GOAL Post 2020-10-Final
Legislative Update from Olympia 13 March 2020
SESSION OVER – SINE DIE
FIVE BILLS PASS
AG OPINION – SORT OF
ELECTION 2020
YOU ARE THE GUN LOBBY
REMEMBER OUR FEW DEMOCRAT FRIENDS, TOO
LAST GOAL POST TIL NEXT TIME
Per the state constitution, the 2020 regular legislative session ended late last evening (Thursday). At this time there is little likelihood of the need for a special session. With luck, we will be safe (from overreaching state government, anyway) until next January, when the 2021 105-day regular session convenes in early January.
Of the three dozen or so gun bills considered during the session, only five passed both chambers and are headed for Governor Inslee’s desk. The governor has the option to sign a bill into law, veto the entire bill, veto only certain sections leaving the remainder of the bill to take effect, or let the bill become law without his signature. It takes a 2/3 vote of the House AND the Senate to override a gubernatorial veto.
The bills that passed are HB 2467 (centralized firearm background checks), HB 2555 (background checks for receivers), HB 2622 (firearm surrender on court orders), SB 5434 (day care centers gun free zones) and SB 6288 (Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention).
HB 2467 could be good or bad. 17 other states now conduct all or partial firearm background checks, and most seem to work smoothly (ATF calls them “point of contact” states. The biggest issue here is the $18 authorized for every check. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which conducts all background checks in that state, does it for $5 – more than today’s free FFL:NICS check but much less than $18. HB 2555 essentially mimics federal law – a receiver/frame is already a firearm under federal law. SB 5434, extending gun free zones to day care centers is overreach, but it does allow licensed carry under certain circumstances. And the Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention is long on “firearm” and likely nonexistent on “safety” or “violence prevention” – unless our side gets active and seeks grants for safety education and criminology studies to identify who and where the violence is being committed (don’t hold your breath on that one – the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report has been telling you exactly who the “who” is for decades, and it has been ignored just as long).
For a detailed, plain English explanation of the intent of a bill, look for the lowest (final) “bill report” on a given bill’s page by putting the bill number (four digits only) into the box at https://app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/.
Stealing from Curtis Bingham and M. J. Muehlhans Facebook posting here, you can still ask the governor to veto bills you oppose, such as the $18 fee to conduct a firearm purchase/transfer through the WSP in HB 2467. Information to contact Governor Inslee may be found at https://www.governor.wa.gov/ The fee is far too excessive to simply cover the cost of the program, which will merely be a satellite of the existing FBI NICS program anyway (with the WSP doing the NICS check instead of the FFL). $18 is just another tax that the governor and his cronies love so much!
Reportedly when HB 2240 (magazine ban) died after Republican House members filed more than 100 amendments to effectively block the bill, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson offered the opinion (not a formal “Attorney General Opinion” – an interpretation of existing law, but him just spouting off) that we could “blame the GOP when the next mass shooting occurred.” I hope AG Ferguson is just as quick to give credit to armed citizens who save lives and stop criminals with tools like the AR-15 and “high capacity magazines.” Like the neighbor in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a couple of years ago who grabbed HIS AR-15 and stopped the man shooting up the church next door, or the pregnant woman in Florida who came out of her bedroom, AR-15 in hand, and shot one of the home invaders trying to kill her husband. Guns save lives more frequently than they take them.
(Warning: Waldron political rant follows. If you don’t want to hear it, jump to the next section, “BILL STATUS.”
With the turnover in Congress in the 2018 election, it’s clear many people were unhappy with our president. So they gave full control of the STATE legislature to Democrats. Rural voters and gun owners need to be reminded that the majority of gun control bills that pass, pass at the state level. It’s Democrats IN OLYMPIA that are killing gun owners. Ideally vote Republican to give Republicans control of one or both chambers (and committee chair seats; committee chairs control which bills move and which die in committee) or vote for the small handful of pro-gun Democrat.
You like more taxes? You like “perverts-is-us” taught in your schools? Go ahead and vote liberal Democrat. But please, if you leave Washington because of it’s liberal policies, DO NOT take your liberal attitudes with you.
You think the 2016 presidential election was contentious, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. 2020 will be the most hotly contested – and most critical – election in our lifetimes. This is the election that determines what direction the country will take for the next ten or twenty years. Or forever.
Yes, the legislative session is over, but DO NOT take your pack off! There’s a lot of work to be done in the coming eight months. As unhappy as some might be with our president, Donald Trump and the Republican Party offer us as close to “the old days” as we’re likely to see, Whether it’s sleepy, groping Joe Biden or Fidel Castro-praising socialist Bernie Sanders, whatever they promise is nothing but a sharp shift to the left and an end to our republic. It’s the Democrats who are trashing the Constitution with things like “red flag” protection orders and cradle-to-grave welfare – at taxpayer expense.
Political campaigns largely run on volunteer work. Envelope stuffing, door-belling… that’s grassroots politics at its best. Consider having your gun club hold barbecues this summer as the campaign season gets into full swing. Invite candidates to talk face to face, and likely correct many mis-impressions they have about the gun issue. As American humorist and social commentator Will Rogers once observed, “It’s not what we don’t know that gets us in trouble, it’s what we know that isn’t so.” Most candidates learn about guns from the media. It’s your job as a grassroots gun lobbyist to correct that.
