Washington state voters pass ballot measure to further regulate guns, including semi-automatic rifles

[Ronald_55]

More useless removal of rights that will not change gun violence, but may make honest gun owners into criminals. See the storage section for the possibilty of a felony for a storage issue.  And supposedly this will address the root cause of gun violence. How does this address mentally ill people, kids who feel isolated or bullied, or just plain sadistic people? Can they still not go on a shooting spree with a shotgun or a lever action rifle?

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/gun-regulations-initiative-1639-takes-lead-in-washington-state/?amp=1

 

I-1639 was the only state gun-regulations measure on the Nov. 6 ballot anywhere in the country. It passed Tuesday with 60 percent of the vote in election-night returns.

By 

Daniel Beekman

 and 

Nina Shapiro

 

A state gun-regulations ballot measure seeking to make Washington’s firearms laws among the strictest in the country passed Tuesday with 60 percent of the vote in election-night returns.

The measure led in large western counties and trailed in most eastern counties. Votes will continue be counted in the coming days.

“My generation has been defined by gun violence. We have been defined by continued and repeated inaction by our elected officials,” Stephen Paolini, 22-year-old campaign manager for Initiative 1639, said at a gathering at Seattle’s Edgewater Hotel where Tuesday’s results drew cheers. “I hope tonight this victory is a message to our elected officials: Enough is enough.”

The sweeping 30-page measure will raisethe legal age to buy semi-automatic rifles to 21. To obtain such weapons, people will need to pass an enhanced background check, take a training course and wait 10 business days after a purchase.

I-1639 also will enact a storage law. Gun owners who don’t secure their firearms with devices such as a trigger lock or safe could be charged with gross misdemeanor or felony “community endangerment” crimes for allowing prohibited people (such as children) to access and display or use the weapons.

Proponents of the measure said I-1639 would address the root causes of many mass shootings and generally help to reduce gun violence.

I-1639 was the only state gun-regulations measure on the Nov. 6 ballot anywhere in the country.

The campaign supporting the measure raised more than $5.5 million, with much of that money coming from a handful of wealthy donors, such as venture capitalist Nick Hanauer and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who died last month.

I-1639’s opponents said the measure would violate their Second Amendment rights and make it nearly impossible for adults under 21 to defend themselves with firearms while doing little to reduce crime.

An opposition campaign mostly bankrolled by the National Rifle Association and the Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms raised about $622,000.

Alan Gottlieb of the Citizens Committee said I-1639 opponents plan to sue in an attempt to block the measure.

“A handful of billionaires put in millions of dollars to buy votes and we were outspent,” Gottlieb said. “But while they were able to buy votes, our hope is they won’t be able to buy judges.”

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, an I-1639 supporter, said he would defend the measure in court if need be.

“We’ll have a job to do and we’ll do it,” Ferguson said.

[DaveTN]

I may have read through the story I saw too quick, but it appeared to me it would also apply to handguns and shotguns.

EDIT:

Never mind, I didn’t think they used the word RIFLE in the description, but they do. It does however include all semi-auto rifles, including rimfires.

 

Quote

(25) "Semiautomatic  assault rifle" means any rifle which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge. "Semiautomatic assault rifle" does not include antique firearms, any firearm that has been made permanently inoperable, or any firearm that is manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide action.

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by DaveTN

[Ronald_55]

7 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

I may have read through the story I saw too quick, but it appeared to me it would also apply to handguns and shotguns.

The storage law does I guess

[Omega]

Oh this will head to court; how can they hold someone responsible if a thief steals your guns?  If someone breaks into my car or home, they can break into a safe (bunch of videos on that), so where are they going to draw the line?

And this shinola about training every five and recertification yearly seems way out of line, a drivers license, which cause more deaths is renewed every 5-8 years in most places without retesting.

[Grand Torino]

The people on the left coast are plain nuts.

[DaveTN]

36 minutes ago, Omega said:

Oh this will head to court; how can they hold someone responsible if a thief steals your guns?  If someone breaks into my car or home, they can break into a safe (bunch of videos on that), so where are they going to draw the line?

Here is a link to the TEXT.

https://www.sos.wa.gov/_assets/elections/initiatives/finaltext_1531.pdf

Quote

 

(3) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply if:

 11 (a) The firearm was in secure gun storage, or secured with a trigger lock or similar device that is designed to prevent the unauthorized use or discharge of the firearm;

(b) In the case of a person who is a prohibited person on the basis of the person's age, access to the firearm is with the lawful permission of the prohibited person's parent or guardian and supervised by an adult, or is in accordance with RCW 9.41.042;

(c) The prohibited person obtains, or obtains and discharges, the firearm in a lawful act of self-defense; or

(d) The prohibited person's access to the firearm was obtained as a result of an unlawful entry, provided that the unauthorized access or theft of the firearm is reported to a local law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction in which the unauthorized access or theft occurred within five days of the time the victim of the unlawful entry knew or reasonably should have known that the firearm had been taken.

 

It won’t apply if the gun is stolen by someone unlawfully entering. The five day reporting thing would never hold up in court and does require knowledge.

Checking your guns in a safe every five days is not reasonable. They might argue that it is reasonable to check guns left in the open every five days. All of this will have to be tested in the court, unfortunately by a citizen bearing the cost of that, but I doubt the courts will uphold a citizen being responsible for the theft of a gun from their house or vehicle. I’m sure SCOTUS won’t. I also doubt there will be many cases where a gun is stolen and it isn’t reported for 5 days.

[KahrMan]

19 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

Here is a link to the TEXT.

https://www.sos.wa.gov/_assets/elections/initiatives/finaltext_1531.pdf

It won’t apply if the gun is stolen by someone unlawfully entering. The five day reporting thing would never hold up in court and does require knowledge.

Checking your guns in a safe every five days is not reasonable. They might argue that it is reasonable to check guns left in the open every five days. All of this will have to be tested in the court, unfortunately by a citizen bearing the cost of that, but I doubt the courts will uphold a citizen being responsible for the theft of a gun from their house or vehicle. I’m sure SCOTUS won’t. I also doubt there will be many cases where a gun is stolen and it isn’t reported for 5 days.

The way I read it is that you have to report it within 5 days after you find out it has been stolen.  

[DaveTN]

7 minutes ago, KahrMan said:

The way I read it is that you have to report it within 5 days after you find out it has been stolen.  

Correct. Within five days of the time the victim of the unlawful entry knew or reasonably should have known that the firearm had been taken.

[bersaguy]

It would be reasonable to believe that if my home was broken into I would know it almost imediately and the first thing I would check is my guns and gun safe. Is that not true of any gun owner?...................................

[Mike.357]

how in the world are they supposed to know if you have a gun safe?

 

Edited November 8, 2018 by Mike.357

[Chucktshoes]

1 hour ago, Mike.357 said:

how in the world are they supposed to know if you have a gun safe?

 

Give them time, they’ll get around to passing inspection of storage as part of the licensing procedure. 

[AuEagle]

This is what happens when you elect prog/soc/comm's.

[RED333]

5 hours ago, AuEagle said:

This is what happens when you elect prog/soc/comm's.

I like the old terms, "COMMIE PINKO"

 

[ehull20000]

A few good lessons to learn from this are that showing up to vote in the midterms matters very much and political activism is needed.  People here get their ballots mailed to them and voter turn out was still rather low from what I expected.  Plenty of folks are very upset over 1639, but not many lifted a finger to work against it.  I will be glad when I'm done living in WA and can return to TN.  Hopefully, TN will still be a good place to live.