Thread: Getting help to pass WA pro-gun bills.

I have been writing to various organizations to drum up support for bill 1604. Results have been very dissappointing so far. Washington Arms Collectors feels the political climate is not suitable for pushing a silencer use bill, the NFA Trade and Colloctors Association thinks waiting "for the after-effects of McDonald/Heller to work its way through the courts" is the way to go. In other words they are not interested in helping out. I guess I can not blame them much. I would not be surprised to hear that no one has discussed it with them at all.

I have also tried to contact Cease Fire Washington and the Pink Pistols, but they will not answer. I think if more of us here tried to ask for their opinions and help, we might get somewhere. Is anyone willing to give it a try?

Washington Arms Collectors
NFATCA
Washington CeaseFire | Dedicated to reducing gun violence in WA state
seattle@pinkpistols.org

Ranb

I wrote to Ceasefire and Pink Pistols mailing lists a while back about HB1604 and got one positive response.

I'll write WAC after the next Puyallup show since I'm not a member yet. Frankly their organizational skills on signing up new members at the show ticked me off last time and I gave up on joining. Would it kill them to put out some clearer signage at the front?

Can you post the response you got? I wrote to the Pink pistols and Cease Fire again, no reply yet.

The reply I got back from NFATCA recommended waiting until after the next election. Their attitude is not much different than the WAC I think anyone who believes that the political makeup of Olympia is going to change is naive. I mean, how many years are we supposed to wait anyway? I think our only chance is to convince the people that are there now. Since hardly anyone has been talking to them about silencers since 1934, we might have a chance of getting the law changed without waiting for the Dems to get the boot.

It isn't like the Republicans are chomping at the bit wanting to help us. I still can't believe that Republican Senator Roach is unwilling to help even if a bill passes the House. She is one member of the Senate Judiciary we need on our side. Is there anyone in her district that is willing to write to her?

Ranb

Originally Posted by 8ball

Frankly their organizational skills on signing up new members at the show ticked me off last time and I gave up on joining. Would it kill them to put out some clearer signage at the front?

Several hundred other people had no trouble.

Deen
NRA Benefactor/Recruiter
WAC Member
SWWAC Member

deen ad,

Any chance you can talk the WAC leadership into actively supporting the new bill if it is introduced next session? I am not a WAC member at this time and have not been able to talk the WAC into supporting the bill; a member like yourself might have more pull.

Ranb

Why try to nibble away at the bad gun laws one step at a time?

Wouldn't it make more sense to identify all of the bad gun laws in WA, write a bill that gets rid of them or alters them to the benefit of gun owners, and then do an all-court press to get that one bill passed that fixes everything.

You might get more support. (e.g. Many of us might be willing to help out for a "do-all" bill rather than one that just addresses silencers.)

The legislators might pay more attention to something that has real teeth and affects many gun owners, rather than the very small number of silencer owners.

I don't know -- just a thought.

As far as I know, not all of the Democrats feel that all guns are bad. They all have their own pet peeves. So if one bill were to allow ownership and use of machine guns, short barreled rifles, short barreled shotguns and silencers, there might be many more people opposed to that bill.

This is why I feel that chipping away at the anti-gun mentality one piece at a time is the way to go. Besides, I can not even get my own Representatives to sponsor any gun bill, I can't get my Senator to reply to an email, I can not convince the sponsors of the silencer use bill to tell the House Judiciary chairman that their bill is a priority. There is no way I would be able to convince any Rep or Senator to write an all inclusive bill to restore the gun rights we used to enjoy.

You got any suggestions? I am about out of ideas on how to get the attention of those in Olympia that refuse to let this bill go forward.

Ranb

ya wanna get the ball rolling how about a consession and a fix at the same time. makes us look better in all eyes that way.
some are going to hate this but here it goes. i don't know about the rest of you but i'm tired of hearing about kids getting killed from unsecure guns.
make it a law that if you own a gun you must own a safe. i don't care if it's a cheap pistol only century fire safe for a 100 bucks if you own a couple guns you can buy something i wouldn't require it to have everything locked up.

that would do a couple things that would help all of us out 1 about the kids 2 keeps them from getting stolen as much and 3 keeps others safe also.
how can they say no to that. you don't have to keep all guns locked up just keep the one out that you carry next to the night stand.

now to the silencers point out how many are already in the hands of washingtonians and ask how many have been used in a crime. then show them what you have to go through to get one and revert back to the safe and how it will be stored.

then the last part of this. explaing that those who use them to target practice greatly reduces the noise at the shooting ranges near there homes.