We dodged a lot of bullets this session, gun and magazine bans, CPL training, ammunition background checks and ammo excise taxes among them. In large part, that was due to YOUR activism, and to a lesser extent Democrats’ fear of overreaching and paying the price in November. Let’s make them pay that price anyway. You can see by all the anti-gun bills they filed where they want to go – and where they want to drag us with them. Don’t let that happen!
One last point: we DO have some Democrat friends in Olympia. Senators Tim Sheldon, Dean Takko, Steve Hobbs and Kevin Van Dew Wege and Representatives Brian Blake, Mari Leavitt and Dave Paul. They have clearly demonstrated their loyalty to their oath of office despite caucus pressure in the other direction. Remember them in August for the primary and again in November.
THIS IS THE LAST GOAL POST FOR THE 2020 SESSION.
The “BILL STATUS” list below is a complete list of all gun bills considered by the legislature this year. Note I am using the original filed version of the bill number (HB, SB) and not the amended versions (SHB, ESHB, SS< ESSB, etc).
BILL STATUS/GOAL POSITION:
(all bills that received attention during 2020 session)
HB 1010 WSP destruction of firearms Senn (D-41) DIED OPPOSE
HB 1068 Magazine restrictions Valdez (D-43) DIED OPPOSE
HB 1315 CPL training requirement Lovick (D-44) DIED OPPOSE
HB 1374 Repeals state preemption of gun laws Macri (D-43) DIED OPPOSE
HB 1671 Confiscation of firearms Dolan (D-22) DIED NEUTRAL
HB 2196 Raise standard for issue of a “red flag” order Walsh (R-19) DIED SUPPORT
HB 2202 Exempts law enforcement from a/w training Klippert (R-8) DIED OPPOSE
HB 2240 Bans high capacity magazines Valdez (D-43) DIED OPPOSE
HB 2241 Bans assault weapons and magazines Peterson (D-21) DIED OPPOSE
HB 2305 Expands firearm prohibition re: protection orders Doglio (D-22) DIED OPPOSE
HB 2367 Self defense insurance Hoff (R-18) DIED SUPPORT
HB 2467 Centralized firearm background checks Hansen (D-23) TO GOV NEUTRAL
HB 2519 Ammunition background checks Walen (D-48) DIED OPPOSE
HB 2555 Background checks for “other” firearms Goodman (D-45) TO GOV OPPOSE
HB 2569 Pre-trial detention for certain firearm offenses Wylie (D-49) DIED OPPOSE
HB 2622 Court order non-compliance, firearm surrender Kilduff (D-28) TO GOV OPPOSE
HB 2623 Firearm prohibition, certain offenses Walen (D-48) DIED OPPOSE
HB 2767 Recreation shooting areas on public lands Blake (D-19) DIED SUPPORT
HB 2820 Firearms forfeiture/DV court order (correction) Klippert (R-8) DIED NEUTRAL
*HB 2925 Bans firearms on Capitol grounds and buildings Senn (D-41) DIED OPPOSE
HJR 4210 Pretrial detention for certain firearm offenses Wylie (D-49) DIED OPPOSE
SB 5434 Expands gun free zones to day cares Wilson, C (D-30) TO GOV OPPOSE
SB 5782 Spring-blade knives Zeigler (R-25) DIED SUPPORT
SB 6043 Self defense insurance Wilson, L. (R-17) DIED SUPPORT
SB 6076 Bans assault weapons and hi cap magazines Kuderer (D-48) DIED OPPOSE
SB 6077 Bans high capacity magazines Kuderer (D-48) DIED OPPOSE
SB 6161 Excise tax on ammunition Dhingra (D-45) DIED OPPOSE
SB 6163 Unlawful possession BEFORE conviction Dhingra (D-45) DIED OPPOSE
SB 6288 Office of firearm violence prevention Dhingra (D-45) TO GOV OPPOSE
SB 6289 Restoration of firearm rights Dhingra (D-45) DIED OPPOSE
SB 6294 CPL training requirement Saloman (D-32) DIED OPPOSE
SB 6347 CPL validity seven years with training Wagoner (R-39) DIED SUPPORT
SB 6402 Use of a stolen firearm Rivers (R-18) DIED SUPPORT
SB 6406 Concerning firearms Wilson, L (R-17) DIED SUPPORT
SB 6584 Unlawful purchase of a firearm Zeiger (R-25) DIED SUPPORT
SB 6673 Removes many existing firearm restrictions Fortunato (R-31) DIED SUPPORT
PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:
It’s over!
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 “http://www.leg.wa.gov“. Bills are available in Acrobat (.pdf) format. You may download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe’s web site (http://www.adobe.com). 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.
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Upcoming WAC gun show(s):
Monroe 28-29 March
Puyallup Pavilion 4-5 April
“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.”
Article 1, Section 24
Constitution of the State of Washington
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