Gun control news, & action we can take

First the good news....

Thanks to your efforts, the anti-gun bills below are defeated. There is a potential for procedural moves to revive these bills, but the National Rifle Association will remain vigilant and will notify you if any future action is needed. 

House Bill 1144 failed to pass out of the policy committee and Senate Bill 5232 failed to pass out of the fiscal committee by the legislative deadline. These bills would have denied citizens their Second Amendment rights unless they met a training mandate, imposed an arbitrary delay on prospective gun owners taking possession of their firearms, and created a registry of gun owners.

House Bill 1178 failed to pass out of the policy committee by the legislative deadline. It would have repealed Washington’s preemption statute and revoked the Legislature’s own authority to be the primary authority regulating firearms. This would have allowed localities to pass their own anti-gun ordinances and create a confusing patchwork of gun laws.

Now the not-so-good news....  & why we must act before March 8^th.

Three major anti-gun bills still remain active in the Legislature, while the others are likely defeated for the session.

Ownership restrictions

House Bill 1143  - Permit-to-Purchase, Mandatory Training, 10-day Waiting Period, Indefinite Transfer Delays, & Government Registry

HB 1143 denies law-abiding citizens their Second Amendment right to acquire firearms unless they obtain a government-issued permit. The permit is only valid for five years and to obtain the permit, the state requires completion of official, sanctioned firearms classroom and live fire training every five years. The live fire training will make it impractical, if not impossible for first-time firearm owners to complete the necessary training. It also imposes an arbitrary ten-day delay on prospective gun owners taking possession of their firearms and makes this delay longer or indefinite if the state fails to complete background check during that time. The state police will also maintain a database (registry) of gun owners and their personal data.

On February 23^rd, the House Appropriations Committee passed House Bill 1143, with a “null and void” amendment requiring that funding must be appropriated in the budget, or the bill will fail. Please contact your state representatives and ask them to OPPOSE HB 1143.

Semi-Automatic firearms ban:

House Bill 1240, a so-called “assault weapons ban,” is a comprehensive ban on the future transferring, importing, and manufacturing of many semi-automatic firearms that law-abiding citizens commonly-own for self-defense, competition, and recreation. It bans enumerated firearm models on a list, that include shotguns, handguns and rifles. The ban includes semi-automatic rifles with an overall length of less than 30 inches, and any firearms with one or more proscribed features that exist on modern designs for making firearms more user-friendly, such as telescoping stocks meant to adjust the length of pull for users of different statures or wearing different clothing, muzzle brakes meant to reduce recoil, grips conducive to the natural angles of human wrists, and suppressors for hearing protection. In addition, it also bans spare parts and “combination[s] of parts” that can be used to assemble banned firearms, but on their own are simply pieces of plastic or metal.

On January 30^th, the House Civil Rights and Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 1240. Its companion, Senate Bill 5265, failed to pass out of a policy committee by the legislative deadline and is dead for the session. HB 1240 can only proceed if the full House passes it by March 8^th. Please contact your state representatives and ask them to OPPOSE HB 1240.

Firearm industry liability for criminal acts:

Senate Bill 5078 aims to undermine the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) and subject licensed firearm manufacturers and sellers to frivolous lawsuits brought to recover damages for the criminal misuse of their products. Protecting the firearms industry, like other lawful industries, is necessary because our legal system generally does not punish anyone for the criminal actions of others. This bill simply seeks to sue the firearms industry out of existence in the state of Washington. The firearms industry supplies thousands of jobs in Washington and the excise tax on the sale and purchase of firearms, ammunition, and accessories produces millions of dollars for conservation in our state from Pittman-Robertson funds. This bill will eliminate thousands of jobs and deprive the state of millions of dollars annually. Without the firearms industry, Washingtonians will not have access to firearms and ammunition and the fundamental right to keep and bear arms.

On February 24^th, the Senate Ways and Means Committee passed Senate Bill 5078, after amending the bill to remove the private right of action, but still allowing the Attorney General to bring these frivolous and flawed lawsuits. House Bill 1130, the House companion, is dead after failing to pass out of a policy committee by the legislative deadline. SB 5078 is currently in the Senate Rules Committee and can only proceed if the full Senate passes it by March 8^th. Please contact your state senator and ask them to OPPOSE SB 5078.

The National Rifle Association has a link you can click on to contact all your district lawmakers in order to ask them to OPPOSE these bills.

