“To those who believe a weapon of war should be purchased with the same ease as a bottle of aspirin and left loaded where children can readily access it, the new law is a nuisance. But Washingtonians decided that keeping powerful weapons out of the hands of children and the unfit is a priority higher than convenience.
“The changes required to produce sensible gun policy won’t happen overnight. But they’re now happening faster than many anticipated. Across the nation, including in red states, voters have just advanced the cause of safety. The tide is turning.” – Bloomberg View Editorial Board, Steps Forward for Gun Safety Across the Nation
This is infuriating. First they require a training course. Then, the training course will be lengthened. Then, they’ll require a $500 license to own a semiautomatic rifle. And so on, and so on… We really need the Supreme Court’s help.
“Democracy is not freedom. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to eat for lunch. Freedom comes from the recognition of certain rights which may not be taken, not even by a 99% vote.”
– Marvin Simkin
Spin it around. A well regulated militia. Have local state and federal government build ranges. Start government funded marksmanship programs. We provide public funded education for everything else. If you want to make training mandatory, fine, but provide the resources for it. And make it mandatory for ALL, gun owners and non owners. After all everyone is a member of the militia.
Good point they like to argue that it’s only a militia and a well regulated one at that so lets get stupid and make it all government funded and sponsored!
While they are at it, the State should also provide me with a M249 SAW, and practice ammo for it (or at least free 5.56 ammo for my AR15). Everyone is part of the militia by law after all.
Note that I-1639 redefined the Marlin 60 and 10/22 as assault rifles. Those vicious weapons of war were obviously designed with the beaches of Normandy in view.
A tube mag 60? Seriously?
Rad Man,
Washington Initiative 1639 reclassifies every semi-automatic rifle, regardless of size/caliber, as a semi-automatic ASSAULT rifle. Dumb, but it’s Washington.
M249 SAWs and M240s should stay in the local armory. But definitely citizens should be trained on them.
Huh. I must be doing something wrong.
I’m pretty sure I cannot go down to Walgreens, grab a blister pack of ARs off the rack and buy them over the counter in the self-check out stand. There seems to be something else involved…
Or maybe I haven’t had to fill out a 4473 and get a background check for aspirin….lying wankers.
And don’t forget these “training courses” will be underfunded and run infrequently with little to no notice of the dates and times. To make it more inconvenient, the dates and times will be on working days between 9 and 5.
That little weasel gives me a headache. Makes me need a bottle of aspirin. Guess I’ll have to order it on Amazon.
When will the anti-goyim / anti-gentile discrimination end?
The problem with the anti-2A crowd is that even people who don’t know anything about firearms or firearms law can spot agitprop when they see it. At least if they have an IQ over 40.
Do you really think that people who anti-firearm or anti-2A even care?
You must have met people over the years who have a firm belief that
firearms are only for Law Enforcement and the Military.
No others need apply.
Does not matter if they know the law or not or if they have been hustled
they do not like firearms and civilians shall not own them.
Sure, but even those people know that this is agitprop, they just don’t care. They know that we don’t want to give children unsupervised access to loaded weapons but they think we’re evil anyway and they’re fine with whatever hyperbole that makes us look like bad people. IMHO that makes them bad people.
Yup, we are bad people. That is the antis core thesis. It doesn’t matter what you do to us or how you constrain our lives because we are bad, bad people. Punching nazis is a good thing after all.
What blows my mind is that these foolish control freaks can’t seem to comprehend that they are poking the bear. As has been stated many times, many ways, there are over 100 million gun owners with 400 million guns, if we were a problem, you’d know it. What do they think happens if we get backed into a corner and they keep poking – someone is gonna get shot, that’s what. Now, if that happens, then it’ll be a sh!t storm. Lots of new laws, greater social unrest, more bloodshed, more demonization of gun owners and all that but, it is a logistical impossibility to take all the guns from all the gun owners. Eventually, someone is going to get pushed a bit to far and, to quote a fictional naval officer, “This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we will be lucky to live through it.”
“The problem with the anti 2nd crowd is ” it would seem the average IQ is below 40.
NEWFLASH:
Liberal Vox news exclaims that US Constitutional Infringements and Authoritarianism are the way to go for nationwide gun control. Points to Massachusetts Draconian gun control schemes that discourage gun ownership as best for the nation.
https://www.vox.com/2018/11/13/17658028/massachusetts-gun-control-laws-licenses
I’d rather not have my exercise of my rights subject to “police discretion” – I’ve read Ordinary Men…
I appreciate that Hemenway also admits that these gun control measures would only potentially reduce firearm injuries and deaths while doing nothing for actual crime rates. This is like amputating joints to manage gout pain instead of instituting dietary changes. Try addressing the causes, not the symptoms.
No where in the article does it explain how criminals are disarmed and kept that way. Law abiding people are effectively victims in waiting
I never had to go through a background check for a bottle of aspirin.
I’ve also never been able to buy a gun at Walgreen’s or CVS, for that matter.
