GOAL Post 2018-8
Legislative Update from Olympia 23 February 2018

BILLS MOVE
NO PUBLIC HEARINGS NEXT WEEK
CONFERENCE COMMITTEES
TWO WEEKS LEFT IN SESSION
FLORIDA SHOOTING

HB 2363 (drone delivery of contraband) passed out of Senate Law & Justice to Senate Rules awaiting a floor vote. HB 2519 (return of CPLs) also passed out of Senate Law & Justice to Rules, but not before they amended the bill to it’s original form, removing the language that allowed current and former military members aged 18-20 to apply for and receive a concealed pistol license (several states with age 21 CPL requirements have opened them up to military members over 18). ed on the House floor to reimburse those owners who surrender them to police. SB 5553 (suicidal, waiver of firearm rights) passed out of the House on a77-20 vote with one excused. SB 5992 (bump stock ban) passed out of the House on a 56-41 vote also. The bill was amended to create a buyback program for banned bump stocks. Seven other amendments to limit the impact of the bill failed. SB 6298 (DV harassment firearms ban) passed out of the House Judiciary committee with an important amendment. Back in 1994, when many DV-related misdemeanors were made firearm disqualifiers, it was retroactive – a listed DV-related conviction at any time in the past prohibited future possession of firearms. SB 6298 was amended to allow only DV harassment convictions after this law takes effect to act as a disqualifier.

Unfortunately, the amendment is still lipstick on a pig. No misdemeanor conviction of any law should allow denial of a fundamental, enumerated right listed in the Constitution. Period. Add to that the common he said, she said nature of many of these DV offenses, in many cases with no physical proof offered. (We’ve been over this before: domestic violence is a serious issue and must not be tolerated, but if it’s that serious, make it a felony.)

No public hearings involving firearms are scheduled for next week. It’s all floor action now.

If a bill is amended in the second chamber and passes, it must go back to the original chamber to approve the change. If approval (another floor vote) is not granted, it goes to a conference committee composed of members from both chambers to iron out the difference(s). Then it goes back to both chambers for approval.

At this point, and we’re pretty far along in the session, it appears there will be no immediate, direct impact of the Florida shooting in Olympia. For now.

If you’ve been following the national news all this past week, it appears the only thing in the world that has happened is the Parkland, Florida school shooting. The overwhelming media focus is on gun control, calling for bans on AR-15s and other “assault weapons,” raising the age to purchase “assault weapons,” or in some cases, all firearms, to 21. Suggestions have also been made by some to arm SOME teachers (the establishment doesn’t like that, nor do teachers’ unions), or to provide for more school resource officers. The outcome remains to be seen.

A couple of things of note, though. The call for more gun control seems to be exceptionally-well organized. And funded. One Parkland survivor invited to attend a CNN episode on the shooting says he was denied the opportunity to ask the questions he wanted to ask, and instead was given a scripted question to ask. More and more information has come out about the shooter and the incident. He was a long term “problem kid,” with many fellow students reporting major issues with him including threats, he was expelled from Parkland, the Broward County Sheriff’s deputies had made more than three dozen calls to his home in the past few years. Clearly red flags were being waved – and ignored. Then the FBI dropped the ball after the “kid” posted a You Tube comment that he wanted to become a “professional school shooter” (a comment alleged made at other times and places, too).

The worst failure here was the fact that they just revealed that the on-scene School Resource Officer stayed outside under cover when the shooting started, and remained outside for at least four minutes. The major lesson learned in 1999 after the Columbine, CO, school shooting is that you don’t wait outside to ee how things develop, you immediately enter. It’s called “running to the sound of gunfire” and has been “school shooter” Rule #1 since 1999. The news is reporting that the officer has resigned, but most fail to add that he was actually allowed to retire.

Just before I closed this out, another local police department whose officers responded to the Parkland H.S. shooting are reporting that when they arrived on scene, four additional Broward County deputies were also outside the school, guns drawn, but not going inside.

Former Milwaukee County Sheriff, NRA Director and staunch pro-gun advocate made the comment that George Soros fingerprints are all over this. I tend not to buy into conspiracy theories for a variety of reasons, but the number of coincidences in this one certainly raise questions. (And the media now says these conspiracy theories originated with the Russian. Maybe the shooter was a Russian immigrant?)

BILL STATUS/GOAL POSITION:
HB 2363 Drone delivery of firearms to offenders Pellicciotti (D-30) S. Rules SUPPORT
HB 2519 Return of seized CPLs Lovick (D-44) S. Rules SUPPORT
SB 5553 Suicidal, waiver of rights Pedersen (D-43) Passed House NEUTRAL
SB 5992 Bump stock ban Van De Wege (D-24) Passed House OPPOSE
SB 6298 DV harassment firearm ban Dhingra (D-45) H. Rules OPPOSE

HB = House bill, SB = Senate bill. L&J = Law & Justice, Jud = Judiciary, PubSaf = Public Safety, HC = Health Care, H. K-12 = House Early education, Aprop = Appropriations, Fin = Finance, W&M = Ways &Means “S” before a bill number indicates Substitute, “E” means Engrosssed (both mean amended).

HEARINGS SCHEDULED:
None

Contact information for your Representatives may be found at http://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder or at http://leg.wa.gov/House/Pages/MembersByDistrict.aspx. 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). Each bill’s web page contains a link to any public hearing at the bottom of the page.

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” or by telephone at (425) 985-4867. 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.

If you believe you have received this e-mail in error, please e-mail me at “jwaldron@halcyon.com” with the words “Unsubscribe GOAL Post” in the subject line. I will remove your name immediately. Keep in mind GOAL Post is also published on several gun lists. If you received GP via a list, you must contact that list’s admin to unsubscribe.

Upcoming WAC gun show(s):
Puyallup 24-25 February
Puyallup 24-25 March

“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 2018 Gun Owners Action League of WA