GOAL Post 2010-15

GOAL Post

2010-15



Legislative Update from Olympia 14 April 2010



TAXES RAISED; SPECIAL SESSION ADJOURNS



EYMAN FILES TAX REPEAL INITIATIVES



NO ACTION ON GUN BILLS, PRO OR CON



CITY OF SEATTLE APPEAL ON GUN BAN



GUN-RELATED INITIATIVES FILED



The legislature adjourned Monday evening, a day before it's 30-day

special session limit after passing several tax increase bills. One way

or another, every citizen of Washington will end up giving more money to

the state.



Tax opponent Tim Eyman has already filed several initiatives overturning

the 2010 tax increases. This should be to the advantage of gun owners

as it will draw more conservatives to the polls in November (assuming

the initiatives make it onto the ballot). It appears nearly 50

Initiatives to the People have been filed with the Secretary of State

this year; many deal with the tax increases, many do not. Most will

never see the ballot. The complete list of initiative to the people

filed thus far is available at

http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/people.aspx?y=2010



Firearms were apparently among the furthest things from the legislators'

minds during the recently adjourned special session.



It appears the City of Seattle's appeal of Judge Shaffer's decision

overturning the Seattle gun ban will drag out for a few more months,

with extended time necessary for appropriate paperwork and responses by

either side. This should put it past the time when the U.S. Supreme

Court will issue its ruling on the Chicago handgun ban (/McDonald et al

v City of Chicago/). Will a favorable (for gun owners) ruling in

/McDonald/ cool Seattle's jets? Not likely. Anyone who voted for Mike

McGinn, hoping for a change from Greg Nickels, will surely be

disappointed! It appears arrogance comes with the office.



Two firearms-related initiatives have been filed by two Spokane County

residents. I-1059 (similar to HB 2711) affirms the right of self

defense and prohibits certain record-keeping. I-1062 is an initiative

version of the Firearms Freedom Act (HB 2709) that was introduced and

died during the 2010 session. While both initiatives are commendable

and worthy of support, it is unlikely they will get enough signatures to

qualify for the ballot. Initiative language is available at:

http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/i1059.pdf and

http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/i1062.pdf



*BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:*



Bill # Subject

Sponsor Status



Not applicable



GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:



Not applicable



PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:



None



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 "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.



GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail,

send a message to "jwaldron@halcyon.com". Please pass GOAL Post on to

anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights.

Better yet, make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun

club's bulletin board, and leave copies with your local gun shop(s).

PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST

PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT TEXTUAL MODIFICATION

AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at

"jwaldron@halcyon.com." Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy

GOAL Post to individuals. Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be

available at the Second Amendment Foundation book table at WAC gun shows.



NOTICE: If you believe you have received the GOAL Post in error, first

check the "From" line in the address to determine if you received it

directly or as part of a list. GP has both individual subscribers and

list subscribers. If you do not wish to receive direct distribution of

GOAL Posts, please send an e-mail to jwaldron@halcyon.com with "Remove

GOAL Post" in the subject line. Please include in the body the address

that sent you GP. If you received it as a list member (e.g. WA-CCW,

WA-GUNS, etc), you must ask the list owner to be removed. I will

respond directly to individual subscribers.



Upcoming WAC gun show(s):



Puyallup 24-25 April



Monroe 1-2 May



"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



Copyright 2010 Gun Owners Action League of WA

GOAL Post 2010-13

GOAL Post 2010-13



Legislative Update from Olympia 2 April 2010







NO CHANGE IN OLYMPIA



HOUSE AND SENATE LEADERSHIP CONTINUE TO DISAGREE



GOVERNOR SIGNS SHB 2226







On day 19 of the Special Session, House and Senate leadership are still agreeing to disagree about how to resolve the budget shortfall. Most of the legislators are at home, while the fiscal committee members meet to discuss the relative merits of THEIR solutions. Any way you spell it, the end result is tax increases. (You'd better get used to THAT one.)



Under proposals being pushed by the Democrat-led Senate, everyone in the state would pay an increased sales tax to generate $800 million in additional revenue. The Democrat-led House "solution" is to focus the same amount in tax increases on specialized items such as Business & Occupation taxes, higher cigarette and other "sin" taxes (to include a tax on bottled water), and increased taxes on some food items. Meanwhile, Republican proposals to close the shortfall by cutting spending were dismissed without consideration. (Just as Republican proposals in Congress for health care reform were ignored by Democrat leadership.)



(If this looks like I'm Democrat-bashing, that's just the way I see it. And for the record, I was raised in an FDR-Democrat, union household whose family voted only Democrat... until 1968 when the party abandoned the little guy in favor of left-wing special interests.)





Again, the one bright spot in the Special Session is that revenue-raising has occupied ALL of their attention. Gun control is NOT on the table.





SHB 2226, the bill that would standardize procedures whereby retired peace officers could qualify to carry concealed firearms all across the U.S. under the provisions of HR 218, the Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act of 2004, was signed by Governor Gregoire in a ceremony on 31 March. Several of the bills she signed that day toughened rules on parole and parolees.







BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:



Bill # Subject Sponsor Status



SHB 2226 Retired peace officer qualification Orcutt (R-18) Gov. signed





Key to abbreviations: SHB = Substitute House Bill





GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:



Not applicable





PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:



None





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 "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.





GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail, send a message to "jwaldron@halcyon.com". Please pass GOAL Post on to anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights. Better yet, make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun club’s bulletin board, and leave copies with your local gun shop(s). PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT TEXTUAL MODIFICATION AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at "jwaldron@halcyon.com." Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy GOAL Post to individuals. Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be available at the Second Amendment Foundation book table at WAC gun shows.



NOTICE: If you believe you have received the GOAL Post in error, first check the “From” line in the address to determine if you received it directly or as part of a list. GP has both individual subscribers and list subscribers. If you do not wish to receive direct distribution of GOAL Posts, please send an e-mail to jwaldron@halcyon.com with “Remove GOAL Post” in the subject line. Please include in the body the address that sent you GP. If you received it as a list member (e.g. WA-CCW, WA-GUNS, etc), you must ask the list owner to be removed. I will respond directly to individual subscribers.





