CCRKBA’s Alan Gottlieb spoke to Second Amendment activists at a rally in Olympia.
By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has declared its support for legislation in Washington state that would repeal Initiative 594, the gun control measure passed by voters last fall after a multi-million dollar campaign supported by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg and Everytown for Gun Safety.
However, the effort may be up against a stacked deck, because the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, where the bill was referred, belongs to a national legislative “gun violence prevention” group. Whether the bill gets a hearing, or is held in committee without a vote, remains to be seen.
House Bill 1245 is sponsored by Rep. Matt Shea (R-Spokane Valley), introduced in early January with vocal support from several gun rights activists. Ironically, many of the same people were insisting that a demonstration in December somehow nullified I-594.
Shea’s measure may have a rough go because House Judiciary Chairwoman Rep. Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma) is part of the recently-created American State Legislators for Gun Violence Prevention. When her reappointment as Judiciary chair was announced last month, her website carried this quote: “We’ve had a strong history of working in a bipartisan manner and I’m excited to continue working together on mental health, landlord-tenant and gun violence issues.”
Washington State Rep. Matt Shea is sponsoring legislation to repeal I-594.
HB 1245 faces long odds of getting the required super majority in both the House and Senate to repeal I-594 within two years of its passage. That’s why there are other measures designed to address many of the problems in I-594, and a federal lawsuit challenging its constitutionality, say Evergreen State gun rights advocates.
“With each passing day it becomes more apparent that a lot of people who voted for the initiative did not realize the full scope of what they were voting for,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb observed. “This scheme is far more than just an expansion of the background check, which is why our sister organization, the Second Amendment Foundation, has filed a lawsuit in federal court, challenging its constitutionality.”
He called the provisions of I-594 “unnecessarily invasive and burdensome.” Proof of that is the backlog of paperwork already faced by the Department of Licensing, which maintains the state’s pistol registry.
“The…state pistol registry was already more than a year behind,” Gottlieb said, “even before the measure passed. Now that agency is seeking additional funds for more personnel to help bring record-keeping up to date. As I said during the campaign, I-594 creates an unfunded mandate, and that’s not the only problem.”
Two years ago, Gottlieb proposed amendments to House Bill 1588 that included abolition of the pistol registry. Anti-gunners wouldn’t let go, and passage of I-594 “expands that registry to include temporary handgun transfers and loans, making it a massive handgun registration law that also criminalizes common behavior.”
There are some concerns that Shea’s HB 1245 creates false hopes for Washington rights activists. After all, not only are there long odds against getting the majority of lawmakers to go along, Gov. Jay Inslee would likely veto any repeal. Inslee supported I-594.
“It’s unfortunate that I-594 is one of those measures that people had to pass in order to find out what was in it,” Gottlieb said. “Since that happened, a lot of people are wishing they had voted the other way.”