I wasn’t aware that cvs sold Title II machine guns over the counter. Dang, I will need to swing by and pick up a M249 and M2 with some Tylenol and band aids…
On the medical front, for my otc drugs I never fill out a lengthy form, have a waiting period, or otherwise take a class, fingerprints, buy a license which still requires the background check but not the waiting period. But seems they will have waiting periods in Washington even with a concealed license right?
They are playing tricks with the wording and facts, as usual… Disinformation and flat out lies.
Definitely need to make sure any lawful gun owner who already has 10 ARs and a 10/22 has to jump through hoops to get another gun, they are clearly a threat, they probably want to get that new gun for Christmas to use for Mass shooting.
“But Washingtonians decided that keeping powerful weapons out of the hands of […] the unfit is a priority”
At least they are openly admitting it now.
Next step is to get rid of the “un” part of unfit. Just a very minor tweak of the law, surely you will understand and comply.
To bad plenty of scum are either armed already or capable of strong arm violence
How about a background check before voting?
We did have reading tests long ago. That was rules ray cist.
Beware the wording they are using…”Weapons of War.” The Pump Action shotgun is a current weapon of war….the revolver was also once a weapon of war…the bolt action rifle is currently a weapon of war….this is how they do it…..they were allowed to ban one weapon because it was called a “weapon of war,” so they will demand the other “weapons of war,” also be banned……
If the innocuous little tube-fed Marlin Model 60 in .22lr can be considered a “weapon of war” — and by law it is now classed as one in WA state — then anything can be.
They can’t just outlaw and confiscate entire classes of firearms, and they know it. So they’re making sure that the little people like you and me can’t afford either the time or the money it takes to get one.
I-1639’s training requirement has already priced me out of buying a semiautomatic rifle of any type. Luckily, rifles can be purchased across state lines, and I’m right next door to Idaho. And I can avoid the penalties by buying uppers and lowers in-state separately.
Any bets on when they’ll start closing those “loopholes”?
I bet they’d expand “weapons of war” to include spitwads, but I’m still stuck wondering why practically every millionaire and billionaire think they’re a supergenius…
I live in Washington, I-1639 will not hold up to constitutional scrutiny. No one will comply and this will only ramp up a black market for firearms. The Dems in King county (seattle) are patting themselves on the back. But, who will enforce this? No one. I-1639 is so complicated even law enforcement are unsure of what to do. They will not risk there career on such a confusing law. It won’t be enforced.
Do you really think FFL’s will want to risk losing their licenses and face prison for selling semiautomatic rifles in violation of this law? I don’t think they will. They will in fact comply. Mission accomplished for Bloomberg, Allen, and their evil crew
I don’t know if the courts will overturn it either. I highly doubt any Washington state court will do so. That means it has to be a Federal court. I don’t put much faith in the 9th Circuit court.
Basically, it has to be the SCOTUS, and they are too busy to deal with all the necessary cases. The law MIGHT get overturned years from now, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
I would suggest that Washington residents might want to consider buying up all the semiautomatic rifles they think they ever might want prior to the law going into effect (particularly the 18-20 year olds).
It looks like Henry 22’s will be replacing the 10/22 and Marlin 60/795 as the plinker of choice in Washington.
By the way, couldn’t someone just buy a stripped AR lower (serialized gun part – not designated yet as rifle or pistol), then buy a build kit and make their own rifle, thus legally circumventing I-1639 anyway?
They’re forgetting what Charles Whitman did with a BOLT-ACTION RIFLE! Which ISN’T covered by the new law! also the world’s best sniper a Finnish guy, Simon Hoha (I hope I got the name right), got well over 500 confirmed kills with a BOLT-ACTION Mosin-Nagant 7.62x39R Rifle! in the space of three months! Or Vasili Zaitsev, The sniper made famous during the Battle for Stalingrad. “The War of the Rats” as it was known. He got quite a few in that battle too. and at the end of “The Great Patriotic War”, they put his rifle in a museum, where it STILL sits to this day! My point is, you DON’T need a “Big, Black, Scary rifle to cause a lot of dead people! a beat-up ‘ol Mosin-Nagant will do the job just fine! and you can get those for around a hundred bucks!
A lot of Simo Hayha’s kills were with a SMG at close range.
That was his, and other sniper’s, night job to hose down the Russian tents with Suomi submachine guns.
Those night kills are in addition to his sniper kills.
Unfortunately Mosins don’t sell for $100 anymore. They go for $300.
https://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?groupid=13090&name=Russian%201891/30%207.62x54R%20Mosin%20Nagant%20Rifle
I bought my M44 for $80 at Big5 nearly 15 years ago. I also paid 8¢ a round for surplus ammo at the time. I should have bought more (Mosins and 7.62x54R ammo).
On a positive note, you can now build a basic AR15 for the same price as a Mosin. This is a great time for buying AR15s.
I’m sure in Washington someone will do an internet search before you can purchase a firearm and anyone who has ever said “come and take it” or “from my cold dead hands” will be considered unfit. I mean after all if you want a gun you must be paranoid, amiright?