Upcoming WAC gun show(s):



Monroe 10-11 April

Puyallup 24-25 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



Copyright 2010 Gun Owners Action League of WA

GOAL Post 2010 - 12

GOAL Post



2010-12




Legislative Update from Olympia 26 March 2010



LITTLE ACTION IN OLYMPIA AS BUDGET IMPASSE CONTINUES



SHB 2226 STILL SITS ON GOVERNOR'S DESK



CITY OF SEATTLE FILES NOTICE OF APPEAL



Today is the 12th day of the special legislative session, and

legislative leaders are still at an impasse as to how to resolve the

$2+BILLION budget shortfall for the remainder of 2010. How can this be,

you ask, given that one party, the Democratic Party, has solid control

of BOTH chambers (House AND Senate)? This should have been resolved

during the regular session to begin with. Why is the legislature

spending approximately $20,000 PER DAY in special session?



If there is good news coming out of Olympia, it is that there has been

no action on any gun-related bills during the special session, nor is

any anticipated.



SHB 2226, the bill that would standardize procedures whereby retired

peace officers could qualify to carry concealed firearms all across the

U.S. under the provisions of HR 218, the Law Enforcement Officers'

Safety Act of 2004, still sits on Governor Gregoire's desk, awaiting her

action: sign the bill into law or veto it.



Earlier today the City of Seattle filed Notice of Appeal in the case of

the Seattle city ban. The appeal will be heard in Division 1 of the

Court of Appeals. The presiding judge of Division 1 is none other than

Judge Marlin Appelwick, who back in his days as a legislator, was one of

the "fathers" of 1994's E2SHB 2319, the so-called Youth Violence Act.

E2SHB 2319 was the largest and most comprehensive gun control law in

Washington history, essentially a major rewrite of our state's firearms

code.



At this point I don't see what arguments Seattle attorneys could make

that would overcome Judge Catherine Shaffer's February decision to toss

the ban based on the state preemption law (RCW 9.41.290). Add to that

the fact that by the time the appeal is heard, the U.S. Supreme Court

will likely have announced its decision in the case of /McDonald v City

of Chicago/, a decision that is likely to incorporate the Second

Amendment to the states. As if Washington's constitutional provision,

Article 1, Section 24 (quoted at the end of every GOAL Post) wasn't

enough. More taxpayer dollars wasted to salve the egos of arrogant

politicians (is that redundant?).



*BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:*



Bill # Subject

Sponsor Status



SHB 2226 Retired peace officer qualification Orcutt (R-18) To

Governor



Key to abbreviations: SHB = Substitute House Bill



GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:



Not applicable



PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:



None



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 "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.



GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail,

send a message to "jwaldron@halcyon.com". Please pass GOAL Post on to

anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights.

Better yet, make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun

club's bulletin board, and leave copies with your local gun shop(s).

PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST

PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT TEXTUAL MODIFICATION

AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at

"jwaldron@halcyon.com." Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy

GOAL Post to individuals. Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be

available at the Second Amendment Foundation book table at WAC gun shows.



NOTICE: If you believe you have received the GOAL Post in error, first

check the "From" line in the address to determine if you received it

directly or as part of a list. GP has both individual subscribers and

list subscribers. If you do not wish to receive direct distribution of

GOAL Posts, please send an e-mail to jwaldron@halcyon.com with "Remove

GOAL Post" in the subject line. Please include in the body the address

that sent you GP. If you received it as a list member (e.g. WA-CCW,

WA-GUNS, etc), you must ask the list owner to be removed. I will

respond directly to individual subscribers.



Upcoming WAC gun show(s):



Puyallup 27-28 March



Monroe 10-11 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



Copyright 2010 Gun Owners Action League of WA



__,_._,___

GOAL Post 2010-2

GOAL Post 2010-2

Legislative Update from Olympia 15 January 2010

CUT-OFF CALENDAR ADOPTED

PRO- AND ANTI-GUN BILLS FILED

NO PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED -- YET

The legislature adopted the cut-off calendar for the 2010 session. Certain "cut-off" dates are established, dates by which bills must clear certain hurdles or be considered "dead" for the session. Most bills die at the various cut-offs. Remember: "dead" doesn't necessarily mean "dead." Language from a bill can be amended into another bill, or the cut-off can be waived by a majority vote.

Feb 5 Bills must pass their original "policy committee"

Feb 16 Bills must pass their original chamber (House or Senate)

Feb 26 Bills must pass policy committee in the second chamber

Mar 5 Bills must pass second chamber (Senate or House)

Mar 11 Last day of session

HB 2703, by Rep. Dean Takko (D-19), is a shooting range protection bill that would immunize ranges against nuisance lawsuits filed for noise abatement. Similar bills have passed twice in previous years, only to be vetoed by the governor.

HB 2709, by Rep. Matt Shea (R-4) is similar to bills passed in Montana and Tennessee and filed in more than a dozen other states. It effectively says if a firearm is manufactured within Washington and sold within the state, the interstate Commerce Clause does not apply and thus federal firearms laws do not apply. The intent of this bill is NOT to encourage people to go out and build firearms, it's to open the door to a challenge of the federal commerce clause.

HB 2711, by Rep. Matt Shea (R-4), broadly defines the right of self defense, and declares any federal or state law to the contrary to be invalid. The bill also prohibits tracking of firearms and other self defense tools by means of RFID chips and other technical means.

SB 6396, by Sen. Adam Kline (D-37), called by the sponsors the "Aaron Sullivan Public Safety and Police Protection Act," would ban possession of so-called "assault weapons." The term would include a broadly-defined category of BOTH semi-automatic and pump action firearms (rifles, shotguns AND handguns) capable of accepting a detachable or fixed box magazine of more than 10-rounds capacity with certain "evil" features, some parts for these firearms (defined as "conversion kits"), and all magazines with greater than 10-round capacity. If the firearm was possessed prior to the effective date of the act, it could be kept ("grandfathered"), but subject the owner to warrantless "inspections" by the county sheriff and possession is limited to property owned by the possessor and "licensed ranges."

