Free Republic

"Instead, Saturday’s GOP caucuses will focus mainly on electing delegates to upcoming county and legislative-district conventions. Attendees also will have a chance to propose resolutions and debate issues for the Republican platform."

On January 22 Washington state lawmakers held a hearing on a proposal to requirement gun owners in the state to lock up their guns in the home. This comes just under two weeks after state representative Jim Moeller (D-49th) introduced legislation to ban the possession of the "assault weapons" in the state. According to The News Tribune, Rep. Ruth Kagi (D-Lake Forest Park) spoke for requiring law-abiding citizens to lock up their guns in their homes. Kagi said, "Requiring gun owners to safely store firearms is common sense." She added, "About 1 million households in Washington state contain unsafe firearms,...

On January 11, Washington state representative Jim Moeller (D-49th) introduced legislation to ban the possession of “assault weapons” in the state. Moeller’s definition of an “assault weapon” also includes any semiautomatic pistol “that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine.” In addition to pistols that accept detachable magazines, HB 2354 defines a “assault weapon” as: A semiautomatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a 27 detachable magazine and has one or more of the following: A pistol grip or thumbhole stock; Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that 30 can be held by the nontrigger...

The Washington State Supreme Court issued an insane ruling on December 31st.  The ruling was written by Justice Charles Wiggens, pictured above.  The case was City of Seattle v. Wayne Anthony Evans.  I classify this sort of opinion as Goldilocks gun control.  While this case involves knives, the approach is the same.  Under Goldilocks gun control, guns are restricted under any imaginable restriction, until the ones that are left are such a small number that they are acceptable to disarmists.  Either guns are "too big" (.50 caliber rifles) or too small (easily concealable), too military (weapons of war) or...

Seattle police have arrested a husband and wife they say have an "insatiable appetite for denim." Police said in a news release they arrested a 63-year-old man and 58-year-old woman after finding 400 pairs of jeans, perfume, purses and shoes at their Beacon Hill home Thursday.

The pop-up camper started its journey in Olalla [20 miles south of Seattle], and belongs to an Olympia man who told Coast Guard members that "it's gone adrift before." It was spotted floating off Blake Island Saturday morning, and was seen floating in ferry lanes near Vashon Island around 8:30 a.m. on Friday.

Washington State Fair is one of the few locations in the State that bans the legal carry of firearms.  That policy is directly stated in the rules for the fair.   From thefair.com: The following items will not be allowed at the Washington State Fair,Weapons of any kind, including knives and all firearms The effect of creating a weapons free zone was not lost on a group of criminals.  They used the fact that fair workers were known to be disarmed to their advantage.  Three different armed robberies of State Fair workers were committed in less than 20 minutes, on...

The Pentagon has responded to a globally-released ‘Kill List’, asking law enforcement to give extra protection for military personnel whose personal information was released,News Channel 10 reports. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports the Pentagon spent the weekend notifying the soldiers who appeared on the list, and urged city police departments and military police to increase patrol in the neighborhoods where the targeted live. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) published the list days ago, a report that contained names, photos, and home addresses of U.S. Armed Forces personnel, causing alarm in cities potentially at high-risk....

 Tacoma Drug Disposal Box.  Officials are considering a version for guns. In Tacoma, Washington, officials are considering the idea of a gun drop box where people can turn in guns for destruction without any interaction with police.  The theory is that there are people in poor, crime ridden neighborhoods who want to get rid of a gun, but do not want interaction with police. The working theory  is that the box would be in a place without surveillance, and the guns dropped off would be checked out by police, then destroyed.  From mynorthwest.com: The city is investigating how to...

