Legislative Update from Olympia 24 February 2012
SECOND CHAMBER POLICY COMMITTEE CUT-OFF
CLOCK RUNS OUT ON GUN BILLS
SHOOTING INCIDENTS
13 DAYS REMAINING IN SESSION
Today was the last day for bills to pass out of their second chamber policy committee (House bills out of the Senate policy committee, Senate bills out of the House policy committee). That's the Judiciary Committees for most gun bills, plus the Transportation committee for the NRA license plate bill.
All four remaining gun-related bills died in committee today. Theoretically, barring extraordinary action, the bills are dead for the session. Keep in mind, however, that legislative cut-off dates are internal procedural controls adopted by the legislature at the beginning of each session. If leadership really wants to push a bill or an issue, they'll find a way.
Three shooting incidents have made the news in recent days. One involved an alcohol-related negligent shooting at a party in Redmond, the second a school shooting in Bremerton and the third the murder of a Washington state trooper in Kitsap County. "The usual suspects" are calling for some unnamed gun control laws to "fix" these problems, never mind the fact that there are laws on the books that already cover all three situations. Unfortunately, facts, logic and common sense all fail when emotion rules -- and most gun control laws are passed on an emotional high. Somehow it never bothers gun control advocates to "dance in the blood of victims" to exploit a tragedy and push their extremist agenda.
A couple of newspapers have already called for enactment of a "child access prevention" (CAP) law, AKA a "lock up your protection" law, in response to the Bremerton school shooting. The last time this stood a chance of success in Olympia was in 1997, after the tragic shooting death of a young Marysville girl. Not only did the bill fail, but gun control advocates ran an initiative as a follow on, I-676, which failed -- by a 71-29% margin. But they keep trying. Senate Judiciary Committee chair Adam Kline said he would consider a bill to address this "lapse in the law" in next year's legislative session.
Based on limited information available from news media sources, it appears the 9-year old who took the pistol to school got it from his mother's home, and mom may face criminal charges. Huh? If she can be charged, where is the "lapse in the law?" The existing reckless endangerment statute, RCW 9A.36.050, more than adequately covers this kind of incident. We don't need a new law, we need to enforce existing law. (Again according to the news, mom has an extensive criminal record and was possibly committing a felony simply by possessing a handgun to begin with.)
13 days remain in the 2012 regular legislative session. By law, the legislature must adjourn by midnight on Thursday, 8 March. With no gun-related bills on the move any longer, we'll go into the monitoring mode. But given the recent incidents, it will be active monitoring!
{Click the post title to read the rest.}
BILL STATUS:
The following are the only bills that were still under consideration during the 2012 regular session.
Bill # | Subject | Sponsor | Status |
ESHB 1508 | Range protection | Takko (D-19) | Died S. Jud. |
HB 2471 | Firearm purchase/NICS waiver | Goodman (D-45) | Died S. Jud. |
SSB 5697 | State agency gun security devices | Hargrove (D-24) | Died H. Jud. |
SSB 6123 | NRA license plate | Hatfield (D-19) | Died H. Trans. |
GOAL POSITION ON BILLS No longer applicable
HEARING(S) SCHEDULED: None
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!!!
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" or "goalwa@cox.net". 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 TO DUPLICATE 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," "goalwa@cox.net" 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.
If you believe you have received this e-mail in error, please e-mail me at "jwaldron@halcyon.com" or "goalwa@cox.net" with the words "Unsubscribe GOAL Post" in the subject line. I will remove your name immediately. Keep in mind GOAL Post is also published on several gun lists. If you received GP via a list, you must contact that list's admin to unsubscribe.
Upcoming WAC gun show(s):
Puyallup 25-26 February
Monroe 10-11 March
"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 2012 Gun Owners Action League of WA
No comments:
Post a Comment