Joe Waldron sends...
FROM: GOAL [goalwa@cox.net]
TO: undisclosed-recipients
SENT: 14 June 2013
SUBJECT: GOAL Post 2013-SPECIAL 5,
Legislative Update from Olympia
- FIRST SPECIAL SESSION ENDS IN BUDGET STALEMATE
- SECOND SPECIAL SESSION STARTED NEXT DAY
- BACKGROUND CHECK INITIATIVE FILED
- BIDEN WHITE HOUSE GUN CONTROL GALA
- ASSAULTED: CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER FIRE
- SCANDAL OF THE WEEK (EPA)
- THE REAL ISSUE
The first special session of the
{Washington state} legislature adjourned on Monday without having reached agreement on a biennial budget. A second special session was called by the governor, which began on Wednesday. According to the governor, it's all the fault of the Republican-dominated Majority Coalition in the State Senate, and Democrats are threatening a government shutdown if the Majority Coalition/Republicans don't agree to raise taxes.
Between the legislative gridlock and the filing of the new gun registration/background check initiative, I don't expect them to tackle the gun issue during this session. But eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty.
The big news on the gun front is the "Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility" on Monday filing their background check initiative. As an Initiative to the Legislature, they have until the next regular legislative session in January 2014 to gather the nearly 250,000 valid signatures needed to put the initiative before the legislature. In the 2014 session, the legislature then gets three options: pass the initiative into law, ignore it, or pass another bill on the same topic. In the latter two cases it goes to the people for a vote in November 2014.
Nearly $1 MILLION has reported already been pledged by Seattle fat-cats to push the initiative through. A representative of Michael Bloomberg's "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" attended their opening fund-raiser and pledged support from that group. (This is the same Michael Bloomberg who coerced the government of Bermuda to allow HIS bodyguards to enter the island country carrying guns... even though Bermudan police don't carry guns. Gun prohibitions are for little people, not the elite. Bloomberg bought the New York City mayoralty, now he wants to buy gun control in Washington.)
Beyond the de facto gun registration that comes with any universal background check system, another big issue with this initiative is the fact that it imposes a "ten business day" (fourteen calendar days) wait in the event of a "delay" response from NICS. Under current federal law, a dealer may deliver a firearm to a purchaser if three days elapse from the original "delay" response. This initiative extends that to almost two weeks. Among other things, it could have a major impact on gun shows, as well as open the door to a firearms transfer "freeze" by shutting NICS down.
This one is going to be with us for a long time. If we are going to prevail, IT WILL BE THROUGH GRASSROOTS ACTION. I'll report more as the initiative moves through the process, being assigned a number, ballot title, ballot description, etc. And more as the gun rights community organizes to defeat it.
Vice President Joe Biden is conducting a gun control event at the White House next Tuesday. Details of the event, to include attendees/invitees, has yet to be released. Without doubt there will be families from Newtown, Connecticut, and other survivors of "gun violence." This is another opportunity for Obama and his media allies to use the White House bully pulpit to push for more gun control -- gun control that would NOT have prevented the Newtown incident nor most other shootings. But let's not confuse the public with facts.
The documentary film, "Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire, will begin a limited showing on Thursday, June 20th, at the AMC Loews Alderwood Mall 16, 18733 33rd Ave W, Lynnwood, WA. It runs 79 minutes in length and is narrated by Law & Order: SVU star Ice-T (one of the rare pro-gun Hollywood types). It addresses the evolution of the Second amendment and the continuing assaults on it by the Hollywood elite. The trailer can be found at
http://deadpatriotfilms.com/#
The latest scandal to hit Capitol Hill is the revelation of the release of farmers' personal data to environmental extremist groups. This was acknowledged by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in correspondence with elected officials from mid-western states. EPA says it "retrieved the data" from the groups involved... was that BEFORE or AFTER they copied the data? One more case of a government agency collecting data for legitimate purpoises
{sic}, then misusing that data for political ends.
Here's where I alienate some readers. The news media this week has been jammed with talk of the D.C. scandals, mostly focused on cellphone and internet data collection by various elements of the intelligence community. (Disclaimer: I spent most of my Marine Corps career in the intelligence business, including time at the National Cryptologic School at Fort Meade, MD.)
The ABILITY of the nation's intelligence community to collect such data should come as no surprise to anyone who has outgrown belief in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. (Santa Claus is a separate issue: too many people look to Uncle Sam as Santa Claus.) If we did NOT collect that data, and as a result some horrific terrorist -- or any other -- attack were to occur undetected, you'd be screaming "intelligence failure." So recognize that in the real world, this data is subject to collection. And subject to oversight.
In fact, there is all kinds of private data about YOU in all kinds of data bases, private, business and government. Medical information, school grades, tax data, purchase patterns... the list goes on and on. That's the kind of world we live in today. Commercial interests have developed data mining to an art -- an art that may even be used to push you in directions profitable to those interests. And I haven't even mentioned drones!
What you SHOULD be outraged about is an administration that intentionally USES that data to achieve a political goal. The data collected, of whatever nature, is held in a form of trust, trust that it will only be used for the legitimate purpose for which it was collected. If NSA were to intercept some form of communication about a planned terrorist attack, it would help immeasurably to be able to search PAST communications from that source to identify linkages. The ability to go BACK in time may be critical in preventing a FUTURE attack.
But the only time that search for, or use of, collected data should take place is when you have probable cause that a crime is being planned/committed, and the intelligence community is in a form of hot investigative pursuit.
Some readers will be outraged by that perspective, I am sure. But having been "in the business," I readily accept the value of COLLECTING the data, with the caveat that it is not further accessed without probable cause. And the law should be amended to include SEVERE PENALTIES for any such misuse.
The purpose of GOAL Post is to inform subscribers on issues dealing with the lawful acquisition, possession and use of firearms, primarily from a legislative perspective. The fact that the current administration has demonstrated the willingness to use private data for political purposes is becoming more obvious as time goes by. Such a pattern of activity bodes ill for gun owners as it does for all Americans. I will refrain from addressing future such activities unless a linkage to the gun issue is clear -- such as the ATF's role in gun trafficking to Mexico as part of the Fast & Furious debacle.