 

 

 

Taxing your property and reducing your right to vote

Taxing your property

SB 5486, Wealth & property tax is the camel's nose under the tent, the foot in the door, the hand in your pocket....   The Left's proposed wealth tax is a prelude to a general property tax on everything anyone owns.  

Taxing property is specifically allowed by Washington state constitution, but this is an abuse.   The state's constitution specifies "All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax and shall be levied and collected for public purposes only." Washington constitution Article VII, § 1 (Amendment 14)

Impolite is always against new taxation.  Governments almost always make things worse, because governments can only apply compulsion to a situation when ingenuity is required.

Your input is solicited.  Take your pick:

• I would like to testify in person during the hearing
• I would like to testify remotely
• I would like my position noted for the legislative record - Just state you're pro/con
• I would like to submit written testimony

 ~~~~~~~~~

Reducing your right to vote

SB 5082 is deceptively titled "Encouraging electoral participation and making ballots more meaningful by abolishing advisory votes."  Advisory votes give the people more information about how the legislature spends our money, and gives us a chance to organizer a voice against waste.  No wonder the elitist Left wants to squelch it.

What's bad is this has already passed out of the Senate on a party line vote (It was is heavily favored by the Democrats).  We are trying to catch it before the House passes it to governor Inslee.

Take your stand.  Select any the following:

• I would like to testify in person during the hearing
• I would like to testify remotely
• I would like my position noted for the legislative record - Just state you're pro/con
• I would like to submit written testimony

Impolite is for democracy, which is the voice of the People.  The more informed we are, and the more we can vote on public matters, the stronger our democracy will be.  

What has gone wrong with the Democratic Party that they would favor SB 5082?

Gun control -- we must stop SB 5078

SB 5078 is a threat to self-defense in Washington state.  It will add unfair risk and exposure for the lawful sellers of guns and ammunition.

The bad news is SB 5078 passed the state Senate.   The bill will still need to pass in the House.  Please take a stand against SB 5078.  You can download the Substitute Senate Bill Report in pdf.

Here's is a sample message you can send to your representatives on the legislature's comment page:

SB 5078 has the obvious defect of holding to account for crime  suppliers of self-defense weapons who did no crime.  This violates the foundations of justice.

All firearms purchased from lawful dealers must be cleared through the federal government's National Instant Check system.  The bill implies the FBI's procedures are inadequate.  The dispute about public safety is between the state and the federal government.  So why does this bill make the dealer responsible?

SB 5078 will have a chilling effect on the suppliers of self-defense weapons.  It will interfere with the weapons of self-defense.  That means there will be more victims of violent crime, more death, and more destruction of law and order.

Thus the bill will be found in violation of our constitutional guarantee in Article 1, section 24, which underwrites our right to armed in defense of self.

Please oppose SB 5078.

Make your comments to your representatives on the legislature's comment page (link)

