Washington State Senate Bill 6396: Disarming Law Abiding Citizens

"I'll give you my gun when you take it from my cold, dead hands!"

I heard this was coming, and this evening I got an alert from the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action.

Washington State Senate Bill 6396
What is it? This is the latest idiotic, knee jerk reactionary piece of gun control trash to be cooked up by a pack of Seattle liberals and spewed at the law abiding citizens of our state.

This "assault weapons ban" (which is dumb from go, because there's no such thing as an "assault weapon") is just like the ridiculous former Federal "assault weapons" ban signed into law by President Clinton years ago: it bans certain types of firearms largely based on cosmetics and not on function. Basically, if a weapon is a semiautomatic one and if it can accept detachable magazines, it cannot also have one other of the features listed in the bill, things such as grips or barrel shrouds on a rifle. For the most part then, the bill seeks to ban mere appearances.

This bill, and all others like it, also make a massive assumption: they assume that a criminal is even going to give a damn! THEY'RE CRIMINALS! THEY ALREADY DON'T CARE WHAT THE LAW IS!

WA Senate bill 6396 does go one ugly step further, however. This bill calls for a once per year, apparently warrantless "inspection" of your home by your county Sheriff to "make sure your firearms are stored safely and securely" (what "safely and securely" means is not defined in the bill, but you had better get it right because it's a gross misdemeanor if you don't).

Already though there appear to be headwinds blowing in the face of this trash bill:

"Ironically, the bill was filed on the same day that Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum was quoted by the Wenatchee World noting that criminals like the man who gunned down four Lakewood police officers on Nov. 29 will not be deterred by gun control laws. He sat on a law enforcement panel appointed by Gov. Christine Gregoire in the aftermath of that shooting to determine if changes in state law might reduce the possibility of another such incident.

Our fear was that if a legislator has a knee-jerk reaction to this whole incident, he might come up with something that we would not be able to work with as a community.”—Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum"

[ Quoted from: Bill introduced to ban so-called ‘assault weapons’ in Washington State ]
The article makes a further point that addresses the real heart of this matter, which is the anti-liberty politicians we have in Olympia that have to be shown the door:

"Not all Democrats will support this measure, but there may be concerns in Olympia that such legislation, unilaterally sponsored by ranking Seattle-area Democrats, could have a negative effect during this fall’s election cycle for Democrats in rural districts, where voter unrest is already rising over taxes and spending. While the four sponsors live in liberal Seattle districts where they are considered politically bullet-proof, many of their Democrat caucus colleagues are vulnerable.

Rural Democrats should be wary of any such legislation, as it only reinforces the image of Democrats as the “Party of Gun Control.”

If the Democrat-controlled Legislature hikes taxes to make up for a $2.6 billion revenue shortfall that developed under Democrat control in Olympia, a law attacking the gun rights of rural Washingtonians could easily push those voters over the edge and bring occasional voters to the polls in huge numbers, resulting a political sea change in November. Voter frustration has a way of becoming voter fury when lawmakers stick one hand in their wallet and the other hand in their gun cabinet."

Correct. If you Dems in Olympia are not loudly shouting down your four idiot colleagues over this, then you might as well be one of them.