SB 6429, by Senator Dale Brandland (R-42) would lift the current prohibition on use of otherwise lawfully possessed (i.e. registered with the ATF) by law enforcement officers ONLY. Current law allows possession, if legally-possessed under federal law, but prohibits their use BY EVERYONE. SB 6429 would NOT legalize suppressor use by private citizens. HB 1604 is the preferred bill, as it makes use of ALL lawfully-possessed suppressors legal.

SB 6473, by Senator Val Stevens (R-39), is the Senate companion bill to HB 2711.

No public hearings have been scheduled for gun bills in the coming week. However, past experience indicated close attention to this. Legislative hearing schedules are published on the Wednesday of the week prior to the hearings, to provide the legal advance notice and allow for time to plan to attend. Last minute changes are allowed, but are supposed to be only when unavoidable. Several years ago, a "gun show loophole" bill was NOT on the weekly schedule, but added later without the statutory advance notice. An oversight, maybe. Except that Washington Ceasefire published a message to its members, informing them of the hearing BEFORE the weekly schedule came out. I guess they must be clairvoyant.

BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:

Bill # Subject Sponsor Status

HB 1604 Firearm suppressors Condotta (R-12) H. Jud.

HB 2226 Retired peace officer qualification Orcutt (R-18) H. Jud

HB 2264 Gun show regulation Williams (D-22) H. Jud.

HB 2477 Gun sale liability Williams (D-22) H. Jud.

HB 2499 Black powder storage/transport Bailey (R-10) H. C&L

HB 2703 Sport shooting ranges Takko (D-19) H. Jud.

HB 2709 Firearms freedom act Shea (R-4) H. Jud.

HB 2711 Right to protection Shea (R-4) H. Jud.

SB 6396 So-called "assault weapon" ban Kline (D-37) S. Jud.

SB 6429 Suppressor use by police Brandland (R-42) S. Jud

SB 6473 Right to protection Stevens (R-39) S. Jud.

Key to abbreviations: HB = House Bill, SB = Senate Bill, H. Jud = House Judiciary, H. C&L = House Commerce & Labor

GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:

HB 1604 SUPPORT

HB 2226 SUPPORT

HB 2264 OPPOSE

HB 2477 OPPOSE

HB 2499 SUPPORT

HB 2703 SUPPORT

HB 2709 SUPPORT

HB 2711 EVALUATING

SB 6396 OPPOSE

SB 6429 EVALUATING

SB6473 EVALUATING

PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:

NONE (at this time)

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.

GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail, send a message to mailto:jwaldron@halcyon.com. Please pass GOAL Post on to anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights. Better yet, make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun club's bulletin board, and leave copies with your local gun shop(s). PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT TEXTUAL MODIFICATION AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at mailto:jwaldron@halcyon.com. Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy GOAL Post to individuals. Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be available at the Second Amendment Foundation book table at WAC gun shows.

NOTICE: If you believe you have received the GOAL Post in error, first check the "From" line in the address to determine if you received it directly or as part of a list. GP has both individual subscribers and list subscribers. If you do not wish to receive direct distribution of GOAL Posts, please send an e-mail to jwaldron@halcyon.com with "Remove GOAL Post" in the subject line. Please include in the body the address that sent you GP. If you received it as a list member (e.g. WA-CCW, WA-GUNS, etc), you must ask the list owner to be removed. I will respond directly to individual subscribers.

Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Monroe 16-17 January

Monroe 13-14 February

Puyallup 20-21 February

"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

Copyright 2010 Gun Owners Action League of WA

State senators attempt to justify assault weapon ban

Related articles

Gun Control: Washington lawmakers to propose

Changing views of gun control: Changes in laws

Yesterday, we discussed the Assault Weapon ban bill introduced in the Washington State Legislature recently.

The bill proposes to ban a wide category of firearms, primarily based on cosmetics. The writers say that it is based on the 1994 Clinton Assault Weapon ban. This ban was a decade-long Federal law which criminalized the sale of a number of firearms based on their cosmetics; later studies showed that it was ineffective in stopping crime.

Now State Senators Kohl-Welles and Kline have explained their rationale in the Everett Herald; through their explanation they have laid bare their ignorance on the subject.

They open their piece by alleging that "many semi-automatic assault rifles...can easily be converted to fully automatic with minor after-market modifications, and are often purchased with that purpose in mind." This myth has been circulating amongst the gun-banning crowd for years. The "easy" conversion takes the milling of several parts; kits are not available online. An FBI report showed the only 0.15% of 4,000 firearms confiscated in Los Angeles were converted; only 0.3% had any evidence of an attempt at conversion.

They point out that the bullets shot from semi-automatic guns can be as lethal as those shot from fully automatic guns. Compelling, but specious. Of course the bullets from semi-automatics can be as lethal as those shot from automatics guns, as can those shot from 200-year-old flintlocks or the blow from a sledgehammer. Centers for Disease Control data shows that In 2006, 121,599 people in accidents; 43,664 in car crashes, 20,823 in falls, 27,531 in poisoning. Each of these mechanisms were just as lethal as the next.

Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic, purely symbolic move ... Its only real justification is notto reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation." -- Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, April 5, 1996

40 police officers were killed by semi-automatic in the last 4 years they tell us. They use this as a reason to ban "assault weapons". By stretching the definition of assault weapons, they include this statistic in their argument. They fail to point out that most guns sold nation-wide are semi-automatics; they are the type of guns used by police officers. Most cars involved in crashes have automatic transmissions -- that is the type most commonly sold. Blaming the tool is a compelling argument, but ignores the problem of criminal behavior. Maurice Clemmons, the murderer of the Lakewood Police officers used a revolver to kill the first officers before he stole the gun of one of the officers.

This legislation was not introduced to limit the rights of responsible gun owners and is an important step toward ensuring the safety of our police and preventing future large-scale tragedies." -- Kohl-Welles and Kline

Actually, the truth is the rights of responsible gun owners are limited. Not only does their bill restrict the Second Amendment rights of responsible gun owners, but the bill requires that responsible gun owners give up their Fourth Amendment rights by allowing the sheriff to search their homes annually. Most would argue that taking away Fourth Amendment rights is a limit.

