Wednesday, November 5, 2014

594 seems to be passing. What now?

So, at the time I type this (0150-ish, the morning of Wednesday 11/05) it would appear that Washington State Ballot Initiative 594 is passing.  There are still ballots to be counted, it's possible that it might be defeated, but it's not looking good.

So, what now?

Well, based on a variety of things, including conversations I had with people prior to election day and observations about How These Things Work, I expect that by the end of the week an injunction will be filed to prevent this pile of excrement to be implemented, pending court hearings.

Suit will be filed to get it tossed out based on, among other things, unconstitutionally vague language, lacking definitions, unfunded mandates, ad regulatory overreach. It's not like no one in this state knows a lawyer or two who have an established track record when it comes to court challenges of gun rights.

Notwithstanding, the 1%'ers behind this piece of crap will move forward with similar schemes in other states.  "I-594, coming soon to a state near you!"

It would not surprise me if the state legislature refuses to implement this; there is precedence for them to ignore the results of initiatives.

The left, led by their 1%'er Sugar Daddies will be crowing about the defeat of the NRA. Never mind that the NRA has elections in 50 states plus territories to deal with, and resources that are far from infinite. Any victory for gun control is a defeat for the NRA.

And, of course, all the whiners will come out of the woodwork blaming the NRA for this. Because the only people who are more certain of the NRA's power to influence the vote than the left-wing lunatic fringe is a bunch of gun nuts who are looking for a scapegoat. I swear sometimes if "Threepers" put half the energy into getting the vote out, or trying to influence their congresscritters that they do into masturbating to their rebellion fantasies while chanting "Shall Not Be Infringed!", we'd be debating whether sales taxes on guns and ammo are unconstitutional.

Yes, I'm disappointed that the NRA was late to the party. I certainly don't believe that NRA's strategies are bound to be 100% effective.  And I haven't heard anything from Gun Owners of America (GOA) on this, or the National Association to Raise Money from Gun Owners for Gun rights, and little from Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. (Who, by the way, were pretty much silent when the left attacked NRA Rep Brian Judy for pointing out how Weimar and Nazi gun control facilitated the Holocaust.)

 I also know that Adina Hicks and Keely Hopkins, NRA WA Grassroots coordinators, were working themselves to death travelling and organizing.  Plus, there have been other issues in the past where no one knew the NRA was doing anything until after the dust settled and it became obvious that "strategery" had been in play.

So, yeah, not happy here.  But, being an INTJ, I am fully capable of the apparently contradictory cynical optimism (or optimistic cynicism, if you prefer) that is characteristic of that "type", and fully believe that we will win this.

Eventually. 

But we must stay the course, not get discouraged, and not engage in internal bickering about who did (or didn't) do what.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agree from Whatcom county!

Anonymous said...

True words, those......

Mr. C.