GOAL Post 2011-13

From: Joe Waldron [jwaldron@halcyon.com]
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 8:04 PM
Subject: GOAL Post 2011-13

GOAL Post 2011-13

Legislative Update from Olympia 1 April 2011

HB 1016 PASSES SENATE, NEXT STOP: GOVERNOR GREGOIRE

TWO BILLS REMAINING FOR SENATE ACTION

SECOND CHAMBER CUT-OFF 12 APRIL

WSP OUT WITH A NEW REQUEST LETTER

HB 1016, by Rep. Brian Blake (D-19), which legalizes the use of lawfully-owned suppressors in Washington, passed out of the Senate on Tuesday, 29 March with a 47-0 vote. As soon as it is signed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate, it goes to Governor Gregoire, who has five business days to act on the bill. The governor has three options: she can sign the bill into law; she can allow the bill to become law without her signature; or she can veto the bill. At this time, given the near unanimous passage by both chambers and the fact that the bill is viewed by many as a "law enforcement bill" (under current law, law enforcement agencies are also prohibited under penalty of law from using suppressors), I would not anticipate a problem with the governor signing the bill.

Two firearm-related bills remain to be voted on by the Senate: HB 1455(restoration of rights) and SHB 1923 (CPL qualification). They have until 12 April to get a vote on the Senate floor. Much of next week's schedule is devoted to Senate and House floor time.

Tuesday, 12 April is the last days for bills to pass out of the second chamber (House bills out of the Senate and vice versa). As noted above, we have two gun bills remaining to be voted on in the Senate. There appears to be more than adequate time for this to happen. Just over three weeks remain in the 2011 regular legislative session. Per the state constitution, the session must end by midnight on Sunday, 24 April.

The Washington State Patrol has promulgated another letter to firearm dealers asking for information about individuals purchasing AR-15 lower receivers. This one, dated 28 March, acknowledges up front that dealers have no legal obligation to comply. The Patrol is asking them to cooperate "in the interest of public safety," and claims the data received will not be retained after completion of the investigation. The obvious question is, why not just ask ATF to investigate, and give them the name or names of any suspect? ATF has the authority to walk into any gun shop in the US and ask to see dealers' records. Again, I believe this is less malicious or nefarious intent and more ham-handedness on the part of the Patrol.

BILL STATUS:

The following bills are still under consideration for the 2011-12 biennium:

Bill # Subject Sponsor Status
HB 1016 Suppressor use Blake (D-19) S. Rules
HB 1455 Restoration of rights McCune (R-2) S. Rules
SHB 1923 CPL qualification Goodman (D-45) S. Rules

Key to abbreviations: S. = Senate, H. = House

GOAL POSITION ON BILLS

HB 1016 SUPPORT
HB 1455 SUPPORT
SHB 1923 SUPPORT

HEARING(S) SCHEDULED:

No public hearings remain for gun-related bills.

LEGISLATIVE HOT LINE: You may reach your Representatives and Senator by calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Toll free!!! The hearing impaired may obtain TDD access at 1-800-635-9993. Also toll free!!!

1-800-562-6000 TDD 1-800-635-9993

OTHER DATA: Copies of pending legislation (bills), legislative schedules and other information are available on the legislature's web site at "www.leg.wa.gov". Bills are available in Acrobat (.pdf) format. You may download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe's web site (http://www.adobe.com). You may also obtain hard copy bills, initiatives, etc, in the mail from the Legislative Bill Room FREE OF CHARGE by calling 1-360-786-7573. Copies of bills may also be ordered toll free by calling the Legislative Hotline at (800) 562-6000. You may also hear floor and committee hearing action live at http://www.tvw.org/ (you need "RealAudio" to do this, available free at the TVW web site).

By reading the House and Senate "bill reports" (hbr, sbr) for each bill, you can see how individual committee members voted. By reading the "roll call" for each bill, you can see how the entire House or Senate voted on any bill. The beauty of the web site is that ALL this information is available, on line, to any citizen.

GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail, send a message to "jwaldron@halcyon.com". Please pass GOAL Post on to anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights. Better yet, make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun club’s bulletin board, and leave copies with your local gun shop(s). PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TODUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT TEXTUAL MODIFICATION AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at "jwaldron@halcyon.com" or by telephone at (425) 985-4867. Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy GOAL Post to individuals. Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be available at the Second Amendment Foundation book table at WAC gun shows.

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Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Monroe 9-10 April
Puyallup 14-15 May

"The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men."

Article 1, Section 24
Constitution of the State of Washington

Copyright 2011 Gun Owners Action League of WA