If this is an "important step" as the Senators say, then their journey only ends with a ban on all firearms, their true agenda.

As shown by studies after the Federal Assault Weapon Ban, restricting the sale of a gun based on cosmetics does not decrease crime. Kohl-Welles and Kline know that. If not, they should do their homework and find out.

Thoughts? Leave a COMMENT.

Want to follow the discussion? SUBSCRIBE to Tacoma Independent Examiner

GOAL Post 2010-1

GOAL Post 2010-1

Legislative Update from Olympia 8 January 2010

LEGISLATIVE SESSION TO CONVENE MONDAY, 11 JANUARY

HOW TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS

HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW

CUT-OFF CALENDAR

HOLDOVERS FROM 2009 -- PREFILED BILLS

FIRST (PRO)GUN BILL SCHEDULED FOR A HEARING

2010 PROGNOSIS

The state legislature convenes Monday, 11 January, for a 60-day "short"
session (a longer, 105-day session is held during odd-numbered years).
Much of the attention this year will be focused on budgetary issues and
fixes or patches for the economy. Rest assured, however, time will be
set aside to take a look at firearms and laws regulating their use!

Once convened, the legislature does not take holidays off (MLK Day in
January, President's Day in February), although they do take most
weekends off to visit the home district and receive input from constituents.

Before each session starts, there is typically a reshuffle of offices as
assignments are changed, replacements are seated, etc. Telephone
numbers remain the same, by district, so if your Senator or one of your
Representatives has changed, the office telephone will be the same.
Your elected legislators and their contact information is available by
inserting your residence zip code at
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx

Combined House and Senate e-mail addresses are available at
https://dlr.leg.wa.gov/MemberEmail/Default.aspx

Several thousand bills are filed in a typical two-year legislative
biennium (in this case, 2009-2010). Bills that were filed but not acted
on last year may still be considered this year. In addition, new bills
are being filed daily. Only a small percentage of bills filed actually
make it to the Governor's desk for her signature or veto.

Getting a bill all the way to the governor is generally a five or six
step process. It must first be heard by the appropriate policy
committee (for firearms, usually the House or Senate Judiciary
Committees). If it passes out of the policy committee, it goes to the
Rules Committee where it awaits a floor vote by the entire chamber
(House or Senate). If it passes out of the original chamber, it then
goes across the capitol building to the other chamber, where it goes
through the committee and floor vote process again. (Bills that have a
fiscal impact must also be passed by the fiscal committee in each chamber.)

If a bill is modified in the second chamber (House bill in the Senate or
Senate bill in the House), it must receive a concurrence vote by the
original chamber or go to a conference committee for reconciliation,
then back for an concurrence vote by both chambers. Once all those
hurdles are passed, it's on its way to the governor. Now you can see
why only a fraction of bills make it all the way through the process.

A graphic depiction of the process is available at
http://www.leg.wa.gov/StudentsPage/Pages/bill2Law_elementary.aspx

One of the first items of business in each legislative session is
adoption of a cut-off calendar. The cut-off calendar establishes the
dates by which a bill must clear steps in the process. In most cases
(not always) if a bill does not pass it's cut-off date, it is considered
dead for the session. Exceptions are made occasionally, so the only
real cut-off date is when the legislature adjourns, this year at
midnight on Thursday, on March 11.

I'll post the cut-off dates in the next GOAL Post.

A few bills of interest from the last session remain and may or may not
be acted on. HB 1604 would allow use of lawfully registered suppressors
(current law allows lawful possession, but prohibits their use). HB
2226 improves the process that allows retired peace officers to carry
firearms nationwide (scheduled for a public hearing Monday, 11 January;
see information below). HB 2264 requires all firearm transfers at gun
shows be conducted (and papered) by a licensed dealer (FFL).

HB 2477, by Rep. Brendan Williams (D-22) would impose strict liability
standards against anyone who sells or transfers a firearm at a gun show
to a person who could not have passed a NICS check. (It's already a
criminal offense to KNOWINGLY transfer a firearm to a prohibited
person. The Williams bill does NOT include "knowingly.")

HB 2499, by Rep. Barbara Bailey (R-10) pre-filed a bill that relaxes the
limit on possession of black powder used in muzzle-loading firearms.
The bill increases the current limit of five pounds to 50 pounds.

Senator Adam Kline (D-37) and Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48) held a press
conference last month where they said they would introduce a bill
banning possession of so-called "assault weapons." Kline said the bill
will be similar to the 1994 Clinton gun ban, which wasn't really a ban
at all. He declined to share a copy of his draft with me. I expect the
bill will go far beyond the Clinton ban, just as his so-called a/w bill
from 2005 did: it bans all future possession, with a limited
grandfathering provision for those already in possession, IF you
register them with the local sheriff, pass a background check and pay a
registration fee -- annually.

2010 is an election year. That will have an impact on what bills pass
and those that die. According to an article in the Seattle Weekly
published shortly after the Kline/Hunter press conference, both Speaker
of the House Frank Chopp and House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler
expressed doubts about such a bill getting through their chamber. With
a large number of rural Democrats taking our side of the gun issue,
passing anti-gun bills is no sure thing, even in a legislature that's
2/3 controlled by Democrats. If your legislators are rural democrats,
be sure to contact them and give them your views on the various bills.
(Actually, you should all give your legislators your position on bills;
whether they choose to follow it or not is something for subsequent
discussion in November!)

*BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:*

Bill # Subject
Sponsor Status

HB 1604 Firearm suppressors Condotta (R-12)
H. Jud.

HB 2226 Retired peace officer qualification Orcutt (R-18) H. Jud

HB 2264 Gun show regulation Williams (D-22) H. Jud.

