Radio advertisements attack gun show "loophole" in Washington

OAL Post 2007-3

Legislative Update from Olympia 19 January 2007

NEW BILLS INTRODUCED
REWRITE OF HB 1011 (ALIEN FIREARM LICENSES)
HB 1126 SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING
CORRECTED LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR DATES
WASHINGTON CEASEFIRE RADIO ADS
CALL YOUR SENATOR

Two new gun-related bills were filed this week, both in the Senate. SB 5456, by Senator Bob Morton, addresses the temporary possession of firearms by foreign visitors. SB 5465, by Senator Mark Schoesler, clarifies and simplifies the procedures to restore firearms rights for individuals convicted of certain crimes. We have not had time to fully evaluate the language of either of these bills. GOAL will adopt a position on them next week.

Lobbyists met with Rep. Jim Moeller, sponsor of HB 1011, and House Judiciary Committee staff to address problems in the bill. Agreement was reached on how the bill should read. A substitute will be offered if the bill receives a public hearing (none is scheduled at this time).

HB 1126 by Rep. Dawn Morrell, would waive the CPL renewal late fee for military personnel returning from overseas. The bill will receive a public hearing on Tuesday, 23 January, in the House Judiciary Committee hearing room (House Hearing Room “A” in the John L. O’Brien office building). We don’t anticipate any problems with this bill passing.

The Legislative Cut-off Calendar I published last week was a draft version. A slightly revised calendar was adopted. The correct cut-off dates are:

28 Feb Original policy committee deadline
5 March Chamber fiscal committee deadline (if required)
14 March Chamber cut-off (bills must pass original chamber)
30 March Second chamber policy committee deadline
2 April Second chamber fiscal committee deadline
13 April Second chamber cut-off (bills must pass with the
exception of bills in conference committees)
22 April Adjourn sine die

We have been informed that radio ads are running on KOMO radio and possibly some other stations asking listeners to call their legislators and support SB 5197, the “gun show loophole” bill. Presumably Washington Ceasefire is behind the ads, although we have not heard one at this time. Without doubt citizens ignorant of the true facts will react to these ads and call their legislators.

It is all the more important that you call your Senator and Representatives and ask that they oppose SB 5197 and HB 1026, respectively. Criminals DO NOT obtain their guns at gun shows, they get them either “on the street” or from friends and criminal acquaintances. A Justice Department study placed gun shows as the most UNLIKELY source of criminals’ guns. You can reach your ;legislators through the Legislative Hotline at (800) 562-6000.

BILL STATUS:

All bills filed during the 2005-06 biennium are dead. The following bills have been filed for the 2007-08 biennium:

Bill # Subject Sponsor Status

HB 1011 Alien firearm licenses Moeller (D-49) H. Jud.
HB 1014 Mandatory safe storage Moeller (D-49) H. Jud.
HB 1026 Gun show loophole Williams (D-22) H. Jud.
HB 1126 CPL extension Morrell (D-25) H. Jud.

SB 5197 Gun show loophole Tom (D-48) S. Lab/Comm
SB 5456 Alien firearm licenses Morton (R-7) S. Jud.
SB 5465 Restoration of gun rights Schoesler (R-9) S. Jud.

Key to abbreviations: S. = Senate, H. = House, Jud = Judiciary,
Fish/Ecol = Fisheries, Ecology & Parks, JuvJust = Juvenile Justice, Educ
= Education, Lab/Comm = Labor, Commerce, Research & Development, LocGov
= Local Government, NatRes = Natural Resources, Ecology & Parks, PubSaf
= Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness, W&M = Ways and Means

HEARINGS SCHEDULED:

HB 1126 House Judiciary House Hearing Room “A”
23 January 10:00 a.m.

GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:

HB 1011 SUPPORT IF AMENDED
HB 1014 OPPOSE
HB 1026 OPPOSE
HB 1126 SUPPORT

SB 5197 OPPOSE
SB 5456 UNDER REVIEW
SB 5465 UNDER REVIEW

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" or by telephone at (425) 454-4915 (work). 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.

Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Puyallup 20-21 January
Puyallup 3-4 February

These guys just aren't going to give up until they outlaw private sales.

I wish that a pro-gun group like the NRA would spend some advertising dollars on this issue. It would be nice if the general public really understood what this is about. As it stands, the uninformed thinks there's some kind of evil going on at the gun shows that doesn't happen anywhere else on earth.

This is what happens when the opposition is able to define the verbiage.

The 'gun show loophole' is a myth and a total fabrication by the Left (but you already knew this!)

This whole effort comes back to the liberal fear of confrontation and anything that might be used in a confrontation.

Its no myth. My family and I recently went to a small hunting and fishing expo in a neighboring town. I was pretty amazed when we arrived and found that 80% off all merchandise on the floor was firearms, mostly pistols. The other 20% or so of vendors were selling atv's, camo, ect, ect. While I fully support legitimate "gun shows" I feel like the public was a little misled about this particular expo.

Two points:

1) If the word "hunting" was used in the name of the show, its no surprise that firearms were there.

2) If a person attempted to purchase a firearm at this show, were they required to go through the usual NICS check before they would be allowed to buy the gun? In my state they definitely are (I know, I've purchased 3 guns at such shows and I've seen 2 people denied on the spot because they did not pass the check.) My understanding is that this is required in all states.

You may have been surprised to find out that guns were at a show when you didn't expect them to be there (I'm surprised to find motorcycles at so called 'car shows'.) But that isn't against the law. On the other hand, if they sold guns without conducting a background check (NICS), then that is against the law. Did you see that happen?

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