By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Three national gun rights powerhouses will jointly sponsor a Jan. 15 pro-rights rally on the capitol steps in Olympia, Wash., when local gun rights organizations plan to encourage gun owners to meet their legislators and talk about turning back Initiative 594, the gun control measure passed by Evergreen State voters in November.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Second Amendment Foundation and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership are sponsoring the event. However, it is being hosted by the newly-created umbrella organization, the Washington Firearms Leadership Advocacy Group (WAFLAG). Members of this new organization include the local Pink Pistols, Protect Our Gun Rights Washington and the Gun Rights Coalition.
It’s being billed as “the first 2015 Legislative Rally against I-594 and other bad gun laws, suggesting there may be more. Gun control is likely to be a hot issue during the 2015 session, on the heels of November’s gun control victory. I-594 is the 18-page measure that was partly financed by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety lobbying organization. It was also heavily supported by wealthy Seattle-area elitists.
Gun owners see themselves as being penalized for crimes they did not commit.
A Dec. 13 rally against I-594 was organized by another group, but the legislature does not convene until January. This essentially gives a one-two punch for gun rights advocates, however.
State lawmakers will likely be asked by the hunting community to clarify provisions in the new law as they apply to Hunter Education. In December, instructors received an advisory from David Whipple, head of the Hunter Education program for the state Department of Fish & Wildlife that offered some advice on how to handle “transfers” of firearms between students during gun safety exercises. There are still questions on how the new law will affect students age 18 and older.
In addition, the Department of Licensing is also working to clarify how heirs of gun owners will provide information on handguns they decide to retain. That information must be provided to the DOL, and it will subsequently be added to the state pistol registry.
Opponents of I-594 had long argued that the measure would expand the state handgun registry, an argument that gun control proponents deftly waltzed around by arguing that passage of the measure would not create a new gun registration scheme. Likewise, they said it would not affect hunting regulations.
According to DOL’s Brad Benfield, the agency’s “temporary procedure will be to collect information similar to the information collected on the pistol transfer application forms including the name and address of the new owner and identifying information about the pistol. This information will then be kept on file.”
Benfield acknowledged via e-mail that, “The new law does create new requirements related to the inheritance or sale of a pistol when the owner dies.”