HB 2477 Gun sale liability Williams
(D-22) Unassigned

HB 2499 Black powder storage/transport Bailey (R-10)
Unassigned

Key to abbreviations: HB = House Bill, SB = Senate Bill, H. Jud = House
Judiciary,

GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:

HB 1604 SUPPORT

HB 2226 SUPPORT

HB 2264 OPPOSE

HB 2477 OPPOSE

HB 2499 SUPPORT

PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:

Monday, 11 January 1:30 p.m. HB 2226

House Judiciary House Hearing Room "A" Obrien House Office Bldg

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 "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.

GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail,
send a message to "mailto:jwaldron%40halcyon.com". Please pass GOAL Post on to
anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights.
Better yet, make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun
club's bulletin board, and leave copies with your local gun shop(s).
PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST
PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT TEXTUAL MODIFICATION
AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at
"mailto:jwaldron%40halcyon.com." Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy
GOAL Post to individuals. Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be
available at the Second Amendment Foundation book table at WAC gun shows.

NOTICE: If you believe you have received the GOAL Post in error, first
check the "From" line in the address to determine if you received it
directly or as part of a list. GP has both individual subscribers and
list subscribers. If you do not wish to receive direct distribution of
GOAL Posts, please send an e-mail to mailto:jwaldron%40halcyon.com with "Remove
GOAL Post" in the subject line. Please include in the body the address
that sent you GP. If you received it as a list member (e.g. WA-CCW,
WA-GUNS, etc), you must ask the list owner to be removed. I will
respond directly to individual subscribers.

Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Monroe 16-17 January

Monroe 13-14 February

Puyallup 20-21 February

"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

Copyright 2010 Gun Owners Action League of WA

__,_._,___

Changing view of gun control: Changes in the law

Related articles

Gun Control: Washington lawmakers to propose

Manager's secret amendment finally public, abortion, gun checks out, CBO weighs in

The Fort Hood shooting - could it happen here?

Brady Campaign on Fort Hood shooting

The AP recently had an article about what they referred to a "loosening" of gun control laws this year. Even the title suggests some lack of objectivity on what is otherwise a reasonably accurate piece. I can't imagine an article about "loosening" of First, Fourth or Fifth Amendment laws.

The AP credits the NRA with the changes in the laws, but, as we'll explore later, there is more of a grass-roots interest in changing the laws. The NRA, alone, can't pass the laws themselves.

Changes to the law:

• Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Utah have all passed laws making it legal for employees to keep their hunting rifle in the cars at work
  
  
  
  • Disney, however, citing an exemption to the Florida for businesses in which "the primary business conducted is the manufacture, use, storage, or transportation of combustible or explosive materials" does not allow its employees to have firearms anywhere on the premises. Bet you thought they were just about Mickey and Tinkerbell, didn't you.
  
  
  
  


• Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Virginia have passed laws keeping the names and addresses of firearm permits holders private.
  
  
  
  • In Memphis, the Commercial Appeal printed the names and addresses of permit holders.
  
  
  • In Roanoke, Virginia, the Roanoke Times printed the names and addresses of permit holders in Virginia. The list was quickly removed after the name and address of the editorial writer was printed by a gun-rights group.
  
  
  • A similar law was defeated in Oregon.
  
  
  • Washington has had a privacy law for years.
  
  
  • It is interesting to note that when the names of Registered Sex Offenders are printed, only the block of residence is printed.
  
  
  
  


• Montana, Arizona and Kansas have included firearms possession in those civil rights returned to felons who have had their convictions expunged or otherwise had their civil rights restored.


• Montana and Tennessee, citing the Tenth Amendment rights, have passed legislation allowing their residents to purchase firearms produced in their state to be exempt from federal restrictions.
  
  
  
  • Federal control of firearms is allowed by the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which empowers the federal government "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States"
  
  
  
  

This next year in Washington, there is already a discussion of an "Assault Weapon Ban", as was discussed recently.

Thoughts? Leave a COMMENT.

Gun Control: Washington State Legislators propose new "Assault Weapon Ban"

The Seattle Times is reporting that three state legislators will introduce legislation banning the sale of "military-style" semi-automatic firearms in Washington State at the start of the session in January.

The bill, not yet submitted, will be called the "Aaron Sullivan Public Safety and Police Protection Bill", and will prohibit the sale of "military style" semiautomatic weapons in the state, and require current owners to pass background checks.

The legislators, Representatives Kline and Kohl-Welles of Seattle, and Hunter or Medina, cite the murders of Aaron Sullivan, and Officer Timothy Brenton as the need for the bill.

While both murders are tragic, there is no evidence to support the idea that a Washington State version of an "Assault Weapon Ban" would have any effect on crime. A US Department of Justice study on the effect of the Federal Assault Weapon Ban in place from 1994-2004. Studies show that firearms restricted by the ban were only involved in 1-2% of crimes.

No one should have any illusions about what was accomplished (by the ban). Assault weapons play a part in only a small percentage of crime. The provision is mainly symbolic; its virtue will be if it turns out to be, as hoped, a stepping stone to broader gun control. Washington Post
editorial September 15, 1994 addressing the Federal Assault Weapon Ban

Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Dave Workman has addressed the myth that Officer Brenton was killed by a so-called "assault weapon."

The proposed legislation would ban certain firearms based on their cosmetics, identifying so-called "military style" firearms, and standard-capacity magazines.

To evaluate the proposed law, it is important to understand that, from a functional perspective, there is no difference between the AR-15 style rifle and a more traditional semi-automatic rifle. Each fires only one round each time the trigger is pulled. Fully automatic firearms, which fire more than one round with a trigger pull, are already illegal in Washington, and have nothing to do with the crimes.

The Washington State Constitution is pretty clear in its intent about firearms.

SECTION 24 RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS. 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

It is not logical to assume that the number of rounds that a firearm can carry would alter the intent of the criminal. Maurice Clemmons, the alleged murderer of the Lakewood Police officers, used a revolver to carry out his crime.

Requiring a background check for people who already own these types of firearms has far-reaching effects.

• First, it would establish an unprecedented firearms registration system if Washington, because owners would have to declare that they have the firearms. Legal owners would have to register their firearms based on cosmetics. Criminals, who don't follow laws, won't.


• It ignores the fact that the vast majority of legal owners of the firearms underwent criminal background checks at the time of purchase. Remember, criminals buying stolen guns don't do background checks.