i have given this some thought and i really think it's do able as long as you piggy back the two.
have someone cleanup and re write my idea and send it to as many people as you can. the anti guns will have a hard time refusing this it keeps kids safe and firearms off the streets.

one last unintended bonus if it does go through.
anti gunners will have 1 less thing to complain about in a time they have lost there butts.

well what do you all think??? please be nice though

Originally Posted by Beagle

ya wanna get the ball rolling how about a consession and a fix at the same time. makes us look better in all eyes that way.
some are going to hate this but here it goes. i don't know about the rest of you but i'm tired of hearing about kids getting killed from unsecure guns.
make it a law that if you own a gun you must own a safe. i don't care if it's a cheap pistol only century fire safe for a 100 bucks if you own a couple guns you can buy something i wouldn't require it to have everything locked up.

that would do a couple things that would help all of us out 1 about the kids 2 keeps them from getting stolen as much and 3 keeps others safe also.
how can they say no to that. you don't have to keep all guns locked up just keep the one out that you carry next to the night stand.

now to the silencers point out how many are already in the hands of washingtonians and ask how many have been used in a crime. then show them what you have to go through to get one and revert back to the safe and how it will be stored.

then the last part of this. explaing that those who use them to target practice greatly reduces the noise at the shooting ranges near there homes.

i have given this some thought and i really think it's do able as long as you piggy back the two.
have someone cleanup and re write my idea and send it to as many people as you can. the anti guns will have a hard time refusing this it keeps kids safe and firearms off the streets.

one last unintended bonus if it does go through.
anti gunners will have 1 less thing to complain about in a time they have lost there butts.

well what do you all think??? please be nice though

Personally I think this is a bad idea. Not everyone has the money for a gun safe large enough for rifles. I know I don't, so I use other means to secure my rifles. My kids can't use them without me to unlock them, so as far as I am concerned they are as secure as they need to be to keep my kids safe.

Originally Posted by Beagle

ya wanna get the ball rolling how about a consession and a fix at the same time.

I think concessions on our part are how our Second Amendment Rights got to be restricted in the first place.

Originally Posted by Beagle

ya wanna get the ball rolling how about a consession and a fix at the same time. makes us look better in all eyes that way.

The way it works in WA is that they like to combine several different items into one bill. This is how we lost MG, SBS and SBR. They put the contraband bill in with the education bill. In order to support the RKBA, they had to vote down education spending. I am not aware of WA residents ever gaining anything by making a concession.

Originally Posted by Beagle

now to the silencers point out how many are already in the hands of washingtonians and ask how many have been used in a crime. then show them what you have to go through to get one and revert back to the safe and how it will be stored.

then the last part of this. explaing that those who use them to target practice greatly reduces the noise at the shooting ranges near there homes.

Way ahead of you on this. I mention this stuff when writing to my Reps and Senators for the first time. I have also made a video on silencer ownership and use. You can watch it here; YouTube - WA suppressor use part 1.mpg and YouTube - WA suppressor use part 2.mpg I plan on sending a DVD to all 147 Reps and Senators. It takes a while and costs money; $1.39 to $4 each depending on how each one is sent. It is not only copying DVD and stuffing them envelopes. It is writing a letter and including other information in the package. It is not enough to send out the same letter to each one. I have to address whatever opinions and lies they told me in any other messages I received from them in the past.

I am keeping a score card of Representative support for the silencer use bill here; http://www.northwestfirearms.com/for...ll-1604-a.html As you can see, the amount of support we have for it sucks to say the least. It is because people will not write to their Rep and insist that they support it.

I have also written to every county sheriff to obtain data on silencer related crime. http://www.northwestfirearms.com/for...cer-crime.html

I have yet to write to the big city police chiefs. Want to help?

The problem is there are so many people in Olympia (and on gun forums) who just can not be convinced that it is legal to own a silencer in the USA, or feel that they are evil and not suitable for civilians. It will take much more than me writing to them and sending them a DVD. What will take is more people like you writing to them and supporting the silencer use bill. I get lots of messages telling me how “I support the bill”, “I applaud your efforts” blah blah blah. But what I hardly ever get is an offer to help.

So many people write to their Rep and are told that they support the bill, but this support is limited to watching it die in committee each session. If a Rep is unwilling to speak out on the bill, then they do not actually support it. If a person is willing to help, then they have to be willing to do much more than writing once to their Rep and being told that they support the bill. They need to keep writing back until they find out exactly what their Rep means when they say they support the bill. This way their Rep will actually understand that they are interested in the bill.

Are you willing to lend a hand Beagle? If so, what would you like to do? Thanks.

Ranb