 ~~~~~~~~

The difference between a citizen and a subject is that the citizen is freely able to be armed.

 ~~~~~~~~

You can bypass the state's comment system and directly email comments to the entire Washington state House .  Here is a list of their email addresses.

peter.abbarno@leg.wa.gov; emily.alvarad@leg.wa.gov; andrew.barkis@leg.wa.gov; jessica.bateman@leg.wa.gov; stephanie.barnard@leg.wa.gov; april.berg@leg.wa.gov; steve.bergquist@leg.wa.gov; liz.berry@leg.wa.gov; dan.bronoske@leg.wa.gov; michelle.caldier@leg.wa.gov; lisa.callan@leg.wa.gov; kelly.chambers@leg.wa.gov; bruce.chandler@leg.wa.gov; mike.chapman@leg.wa.gov; greg.cheney@leg.wa.gov; frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov; leonard.christian@leg.wa.gov; april.connors@leg.wa.gov; chris.corry@leg.wa.gov; julio.cortes@leg.wa.gov; travis.couture@leg.wa.gov; lauren.davis@leg.wa.gov; tom.dent@leg.wa.gov; beth.doglio@leg.wa.gov; brandy.donaghy@leg.wa.gov; davina.duerr@leg.wa.gov; mary.dye@leg.wa.gov; debra.entenman@leg.wa.gov; carolyn.eslick@leg.wa.gov; darya.farivar@leg.wa.gov; jake.fey@leg.wa.gov; joe.fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov; mary.fosse@leg.wa.gov; keith.goehner@leg.wa.gov; roger.goodman@leg.wa.gov; jenny.graham@leg.wa.gov; mia.gregerson@leg.wa.gov; dan.griffey@leg.wa.gov; david.hackney@leg.wa.gov; drew.hansen@leg.wa.gov; paul.harris@leg.wa.gov; spencer.hutchins@leg.wa.gov; cyndy.jacobsen@leg.wa.gov;  laurie.jinkins@leg.wa.gov; mark.klicker@leg.wa.gov; shelley.kloba@leg.wa.gov; joel.kretz@leg.wa.gov; mari.leavitt@leg.wa.gov; debra.lekanoff@leg.wa.gov; sam.low@leg.wa.gov; nicole.macri@leg.wa.gov; jacquelin.maycumber@leg.wa.gov; stephanie.mcclintock@leg.wa.gov; joel.mcentire@leg.wa.gov; sharlett.mena@leg.wa.gov; melanie.morgan@leg.wa.gov; gina.mosbrucker@leg.wa.gov; ed.orcutt@leg.wa.gov; timm.ormsby@leg.wa.gov; lillian.ortiz-self@leg.wa.gov; tina.orwall@leg.wa.gov; dave.paul@leg.wa.gov; strom.peterson@leg.wa.gov; gerry.pollet@leg.wa.gov; alex.ramel@leg.wa.gov; bill.ramos@leg.wa.gov; julia.reed@leg.wa.gov; kristine.reeves@leg.wa.gov; marcus.riccelli@leg.wa.gov; eric.robertson@leg.wa.gov; skyler.rude@leg.wa.gov; alicia.rule@leg.wa.gov; cindy.ryu@leg.wa.gov; bryan.sandlin@leg.wa.gov; sharontomiko.santos@leg.wa.gov; joe.schmick@leg.wa.gov; suzanne.schmidt@leg.wa.gov; tana.senn@leg.wa.gov; clyde.shavers@leg.wa.gov; sharon.shewmake@leg.wa.gov; tarra.simmons@leg.wa.gov; vandana.slatter@leg.wa.gov; larry.springer@leg.wa.gov; chris.stearns@leg.wa.gov; mike.steele@leg.wa.gov; drew.stokesbary@leg.wa.gov; monica.stonier@leg.wa.gov; chipalo.street@leg.wa.gov; jamila.taylor@leg.wa.gov; my-linh.thai@leg.wa.gov; steve.tharinger@leg.wa.gov; javier.valdez@leg.wa.gov; joe.timmons@leg.wa.gov; mike.volz@leg.wa.gov; amy.walen@leg.wa.gov; jim.walsh@leg.wa.gov; kevin.waters@leg.wa.gov; jt.wilcox@leg.wa.gov; sharon.wylie@leg.wa.gov; alex.ybarra@leg.wa.gov

I've gotten emails back from several of the legislators this way, so I believe they pick up their own emails.

Seattle agrees to pay $3.65M to CHAZ/CHOP business owners

The city of Seattle has agreed to pay $3,650,000 in damages to business owners who brought suit after the deadly 2020 Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) damaged their business, property, and violated their constitutional rights. The group had originally sought $2.9 million [Post Millennial].

In a statement, plaintiff Attorney Angelo Calfo said residents and businesses will be “compensated for the city’s mishandling of CHOP that resulted in a significant increase in crime and even loss of life.” Additionally, Calfo said the lawsuit exposed the cover-up that high-ranking officials destroyed text communications [King 5].

Now if the city would clean up the streets and reduce the crime problems... .

WA Senate Bill 5078 to bankrupt firearm suppliers (updated)

Updated March 2, 2023

SB 5078 promotes the authritarian anti-gun zealots to bankrupt a lawful, and highly regulated, industry with frivolous lawsuits, in order to deny access to Second Amendment rights to law-abiding citizens.

At a little after five on Thursday, I got this email:

I’ve very disappointed to report that SB 5078 was just passed from the Senate on a near-party-line vote, with all Democrats (except one) voting yes, and all Republicans voting NO.

The bill will now go over to the House of Representatives for their consideration.

Yours in service,

Senator Lynda Wilson

~~~~~~~~

This Friday, the Senate Ways & Means Committee will hold an executive session to consider Senate Bill 5078.

