TL;DR, MOFO Bloomberg and his money are financing a really bad initiative in Washington and (my 2 cents) look for it soon in your State if this passes.

Note of interest:  There is a competing initiative I-591.

Spotted as an editorial on the Bellingham Herald website front page, links pasted at end of text.

No on I-594: Don’t turn neighbors into accidental criminals

Would you vote for a law that would make criminals of half your neighbors? Initiative 594 would do exactly that.

In their zeal to impose "universal background checks," the creators of I-594 have written a law that would require nearly all “transfers” of firearms to be conducted at the premises of a Federal Firearms License (FFL) dealer.

I-594 defines transfers as a change of possession, no matter how temporary, including gifts and loans. There are exceptions for family gifts, organized competitions and youth activities, but they are so narrow that most recreational, non-sale transfers would be crimes.

The father who loans a hunting rifle to an adult son during hunting season would commit a misdemeanor (upon the first violation). When the rifle is returned, both father and son would be two-time offenders, and thus felons under I-594.

Shooting buddies who met on public land or their own property to target practice with shared firearms would violate I-594. Routine gun repairs would also be criminalized. The initiative would effectively forbid you from dropping your firearm off with a gunsmith friend unless he had a federal license. Most gunsmiths in this state, often the most skilled, lack federal licenses.

Women are targeted by several provisions. Instructors could no longer provide loaner firearms during introductory women's self-defense classes. And if your sister were being stalked and in fear of her life, and you loaned her a firearm, you would both be criminals. I-594 has an exception to "prevent imminent death," but the legal definition of imminent means "about to happen."

Widows and heirs beware: If your spouse died and you found a couple of handguns in your husband's sock drawer 61 days after death, then you’d be an accidental felon.

I-594 only allows you 60 days to register those guns; after that, they’d become contraband. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, and intent to commit a crime is not an element written into 594. Why write a law that makes inheritance of grandpa's old guns a crime?

Colorado passed a law in 2013 requiring universal background checks, but the Colorado law includes exceptions for temporary transfers without change of ownership, transfers while hunting or target shooting, transfers for gun repairs and loans for 72 hours. The transfer fee is capped at a reasonable $10 (fees are unlimited in I-594).

If only I-594 were that reasonable. Failure to complete the Colorado paperwork is a misdemeanor, whereas I-594 makes the first offense a gross misdemeanor and the second a Class C felony.

I urge you to follow the lead of our state's law enforcement officers, those who deal with crime and criminals on a daily basis; they oppose I-594 and support passage of Initiative 591. Vote yes on I-591 because it leaves intact our current background check laws while allowing our state to implement future enhancements adopted at the federal level for all 50 states.

I-594’s penalty provisions are one huge reason that law enforcement officers oppose this flawed initiative. Its promoters cleverly revised the law to define an I-594 felony as a "serious" offense, placing it in the same category as child molestation, third-degree rape, leading organized crime and drive-by shootings.

You could loan your gun to a friend for the weekend, and the judge hearing your paperwork crime would have to follow "serious" crime-sentencing guidelines, including consecutive sentences for these newly defined "serious" crimes.

No law enforcement organization supports Initiative 594.

The Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs represents the majority of law enforcement line-level officers in our state; it opposes the initiative. The Washington State Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association opposes it. These are the firearm professionals who would be tasked with enforcing this unreasonable law.

Nineteen elected sheriffs oppose I-594. They understand that the initiative will consume scarce resources in the prosecution and imprisonment of its accidental violators.

Philip Shave is executive director of Washington Arms Collectors and editor of GunNews.

Direct link to story with comments


Cold link to Seattlepi discussing the Bloomberg financing.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2014/10/20/bloomberg-group-pushes-i-594-warchest-to-nearly-9-5-million/

Yup, they pulled this exact bullshit in CO...

I'm sure this is being communicated as common sense legislation...

Sadly, yes, the commercials and even the biased voters guide

lol

Fuck them.

Yes.  It's being sold under the new meme-name "gun responsibility", because who would argue against RESPONSIBILITY?

Deer god, the commercials are down right sickening.  The town hall meeting was even worse.