FUND RAISING RECEPTION WITH TED CRUZ TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM WASHINGTON ATHLETIC CLUB JOHNSON LOBBY LOUNGE 1325 Sixth Avenue Seattle, WA 98101 $2,000 per person contribution to the Ted Cruz campaign. RSVP TO MARISSA AKERS makers@tedcruz.org or 713-353-4331 --------------------------- Please reach out if you have questions and RSVP to my email or direct line (713-353-4331). I hope you can join us for this special occasion and look forward to hearing from you. Warm Regards, Marissa -- Marissa Akers Regional Finance Director Cruz for President Phone: (713) 353-4331 E-mail: makers@tedcruz.org www.tedcruz.org

In this story from Vancover, Washington, a man in a gas mask attempts to rob a convenience store.  He has a gun and threatens the clerk.  He gets some money and leaves.   From katu.come: The employee's friend took out his own firearm and followed the suspect outside, police said. The suspect turned around and pointed his gun at the man, who in turn fired several shots at the suspect. Officials aren't sure if the suspect was hit. What is not said in any story that I have read about the incident, is if the gas-masked suspect dropped the...

One of Snohomish County’s most conservative Republican lawmakers has quietly begun a campaign to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene. State Rep. Elizabeth Scott of Monroe filed paperwork May 21 with the Federal Election Commission to become a candidate and start collecting contributions. Scott is in her second term in the Legislature and seemed assured of re-election next year if she chose to stay in Olympia. Now it appears she wants to serve in Congress, though she had made no formal campaign announcement as of Wednesday. Scott did not return phone calls.

A federal judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit challenging parts of Washington state’s new law expanding background checks on gun transfers, saying gun-rights activists couldn’t challenge it because they aren’t being prosecuted for violating it. U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma ruled that opponents of the law didn’t have standing to challenge the parts of Initiative 594 that required background checks for noncommercial gun transfers. To challenge the law, the plaintiffs must show they’ve been actually prosecuted or at immediate risk of being prosecuted, he said.

<p>Not certain if the above is the same Brandon Walker from Yakima, but it seems likely.</p> <p>The gun was carried "open Carry"</p> <p>It was a 357 sig We think this person was trying to get the handgun by knockout hitting him in the head with a aluminum bat.</p>

So does having a gun make you safe? No. In fact, it makes you, your family and your community far less safe. A recently published study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that a gun in your home makes you more likely to be a victim of suicide, accidental shooting or homicide.

Our Anti-gun foes are sneaky. From enough public outcry Olympia has had to delay their budget proposals until Monday. The Democratic Legislature was only going to allow the public a total of 90 minutes to read through hundreds of pages of the budget document. Enough people complained and they had to delay the hearings until Monday. There happens to be a secret budget proposal that corresponds with the passing of I-594 and the Dept of Licensing. Here is the letter written to us by our local Protect Our Gun Rights group.

Washington has been one of the target states for Bloomberg and his gun control efforts. Using strategies similar to Obama’s Organizing For America, combined with a multi million dollar public relations push, they were able to successfully pass a ballot initiative that would mandate background checks for private firearm transactions (though, by a considerably smaller margin than their initial polling). So who are the folks working behind the scenes to make this happen? You probably won’t be surprised that many of them are from out of state, shipped in to “organize”.

Matthew Haight survived an encounter with a burglar, but not by much.  He acknowledges that he made mistakes, and they cost him a great deal. Link to video at kirotv.com: Haight come home from watching the Superbowl on Sunday night, the 1st of February, 2015 in Snohomish County, Washington State.   When he walked up the stairs to his apartment, he discovered that something was not right.  The door was unlocked.  That is when he made a mistake.  He went inside to investigate.  This is an easy mistake to make.  Sometimes people forget to lock doors.  Sometimes they give keys...

U.S. experienced record number of cases last year. A measles outbreak whose spread originated at Disneyland has grown to 95 cases. ... 79 of those in infections are in California and 52 of them can be linked directly to Disney Parks. The rest are in Michigan, Arizona, Utah, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Nebraska and Mexico. ... The U.S. experienced a record number of measles cases last year, with 644 infections from 27 states despite being largely eliminated in 2000.

Image from spokesman.com A couple of days ago, on the 16th of January, 2015, Washington State Lt. Governor Brad Owen (D) publicly announced that the open carry of firearms is a form of free speech, protected by the first amendment of the Constitution.  He did it as a way to crack down on and destroy that speech, but he did it none the less, and what he said is true.  The Democrats objected to the open carry of firearms in the Senate chamber's gallery.   From seattletimes.com:  "We're just noting that open carry is a form of demonstration and it's...