SB 5078 would allow anti-gun zealots to bankrupt the firearm industry with endless, frivolous lawsuits.  Please contact the Ways and Means committee members and ask them to OPPOSE SB 5078 - click here..

SB 5078 aims to undermine the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) and subject licensed firearm manufacturers and sellers to frivolous lawsuits, brought against them for criminal misuse of their products that is beyond their control.

Protection of the firearms industry is necessary because our legal system should not punish anyone for the criminal actions of others. This bill simply seeks to sue the firearms industry out of existence in the state of Washington.  It is an obvious attempt to disarm the People by this sneaky method.

Besides, the firearms industry supplies thousands of jobs in Washington.  And the excise tax on the sale and purchase of firearms, ammunition, and accessories produces millions of dollars for conservation from Pittman-Robertson money.  Thus the bill would eliminate thousands of jobs and deprive the state of millions of dollars annually.

Most significantly, without the firearms suppliers, Washington citizens will not have access to firearms and ammunition and the fundamental right to keep and bear arms.

As always, the National Rifle Association is on our side in this.  You can click on this link to register you opposition to the entire committee.   

~~~~~~~~

"The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men."    --   Washington Constitution Art. 1, § 24

 

 

HB 1832 - To Implement a per mile charge on vehicle usage of public roadways.

The state is eying the elimination of internal combustion engine driven vehicles from the state's future starting in 2030. Eliminating internal combustion without adequate electricity generation or a sufficient  distribution network is premature.  Plus they always want more tax money from the public -- an unstated  purpose of this bill.

HB 1832  From the House's own summary of bill:

Sets January 1, 2030 as the target date for implementation of a comprehensive, mandatory Road Usage Charge Program.

Establishes a voluntary Road Usage Charge Program (RUC Program) beginning July 1, 2025, which places a 2.5 cent per mile fee on motor vehicle usage of public roadways in the state.  

Waives the electric and hybrid-electric vehicle registration renewal fees and the transportation electrification fees for vehicles participating in the voluntary RUC Program.

Limits the total per-mile fee for only electric and hybrid-electric vehicles to the combined amount of electric and hybrid-electric vehicle registration renewal and transportation electrification fees that would otherwise be due if they had not been waived.

Reduces the annual per-mile fee by a fee credit in the amount of the motor vehicle fuel tax that is determined by the Department of Licensing, either constructively or actually, to correspond to a participating vehicle's annual motor vehicle fuel usage.

Requires that the Washington State Transportation Commission pursue federal grant funding opportunities for which the RUC Program is eligible.

Mandates that proceeds from the Road Usage Charge Program be used for transportation system preservation and maintenance purposes.

~~~~~~~~

If you wish to state your position on for the public legislative record, please do so at this link

If you wish to provide written testimony about the bill, please do that here.

If you wish to testify in-person before the committee in Olympia, please register for on site testimony  

