward people for getting training?
How about instead of bills like 6294 which would impose government red tape and expensive training requirements to exercise a constitutional right, we wave the fee to renew concealed pistol permits to those that show evidence of training that meets certain standards? I’d like to reiterate; we’re talking about a Constitutional Right here. 6294 would require training to exercise a constitutional right, let that sink in. Senate bill 6347 has the right idea of rewarding people for getting firearms training. The two-year extension that it asks for on a concealed pistol license (from 5 to 7 years) is a great start in the right direction.
Senate Bill 6406 provides that the theft of a firearm from a residence, shop or sales outlet is a Class B Felony. This bill rightly focuses on the illegal actions of criminals, instead of targeting law abiding gun owners.
Senate Bill 6402 also provides increased punishment for the illegal use of a stolen firearm. Under this bill, it would be a Class A Felony for a person, while committing a felony, to discharge a stolen firearm or use the stolen firearm to threaten or menace another person. I’m all for increased punishment for criminals doing criminal behavior!
We don’t need any more excuses for this governor to tax us
Senate Bill 6288 would create an Office of Firearm Violence Prevention within the Executive Branch of the state government. This new branch of government is a laughable idea. 6288 would be nothing more than another tax by Washington to fund gun control groups.
Senate Bill 6163 would strip Second Amendment rights from individuals charged, but not convicted, of a felony DUI.
Any bill that seeks to restrict Constitutional rights without due process should never even be considered. Your right to keep and bear arms should never be treated as a second-class right. Read this bill out loud and instead of saying “firearm” say “speech”. How does that sound to you now? Terrible, right?
What’s next for Washington state, knife control?
#NeverAgain
I hope you pause and think about all this as we remember International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27th, 2020. Remember the genocide that resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews and 11 million others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators – which all started with the voluntary registering and then surrendering of firearms.
