March
3, 2005--Several pieces of anti-gun legislation failed to be voted
out of committee by the Washington state legislature. Without
a committee vote by 5:30 pm on March 2nd, the bills would not
be reported to the body of the legislature.
House bill HB 1473 (the "CAP"
bill) would have made it a crime to negligently store a loaded
firearm if a person younger than sixteen obtained possession of
the firearm.
House bill HB 1489 would have prohibited
possession of weapons, including weapons carried by those with
concealed pistol licenses, in the state capitol building.
House bill HB 1490 would have prohibited,
with certain exceptions, the possession of firearms in state parks.
Senate bill SB 5343 would have required
all private transactions to be brokered through licensed gun dealers,
and would have required such transactions to be subject to fees,
registration, and waiting periods.
Senate bill SB 5475 was a very broad bill
that mirrored the now-sunsetted 1994 federal "assault weapons"
ban. The bill targetted many firearms by name as well as by cosmetic
features, and imposed limitations on magazine capacity. Penalties
for violation of the bill would have been felony-level. The bill
would also have required owners to allow their county sheriffs
to inspect the weapons annually.
Senate bill SB 5593 would have banned
the sale of .50 caliber rifles.
While it may seem easy to dismiss the
fact that these bills died in committee, it is also a fact that
they only did so because concerned gun owners took the time to
call and write their legislators.
Gun owners in New York, Iowa, California,
Illinois and other states where gun rights are now being threatened
should take heart from what happened in Washington state.
Equally as important, gun owners should
keep another fact in mind: with the number of people who own guns
estimated to be as high as 83 million, we constitute the largest
single-issue voting bloc in the country.
When we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with
each other--pistol shooters, clay busters, hunters, military-style
weapon owners--we cannot be defeated.
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