The Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Posted on 01/26/2005 8:42:28 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
Tuesday, January 25, 2005 · Last updated 7:09 p.m. PT
Dozens turn out in opposition to gun control bills
By RACHEL LA CORTE ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Dozens of gun control opponents packed a Senate hearing Tuesday on several bills that would ban assault weapons, close the gun show loophole and ban weapons from the Capitol.
In the largest committee meeting since the legislative session began Jan. 10, about 200 people filled the Senate judiciary hearing room and an overflow room. Citizen opponents appeared to far outnumber the proponents, who were mostly lawmakers, public officials and antigun groups.
"Where does it stop?" asked Anton Rehling, a business owner and National Rifle Association member who lives in Olympia. "This isn't about the pros and cons of guns, it's about the freedom of our right to own and bear arms."
Bills that have been filed or drafted on the issue include the banning of assault weapons and .50-caliber guns, regulating the sale of firearms at guns shows and events and banning guns from the Capitol.
Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park, sponsored the bill regulating firearms at the Capitol (SB 5344). She said those with permits can put their weapons in a lockbox and retrieve them when they leave.
"It's just simple commonsense," she said. The presence of weapons at the Capitol "keeps the chance of somebody getting very upset at us or at the staff or at the governor. We just don't need that kind of pressure."
However, Sen. James Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, questioned why the law needed to change at the statehouse, where he said he never knew of a case of a lawmaker being threatened with a gun.
"I think anybody brandishing a gun or threatening somebody with a gun is illegal everywhere," he said. "Why would this be different than a grocery store or a park?"
Dozens of people testified over nearly three hours.
A bill that has failed in past sessions but has surfaced again this year as SB 5343 would close a loophole that allows the unregulated sale of handguns at gun shows.
Federally licensed firearms dealers - including those who operate at gun shows - must perform background checks on anyone who purchases a firearm and keep records of buyers' names and addresses. For handgun buyers, state law also requires a five-day waiting period.
But people who only make occasional sales at gun shows - such as collectors - aren't considered dealers, and can sell handguns without a background check or waiting period.
Gun control advocates call that exemption a dangerous opportunity for criminals to evade the background checks required for commercial sales.
"Right now in Washington state it would be easier to track a carton of milk bought at Safeway with a Safeway card than a gun bought at a gun show," said Jon Scholes, a board member with Washington CeaseFire, the state's largest gun control group.
Joe Waldron of Washington Arms Collectors, which promotes about a third of the gun shows held in Washington each year, said one of the biggest problems was the "myths surrounding the issue" and that "very few" guns from gun shows make it into the hands of felons.
Committee member Sen. Luke Esser, R-Bellevue, said he didn't see the support within the committee to pass most of the legislation, noting the apparent lack of support of Hargrove, a Democrat on the committee.
"I, in general, am not in favor of additional gun control laws," Esser said.
The presence of weapons at the Capitol "keeps the chance of somebody getting very upset at us or at the staff or at the governor. We just don't need that kind of pressure."
I disagree, it's pressure that is needed to get things done.
Sounds like the same baloney we're running into every year in Virginia. Thanks to the efforts of Virginia Citizen's Defense League, the vast bulk of gun control bills die in committee.
Amazing how the gun-grabbers never give up on banning guns. It's almost a religion with them.
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
"I think anybody brandishing a gun or threatening somebody with a gun is illegal everywhere"; he said. "Why would this be different than a grocery store or a park?"
WOW, a politician that finally gets it. Why should someone get more protections than the common man on the street just because they happen to work at the capitol.
I believe this is a direct attack on Eastern WA for voting against "Queen G", plenty of us out here didn't want her in office so she's hitting below the belt.
MD
ping your lists with this please, RKBA ans WA State
"close the gun show loophole and ban weapons from the Capitol."
Typical....just keep repeating the same lie and it becomes the "truth".
Gee..Harvey Milk was killed by an ex-cop in CA. Feindstine keeps forgetting that also but I do not hear her banning twinkies.
The Right to Keep and Arm Bears. ;-)
"As property, honestly obtained, is best secured by an equality of rights, so ill-gotten property depends for protection on a monopoly of rights. He who has robbed another of his property, will next endeavor to disarm him of his rights, to secure that property; for when the robber becomes the legislator he believes himself secure." -- Thomas Paine, Dissertations on First Principles of Government
" In other words, 'Gun control' isn't just 'victim disarmament'; more precisely, it is 'making the world safe for control-freak politicians and bureaucrats -- Bert Rand
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