I already voted against 594 and for 591. Btw 591 would make it illegal for the government to confiscate firearms during a time of crisis (Katrina type of event). 594 would suck, no more taking new shooters out to the woods to teach them to shoot, the minute I hand them the gun, it would be a violation of 594.

Ask for the moon and then compromise for less.

As did I.  Unfortunately I fear that ignorance will lead to the success of 594.  To those that don't follow this stuff, 594 reads as a "common sense", "responsible" and "reasonable" bill.  But - it isn't.  It's a total trainwreck, and I fear we may be screwed.

No to mention the blatant lies in the commercials. Fuck them all. I also notice a absence of the NRA?

Fuck Boomturd, Gates and Allen. Fuck them all.

The NRA has spent about $350,000 the best I can tell, and it appears there were some late filing issues,

source here, left cold, http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2014/10/17/nra-not-making-its-fundraising-disclosures-on-time-in-i-594-campaign/

The gun grabbers on the other hand appear to be at about $10 million.

I'm moving. Fuck this place.

Sadly,  594 is ahead in the polls


I wonder what happens if they both pass?

Since they conflict with each other I assume off to the (kangaroo) court.

591 will likely get shot down in the courts if it even passes. It is poorly written and covers more than one subject something that has gotten many initiatives tossed.

Anti-gunners have a pile of $ and a long list of Liberal Activists Judges to do their bidding.

This sounds like a carbon copy of the CO law as introduced, thankfuly it was amended and slightly de-fucked before it passed, still sucks though...

How would they enforce this with out an all out registration?

Pity that more gun owners do not join and support gun rights organizations such as the NRA, ain't it?

There is no sense in moving because if things go south for us in 2016, the Democrats will pass this at the federal level.

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No its a pity the NRA can't get its shit together and file on time to back the correct initiative.

Fuck me.

Anyone want to buy a house?

Of course they can't do this without registration.  That's the little tidbit they don't mention in the commercials.  



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I grew up in eastern wa and moved to north Idaho because of this kind of crap running the state from western wa.

Yep, I am considering making a move at some point. Load of goddamned bullshit. The leftists are ruining this state in a hurry.

It's a lot easier to "get your shit together" when you have the financial backing of the MAJORITY of gun owners, instead of a pathetically small percent.

So how will people teach kids, spouses and interested friends how to shoot and handle a gun in a safe manner? Sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

Why aren't our organizations pulling the same kind of ops?  Shouldn't we be pushing for the repeal of NFA?

"Colorado passed a law in 2013 requiring universal background checks, but the Colorado law includes exceptions for temporary transfers without change of ownership, transfers while hunting or target shooting, transfers for gun repairs and loans for 72 hours. The transfer fee is capped at a reasonable $10 (fees are unlimited in I-594). "


The most any dealer can charge for the background check is $10.    But they charge a standard transfer fee as well which varies by FFL.   (It's their neck on the line, I understand that)   But the transfer can be $10, 25, 50...    

But it's not a tax to exercise your right, it's a fee.   But somehow ask someone to obtain a picture ID for free to vote and you're disenfranchising the poor, voter suppression, etc.

Jason Rantz on Kiro talking about it right now.

yep and my favorite is that they say long guns wont get"registered" under 594 but if you read the funding section in the voting pamphlet it states that theres funding for a long gun registry....

four more years, and I will be out of here.

This initiative is so asinine, but with all the money that Gates, Bloomie, Allen, have handed over, the thing will pass.

The only hope is the courts overturn it, as it deals with more than one issue, which is not allowed under the law.

But since it is an anti-gun initiative I will not hold out hope in the courts.

I picked up a whole shitload of "No on 594" materials at the fun show last weekend. We've been "canvassing" a lot of the surrounding neighborhoods a bit each night all week.

Sadly, as we all have heard by now that was today almost guaranteeing passage

We passed term limits and they said it was unconstitutional
We voted down gay marriage and they said it was unconstitutional
They pass this shit and no one will say a fucking word about the constitution.

We need to money bomb one of the No on 594 groups.  Hard.