• It would probably violate Washington Constitution's Section 23, which prohibits Ex Post Facto laws. The law places a restriction on an already-completed legal transaction. Criminals, of course, don't follow laws at the time of purchase, and won't follow them after the purchase.

Representative Hunter has said, "We don't allow people to own tanks or bazookas or machine guns, and very few people think that that's an unreasonable restriction."

Of course, this argument is specious, and Hunter knows it. Trying to draw an analogy between a civilian firearm to a tank or bazooka is patently absurd.

Representative Kohl-Welles asked, "did the framers of our Constitution ever envision something like a semi-automatic weapon?" when addressing the Constitutionality of the proposed ban.

Again, a specious argument, and she knows it.

When writing the First Amendment, the framers didn't anticipate the computer you are reading this on, nor the Internet you used to get it. The framers did not anticipate electronic wiretaps when writing the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.

The proposed legislation is nothing other than another attempt to restrict the legal activities of law-abiding citizens. If the supporters of the legislation don't know that criminals who shoot police officer don't follow laws, they should wake up.

The Fort Hood shooting - could it happen here?

From my Examiner.com piece:

There is an ongoing discussion of the detection, motives and profile of Major Hasan, the accused gunman in the Fort Hood shooting. As often happens, once the person has been identified, a look into his or her background shows many indicators that might have pointed to their future actions. E-mail, blogs and chat rooms postings all make sense now....if only......

What rarely gets discussed is that the victims were made defenseless in "Gun Free Zones."

There's a history of mass murder in "Gun Free Zones".

Now at first glance, the concept of a gun-free zone makes sense -- put up a sign and people will heed.

For the concept to make sense, you'd have to accept that someone bent on mass destruction is going to be stopped by a "No Trespassing" sign.

For the concept to make sense, you'd have to accept that someone bent on mass destruction is going to be stopped by a "No Trespassing" sign. Not surprsingly, this hasn't worked out well.

The shooter at Fort Hood elected to use the Soldier Readiness Center for his attack rather than the rifle range, the police or headquarters building. Is it surprising that the Readiness Center is a place where firearms are not allowed and the rifle range or headquarters buildings involve soldiers with guns? Shouldn't be.

There's a history of mass murder in "Gun Free Zones".

• In 1987, at the Luby's Cafeteria in Texas, a gentleman drove his truck into the window of the cafeteria and proceeded to kill 23 people. At the time, restaurants in Texas were Gun Free Zones.


• Columbine High School was a Gun Free Zone.


• Virginia Tech was a Gun Free Zone.

Gun Free Zones just don't work.

Fort Hood, like the bases in the Puget Sound, Fort Lewis, McChord Air Force Base, do not allow people to be armed. What better people to allow themselves to be armed to protect themselves. Soldiers in the field are armed around the clock. They litteraly live with their guns, yet when at home they aren't allowed to have them.

Despite the futility of "Gun Free Zones", Seattle Mayor Nickels is establishing them in parks in the city. He is doing this despite the State Attorney General's opinion that he does not have the authority under Washington States preemption law.

This is a policy that needs to be eliminated not only on military bases other public buildings, and **gasp** colleges and university. It will make us all safer.

Brady Campaign on Fort Hood shooting

From my column in Examiner.com

Never missing an opportunity to turn tragedy into a press release, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, formerly Handgun Control, Inc., said the following:

"

When I heard of the tragedy yesterday, we were in the midst of planning a
response to the latest dangerous legislative proposal from the gun lobby in the
United States Senate - language to automatically restore access to guns to
veterans designated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Justice
Department as ‘mentally incapacitated' or ‘mentally incompetent.' In light of
what happened yesterday - a violent attack by an emotionally unstable soldier -
it is even clearer that the proposal being pushed by Senator Richard Burr of
North Carolina should be rejected.

Of course, the shooting at Fort Hood has nothing to do with Senator Burr's bill and the Brady Campaign knows it. They are referring to S. 669, the "Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act". We'll discuss Burr's bill in another installment.

Major Hasan, the alleged shooter at the Fort Hood massacre, is an active-duty soldier. His mental status is not under the jurisdiction of the Department of Veteran's Affairs, which is what S. 669 addresses.

...make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition - except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors - totally illegal. -- Handgun Control's, Incorporated's Pete Shields

None of that stops the Brady Campaign from again turning a tragedy into a Press Release. As always, they play from Rham Emanuel's playbook and not let "a serious crisis go to waste."

The Brady Campaign's predecessor, Handgun Control's, Incorporated's Pete Shields told the New Yorker Magazine in 1976,

"... the final problem is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition - except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors - totally illegal."

The Brady Campaign has become more subtle in their rhetoric, but no different in their direction. It is just too bad they have to rely on tragedy to misdirect the public's eye.

And Now McDonald

No, not the place with the Golden Arches.

The next piece of litigation that will be critical in continuing to protect our right to protect ourselves will be McDonald v Chicago. But first, a little background.

On June 26, 2008, in the Heller decision, the Supreme Court

Held:
1. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess
a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm
for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

Prior to this ruling, the District of Columbia had a prohibition to handgun ownership. From the text of the Heller ruling:

The District of Columbia generally prohibits the possessionof handguns. It is a crime to carry an unregistered firearm, and the registration of handguns is prohibited. See D. C. Code §§7–2501.01(12), 7–2502.01(a), 7–2502.02(a)(4) (2001). Wholly apart from that prohibition, no person may carry a handgun without a license, but the chief of police may issue licenses for 1-year periods. See §§22–4504(a), 22–4506. District of Columbia law also requires residents to keep their lawfully owned firearms, such as registered long guns, “unloaded and dissembled or bound by a trigger lock or similar device” unless they are located in a place of business or are being used for lawful recreational activities. See §7–2507.02.1

So as far as the DC was concerned, no handguns, and no working long guns anyhow. Parenthetically, they did not even allow law enforcement officers from surrounding jurisdictions to carry firearms off duty.