As a side note note, I guess karma really is bitch, “The top donor (for I-1639) was Paul Allen, who gave a total of $1.25 million.” I glad he didn’t see the results he helped fund.
The second amendment protects civilian ownership of weapons of war.
When Bloomberg ‘buys’ his security, he’s really buying their individual guns, too. As such, shouldn’t he be expected go through through BG checks, training, registration, common sense waiting periods, etc. for each instance (employee/gun) he buys? Make no mistake, his security really does have ‘weapons of war’ that most of us could only dream of owning.
The law was written by people who know nothing. You can still buy an AR 15 without the hoop jumping if you can follow a YouTube video on assembling. Amongst other things. Also, the worst year ever for 18” barrel things causing deaths was at a rate 1/18 of drowning deaths. You are far more likely to die river rafting than get shot with a rifle. Morons.
Dangerous morons. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
Just as a comparison, what are the national death tolls for cycling accidents and intentional self-harm?
I buy my aspirins at Rite Aid or my local supermarket. Where the hell does he buy his? I’ve seen gun shops that also sold a few good cigars but never aspirin. I’ve never been asked for a photo I.D. to buy aspirin either.
Hmm, I can buy a bottle of aspirins without ID.
I buy a Remmington 700 I have to do in my state at a gun store:
Fill out a Form 4473
Supply a photo ID
Undergo a background check
And it the same for a Colt 6920 M4 semi auto clone.
There is a big difference Uncle Moneybags.
And both are weapons used by the military the Remmington 700 in the M40 and Mk13 sniper rifles. Colt makes the real M4 and so does FN.
The tide isn’t turning that much Bloombag. I-1639 failed in the large majority of Washington State counties.
If you and other money bags hadn’t saturated population rich King county with advertisements for 1639, it would have failed. It’s plain and simple, you outspent your opponents. Congratulations you windbag blowhard. Personally, I think the initiative process should be changed to prevent manipulation of the process, and that’s what happened here. It was manipulated.
I live in Washington State and I approve this message.
Good luck with that, the same people who voted this abortion into law will be the same ones that would block any changes to the initiative process.
That’s why the initiative process would have to be changed by legislature, not by initiative, to prevent future abuses by the collective stupid.
A legislative body controlled by the Democrats? You’re a funny guy.
Got excited when RBG fractured three ribs. Though she would finally retire and we could get a 6-3 pro gun court. Too bad the old bag was back on her feet days later and is still not scheduled to retire until after Trump loses the 2020 election.
At this point, hopefully the 5-4 court will be good enough but I am not holding my breath as SCOTUS has been a massive disappointment when it comes to second amendment issues.
f ex-may-whore big-turd & his commie disciples
“…To those who believe”
It doesn’t matter what I believe or don’t believe we are dealing with the law. You know, something that is written down and therefore not subject to the whims of things like the tooth-fairy or the Easter bunny.
“… a weapon of war”
Hyperbole. But OK, lets go with it. When does a weapon graduate to war? In the absence of any actual war how can any weapon be a ‘weapon of war?’
“… should be purchased ”
Should. You mean like Obamacare? Or were you trying to say ‘could’ and just let your authoritarianism show through just a bit?
“…with the same ease as a bottle of aspirin”
How does comparing one thing that is legal for adults to buy to another thing that is legal for adults to buy mean anything? I can buy a bottle of aspirin as easy as I can buy a pack of condoms or a pack of gum. What does that fact have to do with anything?
“… and left loaded ”
Ahh…. now we have switched from a rather silly question over into hyperbole and projection. And what, exactly, do you mean by ‘left?’
“…where children can readily access it”
This reminds me of that Gun Control Poster with the caption “More gun control! Look at this baby!”
“… the new law is a nuisance.”
Not a nuisance. A mosquito is a nuisance. Ants at a picnic are a nuisance. Your law making criminals out of people who have done nothing wrong is straight-up evil! Your suggested laws are immoral, illegal, and your elitist attitude of having guns protect you but no one else makes you the worst kind of hypocrite there is.
“But Washingtonians decided that keeping powerful weapons out of the hands of children and the unfit…”
Just more evidence that Winston Churchill was 100% right when he said “The best argument against Democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter”.
I’d really hate to see American history repeat itself. I really DIDN’T want to experience a 2nd American Civil War in my time. But “Authoritarianism” is definitely invading the USA. Under the pretense of public safety and OUR once elected representatives have decided that honoring THEIR oaths to uphold the U.S. Constitution/Bill of Rights is to hard to do…Hopefully, WE THE PEOPLE, can put a stop to this “Creeping Incrementalism.” Before its to late….
But you can buy a bottle of aspirin, leave it out, and an infant can kill themselves with an overdose. Besides the appalling ignorance of the man regarding weapons purchase is the fact he’s ignoring the myriad of hazards to our children from readily available items, i.e. household cleaners, laundry detergent pods, etc. Irresponsible parental behavior is the root problem, not the hazard. You will never legislate responsibility. It may be that he is smarter than I think, if you keep repeating the same lie enough times it becomes the truth.