Tuesday, June 19, 2018

WA -- SAF, CCRKBA WARN I-1639 SPONSORS THAT ‘UNREADABLE’ PETITIONS VIOLATE LAW

The Second Amendment Foundation and Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms send:
SAF, CCRKBA WARN I-1639 SPONSORS THAT ‘UNREADABLE’ PETITIONS VIOLATE LAW
BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today warned sponsors of anti-gun Initiative 1639 via a demand letter that their campaign “is utilizing unreadable petitions in violation” of state law, and demanded that this be corrected to “conform to the legal requirements.”
Olympia attorney Shawn Newman, writing on behalf of the two Bellevue-based organizations, noted, “The petitions for I-1639 have the proposed measure printed on the back of the sheets in such fine print as to be unreadable… Use of fine print is unconscionable.”
State law mandates that initiative petitions “have a readable, full, true, and correct copy of the proposed measure printed on the reverse side of the petition,” Newman’s letter warns.
“In the short time that I-1639 petitions have been in circulation,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, “SAF and CCRKBA have been contacted by several people who could not read the initiative language. I’ve always been warned to read the small print before signing anything. I-1639, as it appears on the back of each petition, is all small print. That should tell voters something about its content.”
According to Newman’s letter, “Obviously, due to the microscopic maze of fine print used by the initiative sponsors to disguise the actual language of the initiative on the back of their petitions, voters cannot be fully informed.” He cautioned I-1639 sponsors that having their paid signature gatherers tell voters to “read it online” is “no substitute for following the law.” Newman suggested reprinting the petitions, and contact voters who have already signed to allow them the opportunity to sign a readable copy of the measure.
“We would prefer that you become compliant with the law,” Newman wrote, “but if you choose to continue in this illegal manner, we will be forced to litigate this matter.”
Copies of the letter were sent to Secretary of State’s office, the Washington State Attorney General, and “many other interested parties to ensure that everyone has been notified of the fundamental problem with your petitions.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
 (More after the jump...)

Also, Save Our Security,  a fairly new Gun Rights organization in Washington state, sends out:

A demand letter was sent today to I-1639 sponsors and the state advising the print of I-1639 petitions are likely in violation of the law.
As the official NO on I-1639 committee, we concur with these assessments and commend our allies at SAF and CCRKBA for pointing them out.
Attention around I-1639 has again shed light into the dark corners of the political class that propagate and place these billionaire-backed measures on the ballot.
In addition, we’ve also received reports of the paid (out of state, and even out of country) petitioners circulating petitions with the invalidated pre-hearing ballot title language. This would also invalidate any of the signatures applied to these petitions.
I-1639 Narrative Problem: Tumwater Responsible Armed Citizen Hailed as ‘Hero’
This weekend a responsible armed citizen successfully stopped a violent rampage at the Tumwater Walmart – something the proponents of I-1639 falsely claim rarely or never happens.
What’s clear is if this armed citizen was not at the scene, there obviously could have been more victims.
This weekend near Tacoma, a woman also stopped a home invasion by shooting the invading assailant with her firearm. I-1639 would unnecessarily constrain the ability of homeowners to defend themselves and could blame you if people were somehow able to break in and steal your gun.
What’s also clear is that laws like I-594, and now I-1639, do little if nothing to stop criminals hellbent on breaking the law. Washington already has “universal background checks” (I-594), and “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” (I-1491); however, as outlined in our first alert the clear aim of I-1639 is infringement and strangulation of the right to keep and bear arms.
Proponents of I-1639 have continually backed laws that constrain, limit, or outright ban your right to purchase or protect yourself with a firearm. I-1639 will further curtail these rights and make you the criminal. A felon or other prohibited person ineligible to own or possess a firearm is obviously already in violation of the law and can be arrested.
I-1639 only goes after the law abiding and crassly assigns it as “safe schools, safe communities.” In true Orwellian fashion, I-1639 goes after you, the innocent citizen, instead of strengthening school safety measures, increasing mental health resources, enforcing current law, or strengthening penalties on violent criminals.
Why is I-1639 Here? Why Now?
A few years ago global gun control proponents became resigned to watered down versions of global gun control measures like the UN Programme of Action and the UN Arms Trade Treaty.
Due to resistance from several countries to these encroaching international laws, the disarmists and their billionaire donors embraced a new plan: attack individual countries and states to change their laws, one-by-one.
So their theory goes, then the individual countries will not be as resistant to complete and absolute disarming of their own people via international law. Don’t believe it? Read one of these documents outlining these ideas here.
The Road Forward: How can we win?
We beat them with the facts, the truth, and with our own first hand stories – ones just like the Walmart hero this weekend. If you or someone you know have a story to tell, please let us know on our volunteer page. We’d love to hear your story.
Additionally, we’re still tracking the paid signature gatherers and encouraging people to let voters know not to sign. You can find the tracker, the handout, and the deep dive alert on I-1639 on our website.
Don’t give up the fight!
In Freedom,
Phil Watson
Chairman | S.O.S. | NO on I-1639 Committee
Related discussion of the initiative here: I-1639: Washington state's latest gun control initiative

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