If you wish to testify remotely via internet, you need to register for live remote testimony.

~~~~~~~~

This bill is complex and a little confusing.  That plus the legislature seems to have introduced the bill without telling the public as required by Initiative 960.

Initiative 960 requires that the Office of Financial Management of  determine the ten-year cost to taxpayers of any proposed legislation that would raise taxes, impose new fees, or increase current fees and communicate the most up-to-date analysis to each member of the Legislature, the news media, and the public through email.

An email with the analysis, along with required information about sponsors, committee members and legislators' voting records, will be sent out through out via email when a bill is introduced, when a public hearing for the bill is scheduled, and when a bill is passed by a legislative committee or either house of the Legislature.  From the Washington state tax & fee webpage.

WA Senate passes new gun restriction

Senate Bill 5006 turns a suicide prevention measure into a prohibition on an individual’s Second Amendment rights. 

When an individual in crisis needs help and takes the initiative to admit they need help, this measure will  brand them a person prohibited from gun ownership.   This also involves law enforcement agencies, and imposes civil penalties -- this is not the way to help them.

Today, the Washington state senate voted 36-12 to pass Senate Bill 5006, an anti-gun bill that hijacks a suicide prevention measure. It will now go to the House for further consideration. 

As always, the National Rifle Association is aiding the resistance to this overbearing move.   Please contact your state representative and ask them to OPPOSE SB 5006 via this link.

If you'd prefer to contact your representative directly, you can look up their email here.  

The legislative districts have recently been redrawn.  Get a copy of the statewide legislative district map  here.  Then you can see who your representative is on this list.

SB 5707 – Housing Court Pilot Program Hearing: Tuesday, February 14 at 10:30 a.m.

Sign to testify in opposition of SB 5707 in the Senate Law & Justice Committee.  The SL&J committee must be contacted quickly.  (You can also simply state that you are opposed -- see the links below.  Sorry about the rush.  The notice of the hearing was slow in coming out.

SB 5707  Bill Summary

• Creates a new Housing Court Pilot Program inside District Court for counties in Western Washington with a population of 2 million or more (King County).
• Creates a new Housing Court Pilot Program inside District Court for counties in Eastern Washington with a population of 500,000 or more (Spokane County).
• Applies to tenancies under RCW 59.12 and RCW 59.19
• Includes case management that "should" result in efficient use and time.
• Court facilitator to assist both parties (housing provider and resident).
• Provide "non-adversarial" methods of dispute resolution such as a settlement conference and mediation by attorney mediators.
• Sealing of eviction records.
• Judicial officers are required to complete training program and subsequent training for a minimum of 8 hours annually.
• Report to the State December 24, 2024, and each year thereafter.
• Effective date January 1, 2024.
• Expires July 1, 2033.

 Flaws

• The Dispute Resolution Center is an ineffective and tedious process. How will this program be an improvement?
• This program will impose immense financial and administrative burden on the counties that implement it.
• Sealing eviction records suppresses relevant information for future housing providers.
• There are already cities in Washington who cannot deny a resident based on eviction history.
• This will slow down the eviction process which could lead to further harm to property or other residents in some circumstances.

HB 1333 -- state surveillance of political enemies

HB 1333 is a direct assault on free speech and a major abuse of power. This bill would target individuals and groups that the Attorney General's office views as 'extremeists.'

We have already seen how the left and their media allies have branded groups opposed to abortions, mandates, lockdowns and more as 'domestic extremists'.  This bill is a government enforced extension of that rhetoric. This means that the government could potentially go after those who have politically different views but have not committed any acts of violence.

We can also assume this will not be used against those actually perpetrating political violence - such as Antifa and other leftwing groups that took over our streets in the summer of 2020 or the growing attacks against pregnancy resource centers in our state.

This bill is unAmerican and should not be passed. Register your CON position against this bill here before 3PM today.

WA legislature gun control efforts continue

Resistance is called for.

The latest: February 8^th, at 4:00PM, the House Appropriations Committee will hear House Bill 1143, to impose 

• Firearm permit to purchase requirement
• A training mandate
• A 10-day waiting period scheme
  
• Allow indefinite delays on firearm transfers

This bill is gaining an unpleasant amount of strength in the Democratic Party controlled legislature.

The Appropriations Committee considers the fiscal impacts of the bill. HB 1143 is an unfunded gun-control mandate and will cost individuals hundreds to thousands of dollars to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear arms. You are encouraged to oppose HB 1143 by noting their position for the legislative record and with in-person, remote, or written testimony. Click here for general information on how to participate in the committee process.

House Bill 1143 

• Denies law-abiding citizens their Second Amendment right to acquire firearms unless they obtain a government-issued permit. 
• The permit is only valid for five years and to obtain the permit, the state requires completion of official, sanctioned firearms training every five years. 
• It also imposes an arbitrary ten-day delay on prospective gun owners taking possession of their firearms and makes this delay longer or indefinite if the state fails to complete background check during that time.

I submitted written testimony.  These were my points:

• A firearms permit will do nothing to reduce violent crime.  Criminals do not follow the law.
• Mandating training is not compatible with the stated civil right of defense of self and state.  Perhaps the legislature should offer state financed training as an option.
• A ten day delay will not achieve anything positive if the innocent civilian needs self defense now.
• The potentially eternal delay is a plain denial of the express civil right of "individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself" as stated in the Washington state constitution, Article 1, Section 24.
• The state will need to spend millions of tax dollars against the justifiable claims of  the citizens groups will struggle to stop the legislature's gun control efforts.  Is this a legitimate use of the state's funds?
  

You can:

• Appear in person to testify in person during the hearing
• Schedule to testify remotely
• State your position noted for the legislative record
• Submit written testimony, like I did.
  

Please contact committee members and ask them to OPPOSE HB 1143, and please consider testifying as well.

The National Riffle Association is a staunch ally.  They will also forward your objections to this bill to the committee members.  Click Here.