This ruling, however, only applied to the District of Columbia; this is where Mr. Heller lives and the District was named in the suit. The District of Culumbia is a Federal District (it is outside of the states of Virginia and Maryland from which it was carved).

Self protection activists have known that the next step was to return to the Supreme Court and have the Court rule through the 14th Amendment that the Second Amendment is incorporated, or applies, to the rest of the States.

On September 30th, the Supreme Court granted a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, which asks them to consider the question:

Whether the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is incorporated as
against the States by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities or Due
Process Clauses.

Representing McDonald and the Second Amendment Foundation is Alan Gura, who successfully argued Heller before the Court.

Let us hope and pray that the Court incorporates the Second amendment through this litigation so that some of the legal impediments to our ability to protect ourselves and our families are removed.

In addition to prayer, I'm sure the Second Amendment Foundation would appreciate some financial help in their ongoing work. The Second Amendment Foundation is at http://saf.org/.

Let's Create New Criminals!

California, a great bastion of gun control and safe streets, has now come up with another absurd law that is an affront to all of us who are law-abiding gun owners, and can create criminals out of someone making what would be a legal purchase anywhere else.

Under the lovely name of the Anti-Gang Neighborhood Protection act of 2009, AB 962 makes the following requirements:

• 
  
  Ammunition may not be sold on shelving that is open to the public. The purchaser must be helped by a clerk to get the ammunition.


• 
  
  There must be a record of the following:


• 
  
  Date of sale


• 
  
  Purchaser's drivers license or other ID number


• 
  
  Brand, type, and amount sold


• 
  
  Purchaser's signature


• 
  
  Name of the salesperson


• 
  
  Right thumbprint of purchaser


• 
  
  Purchaser's full residential address and telephone number


• 
  
  Purchaser's date of birth

Now if the vendor does not follow this, they are subject to six months in jail and a fine of $1,000.

Now can anyone really expect to see a Blood, Crypt, or MS-13 member doing all that?

This is just another version of gun control. Kinda like dad saying you can buy a car, but I get to keep the keys.

If you live in California and you are interested, you might give the Govenator a call or drop him a note with your feelings about yet another attempt to leave you defenseless (remember that the police are not obligated to protect you -- Castle Rock v Gonzales).

Mr. Schwarzenegger is at:

Phone: 916-445-2841

Fax: 916-558-3160

E-mail: http://gov.ca.gov/interact

Arthur Frommer Boycotts Arizona Until Civil Rights are Restricted

In his travel blog, writer and travel guru Arthur Frommer is boycotting the State of Arizona until it is more restrictive of Civil Rights.

Frommer says, "I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks and as a means of political protest."

Of course, what he is referring to is a few people doing open carry while they were at a political protest near (but not in) President Obama's visit with the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Whether or not the people carrying openly was meant as a "means of political protest" or just how these people, like many others, choose to protect themselves is not clear.

"The continued tolerance of extremists carrying guns is a frightening development which strikes at the heart of the political process and endangers the ability to carry out a reasoned debate," Frommer contends.

Acceptance of people exercising their First Amendment rights to petition the government and their Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms does, indeed, strike at the heart of the political process. It is the heart of the political process. Frommer and others' hoplophobia should not be allowed to shape the debate.

The debate that the people were engaging in was about health care reform and what shape it would take.

The debate that Frommer and others want to have is about restriction of Civil Rights.

If Frommer feels that extortion of a State until it restricts its citizens Civil Rights is appropriate, it says more about Frommer than those carrying the guns.

Gun Control, Health Care Control, and Crowd Control

John Longenecker, who writes the LA Gun Rights Examiner, has been writing a series entitled Socialized Medicine and the Loss of the Second Amendment. Like most of Longenecker's writing, it is very centered on libertarian thought and its relationship to the Second Amendment. Like most of his writing, it is very provocative.

Now intertwined with the health care debate we have a debate about the Second Amendment. As I wrote about recently, a New Hampshire resident recently was at a peaceful political gathering (still protected by the First Amendment, I think) carrying his handgun holstered, but open. This is all legal in New Hampshire.

Chris Matthews of MSNBC "interviewed" the gentleman (really just swore, yelled at, berated and belittled, but you can do that if you have your own network program). That interview is available on my previous post.

Now Matthews is the same person who thought that the Navy Seals shooting of the Somali Pirates was just "luck".....3 "lucky" shots....

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Now comes Gail Collins writing in the New York Times "Gunning for Health Care" in which she not only vilifies gun owners, but feels that, perhaps New Hampshire law should be changed to her liking.

This is under the theory that as long as you know that the strange-looking guy waving the big protest sign is packing heat, you can take steps to protect yourself, perhaps such as purchasing a bulletproof vest from a nearby street vendor.

The Huffington Post, in reviewing the Matthews interview, refers to Kostric, the gentleman carrying the gun as "unrepentant". So I'm guessing that if we do or say something that Matthews or Huffington doesn't agree with we are now expected to "repent" -- to them? Does it not matter at all that, though they may not agree with it, Kostric did nothing illegal? No, not at all.

Joan Walsh in Salon.com has, in only 24 hours, has produced a number of pieces of "evidence" that portray Kostric as a right-wing revolutionary. Walsh opens her piece by saying that Kostric, "brought a loaded gun to the town hall meeting".

Accuracy is such an annoying thing. Kostric wasn't at the town hall meeting. I think we all would question the judgment of a mere citizen showing up to a meeting with the President armed. He was on the street some distance away from the meeting. Again, what he did was perfectly legal, but it is much more fun to pillory him.

So what's the point?

Simple. Portray anyone with a gun as a nut case. Make it look like they belong to some right-wing group of crazies. Marginalize them.

It is much easier to disarm people if we can spin them as crazy and, undoubtedly, dangerous.

Clearly, in the eyes of these media writers, the First Amendment only covers freedom of the press, but it is a little more expansive than that. (Caution - the following is revolutionary in tone -- children, leave the room)

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yes, it covers freedom of the press, but it also addresses the right of the people (that's you and me) to peaceably assemble and petition the Government, exactly what Mr. Kostric was doing. He's allowed to have political opinions different from others. Sadly, most of the media has forgotten that. More sadly, if one reads the comments of people on the sites of the articles I've referenced, many of the readers have forgotten that, too.

