FROM: GOAL <goalwa@cox.net>
TO: undisclosed-recipients:
SENT: Fri 3/20/2015 5:24 PM
SUNJECT: GOAL Post 2015-11
Legislative Update from
Olympia 20 March 2015
·
ESHB 1713
SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING
·
HOUSE JUDICIARY
TO VOTE ON SSB/SB 5381 AND 5658
·
ATF
"BACKDOWN"
·
ATF DIRECTOR B.
TODD JONES RESIGNS
·
FORMER DIRNSA/CIA
ON THE VULNERABILITY TO TERRORIST ATTACK
A public hearing on Engrossed
Substitute House Bill 1713 has been scheduled in Senate Human Services and
Mental Health at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 24 March.
Essentially, the bill adds "chemical dependency" (including
alcohol) to the existing mental health commitment program. This increases the opportunity, beyond
existing law, for the state to take away an individual's fundamental right to
own a firearm. The bill treats substance
"use" essentially the same as "abuse," with insufficient
safeguards for protecting rights.
Public hearings were held on
SSB 5381 and SB 5658 this week. Both
bills are scheduled for executive session (committee vote) in House Judiciary
on Thursday, 26 March. An amendment will
be offered for SSB 5381 that should resolve any remaining issues with the bill.
A few readers challenged my
assertion last week that ATF's backdown on 5.56 M855 ammo was only temporary,
and that -- like The Terminator -- "they would be back." In effect, I
was raining on the gun lobby's victory parade.
This was ATF appearing to back down on Tuesday, 10 March:
And this is ATF Director B. Todd Jones to the Senate
Appropriations Committee on Thursday, 12 March:
And note that he wants to work with Congress to
"fix" the 1986 law. He clearly
stated he thought ALL 5.56mm ammunition posed a threat to police officers. If you think Jones' "fix" is going
to make it better for gun owners, promises for transparency and taking into
account public input notwithstanding, well... you decide.
While I still question the
motives of some in the ATF bureaucracy, you won't have to worry about ATF
Director B. Todd Jones much longer. In a
surprise announcement this morning (his departure had been rumored for a week
or longer), Jones announced he's resigning from the ATF directorship effective
31 March. The official line is he is
resigning "to pursue other opportunities in the private sector." Rumor has it he will become a senior counsel
-- possible general counsel -- for the NFL.
Stand by for political manipulation within the NFL? I guess the jump from FFLs to NFL isn't that
big a leap.
At this time Deputy Director
Thomas Brandon will take the helm.
Brandon was the ATF's choice to be clean-up (cover-up?) man heading the
Phoenix Field Division following the Fast & Furious debacle. We -- and Congress -- are still awaiting the
final report on that one.
On a separate topic, retired
USAF General Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency
and the CIA, in comments made after the Tunisia museum attack earlier this
week, warned that this kind of low level attack could happen at any soft target
in the U.S. This comes on the heels of
FBI Director James Comey warning there are active ISIS or ISIS-sympathizer
cells active in all 50 states -- and the White House claiming we are at our
safest since 9/11/01.
This is the one kind of
attack where the armed citizen can make a critical difference -- the immediate
responder that is already on the scene, not minutes away as are police. Are YOU carrying today? Every day?
Bill #
|
Subject
|
Prime sponsor
|
Status
|
GOAL Position
|
ESHB 1713
|
Mental health/guns
|
Cody (D-34)
|
S. HumSer
|
OPPOSE
|
SSB 5381
|
Return of firearms held by
law enforcement
|
Billig (D-3)
|
H. Jud.
|
NEUTRAL
|
SB 5658
|
Reporting of mental health
commitment
|
Dansel (R-7)
|
H. Jud.
|
NEUTRAL
|
* indicates change in status
this week
ESHB = Engrossed Substitute
House Bill, SHB/SSB = Substitute Bill (bill amended in committee), HB = House Bill,
SB = Senate Bill, H. Aprop = House Appropriations, H. Jud. = House Judiciary,
S. L&J = Senate Law & Justice, S. HumSer = Senate Human Services,
Mental Health & Housing
HEARING SCHEDULED:
ESHB 1713 S. Hum Ser Senate
Hearing Room "1" John A.
Cherberg Office Bldg
23 Mar 10:00 a.m. {Date and location corrected per email of 3/21/2015. DWD}
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.
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Upcoming WAC gun show(s):
Puyallup 21-22 March
Monroe 4 April (Saturday only)
"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 2015 Gun Owners
Action League of WA
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