Chris Matthews and the "God Damn Gun"

One of the many news stories about the Town Hall meetings regarding the health care debate showed a picture of a protester open carrying. This took place in New Hampshire, where open carry is legal. The protester was quietly carrying a sign, was standing on private property, and had a holstered gun carried open at his side.

He was guilty of exercising his First Amendment right to petition the government and his Second Amendment right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Seems this doesn't sit well with Mr. Matthews.

Makes one wonder which Constitutionally-protected rights we can exercise without checking with Mr. Matthews.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

A Little Mexican Drug War History

Here's a piece from Time Magazine in November of 2008. Seems at that time, the problem with the drug wars in Mexico was the widespread corruption of the police and military (which in Mexico are essentially interchagable).

Now, of course, the problem is the Americans and our guns. After all, 17% of those seized were from the US. Guess the historical widespread corruption disappeared?

In Mexico's Drug War, Bad Cops Are a Mounting Problem
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008

By Tim Padgett with Dolly Mascarenas / Mexico City

Few rituals are more futile than the "housecleaning" of Mexico's police forces. So deep, broad and brazen is cop corruption south of the border that removing it makes eradicating rats from landfills look easy. Mexico stages quasi-annual purges of officers high and low — last year it was 284 federal police commanders — and yet every year the nation seems to find itself with an even more criminal constabulary. This year's scandals, however, are especially appalling.

Over the summer, President Felipe Calderón's antidrug czar, Noe Ramirez, resigned abruptly. The likely reason became apparent this week after Ramirez was detained by federal officials and accused of taking $450,000 to keep Mexico's most powerful narco mafia, the Sinaloa Cartel, informed about police antidrug operations. He is the highest-ranking government official to be nabbed in this year's anticorruption sweep. (See pictures of crime-fighting in Mexico City.)

But not the only one. Last month five top officials at the federal organized-crime task
force were collared for the same crime after being fingered by an informant who,
astonishingly, worked for both the U.S. embassy in Mexico City and the Sinaloa narcos. Days later federal police chief Gerardo Garay — whose predecessor, Edgar Millan, was murdered by narco hit men last May, allegedly with the aid of a federal cop — resigned after being linked to a Sinaloa capo. Mario Velarde, a top boss of the federal police force's antidrug unit and a former private secretary to Garcia Luna, was also detained this week, for leaking info to the narcos. Ramirez and all the accused deny the charges.

But as one federal security analyst says, it's no longer strange in Mexico's police purges "to see today's butchers become tomorrow's cows."

Mexico's real carnage, meanwhile, gets ghastlier by the day.

This year the nation has logged some 4,300 drug-related murders, and analysts fear that Mexico could double last year's record of 2,500. The spike in killing is largely
due to the war Calderón declared last year on the drug cartels. He has deployed
more than 25,000 federal army troops in the campaign, but the narcos have lashed
out with insurrection-style violence against a harrowing number of law-enforcement officials, from beat cops to top cops like Millan, as well as prosecutors and judges. The cartels, whose homicidal repertoire includes an orgy of beheadings, upped the terrorist ante in September when they allegedly threw grenades into a crowded plaza in Michoacán, killing eight people.

The cartels, which run a $25 billion-a-year trafficking industry in Mexico, have also intensified their campaign of co-opting police. Not that Mexico's woefully undertrained and underpaid cops are that hard a mark. But the relentless revelations of the breadth of the corruption — including allegations that officers under Mexico's Public Security Minister, Genaro Garcia Luna, were involved in high-profile kidnappings — seem to make a mockery of Calderón's efforts to stamp it out. "This is Calderón's Iraq," says Sergio Aguayo, a security expert at the Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City. "He declared war against the cartels, but he wasn't prepared for the size of the threat the cartels turned out to represent." Many cases in the latest purge, which is indeed called Operation Housecleaning, are based on the testimony of an unidentified cartel informant in U.S. custody. Still, Calderón faces critics who worry the arrests are an attempt by the Mexican President to find scapegoats for his antidrug quagmire and secure U.S. antidrug aid.

The cartels' ability to infiltrate officialdom has grown so convincing that many Mexicans have trouble believing the government's assertion that a fiery Learjet crash this month on a busy Mexico City avenue — which killed Calderón's Interior Minister and de facto Vice President, Juan Camilo Mourino, and top security adviser Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos — was an accident and not narco sabotage. That dwindling public confidence has done nothing to help the Calderón administration fend off the effects of the global economic crisis. This year the Mexican peso has lost about a fifth of its value against the U.S. dollar.

That is all the more reason why the U.S. and the incoming Obama Administration need to lend Mexico, America's third largest trading partner, a more serious hand in reforming and professionalizing its police forces. This year Washington approved $400 million for Mexico's antidrug fight in 2009, part of a three-year aid package known as the Merida Initiative. But critics say the plan focuses too much on interdiction hardware like helicopters and not enough on software like an overhaul of Mexico's police and judiciary — especially higher pay for cops, many of whom earn a measly $5,000 a year, and the creation of more modern investigative units. Without it, Calderón will continue to rely on his army in this fight, but in the long run, armies make for lousy drug-interdiction forces.

The police woes should also prompt the U.S. to take its own culpability for Mexico's narco-calamity more seriously. Even U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza this week took issue with Washington's complacency about curbing gringo demand for cocaine and the smuggling of Yanqui guns to Mexican drug gangs. "The truth is, Mexico would not be at the center of cartel activity, or be experiencing this level of violence," Garza said in San Antonio, "were the U.S. not the largest consumer of illicit drugs and the main supplier of weapons to cartels."

Traveling in Chile this week, Calderón insisted that his government "is strongly committed to fighting against not only organized crime but the corruption that organized crime generates and that has become entrenched over years and perhaps decades in the structures of power." It would seem that he made good headway this week. But as those years and decades have all too often shown in Mexico, the corruption usually gets generated at a far greater rate than any government can keep up with.

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