Thread: WASPC will not oppose silencer use bill.

I have been writing and talking to WASPC Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs and WACOPS Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs trying to get their position on silencer use in WA. WASPC wrote back saying they have decided to take a neutral position. If WACOPS will also support or take a neutral position on silencer use, then this should help us in the House and Senate next session if the sponsors are willing to push the bill.

The bill sponsors will not push the bill unless we write to them and push them ourselves.

Ranb

This is good news. I want a can but don't want to go out of state to use it.

Nice work, Ranb! That's a great outcome.

You deserve recognition for all of the hard work you have put in to get this thing moving.

When does the 2011 legislative calendar start?

With the election on 2 Nov 2010; we should know all the results within a week unless there is a repeat of the Rossi/Gregoire debacle. I have been taking it easy for the last month or so, but I plan on sending lots more letters after I find out who was elected. The new people in Olympia get the first letters from me.

The 2011 session starts on 10 Jan 2011. Washington State Legislature Those of you who are in Senator Kline's district need to set up a face to face meeting with him. He turned down a request for a meeting with one of us after talking about the phone about the silencer use bill, but I think he will agree to meet with one of his constituents if asked again. I am willing to accompany anyone who wants to meet with any Rep in the Olympia/Seattle/Bremerton area. I have only met two Representatives, but both meetings were very low key, cordial and stress free. Even a person with an alleged poor disposition as Kline will probably be easy to talk to face to face.

8ball, when are you coming up from the dark side?

Ranb

I'm not in WA but all the same you are an inspiration to us all. Good work!

The bill sponsors will not push the bill unless we write to them and push them ourselves.



So lets start writing our elected officials!

Good jo Ranb.

Great work RanB It's allot of work, hope we can get some movement this year on this issue. Thanks

The government relations section of WACOPS is taking a neutral stance on a silencer use bill. They will have the issue up for discussion with the entire organization next week. Hopefully they will remain neutral on registered silencer use in WA like WASPC is. This will be one less reason for Pedersen and Kline to deny a hearing for the silencer bill.

If there are hearings, it is very important that we show up to be heard. I learned from the AWB hearings that one needs to show up early before the hearing starts if you want to actually speak to the committee. I had to settle for listening/watching from another room while people spoke.

Ranb

I am all for getting things passed in WA but when it comes to writing a letter well What if there was a generic letter or form that we the voting people of WA could just cut and past or change a few words here and there?

Ranb thanks for all you have done

Here you go. Please change it a bit and personalize it so that if another person uses this your Rep does not get copies of the same letter.

Representative xxxxxxxxx

I am writing to support the passage of a bill allowing the use of registered sound suppressors in Washington State. The sponsors of bill 1604 (to allow registered suppressor use) say they will introduce another similar bill next session in January 2011

As you may know, sound suppressors are legal in the United States as long as ATF approval is obtained prior to making or buying them. In the last few years, Kansas and Missouri amended their laws to allow civilian ownership of suppressors. Thirty-eight states allow civilians to own them, including Washington State. However Washington is the only one of those states that prohibits their use on a firearm. House bill 1604 would have made an exception for those of us who register their suppressors with the federal government in accordance with the National Firearms Act of 1934.

Since it is illegal to possess a suppressor in the United States unless it is registered, all Washington residents who own legally buy or make a suppressor do so with BATFE authorization. Any person who applies for the $200 tax stamp needed to possess a suppressor also has the application signed by the local sheriff or chief of police in their jurisdiction as well as being subjected to an FBI background check. The process is a routine matter as any Washington resident who can own a rifle can also own a suppressor as long as the application is properly filled out.

Many firearm owners feel that suppressors can greatly enhance the shooting experience. A good quality suppressor will reduce noise by about 30 decibels. This is a reduction of noise intensity by a factor of one thousand, or an eight times decrease in loudness. However, a suppressor in no way makes any lethal firearm silent. While noise can be dramatically reduced, it is not eliminated. Even a small 22-caliber rim fire rifle will be at least 110 decibels when measured with an appropriate noise meter. Some high powered rifles will still require that ear plugs be used to prevent hearing loss even when equipped with a suppressor. But any suppressed firearm reduces the risk of hearing loss to bystanders and shooters alike. They also reduce the sound level near rifle ranges. This is an important thing to consider as homes encroach upon areas used for recreational shooting.

Suppressors are very rarely used to commit violent crimes. A person that pays a $200 tax and submits to an FBI background check is unlikely to risk their right to own firearms by breaking the law

Please respond and tell me if you will support or oppose suppressor use in Washington. If you oppose it, please tell me why. If you support it, are you willing to ask the Judiciary Chairman to give it a hearing in committee? Thank you.



Respectfully


xxxxxxxxx

Please consider meeting with your Representative. It is much more effective than a letter. If you send a letter, make sure it is in a legal sized envelope. Letters are much more likely to be answered than e-mails. But if they respond with an e-mail, they are likely to reply to your e-mail. Just put your email along with your address and phone number on the letter.

Ranb

Thanks for the info will get of my duff and start sending things out I also think it might be wise for other people to do the same.

Let's Change Washington State's Silencer Laws - THR

another forum subject surrounding developing washington suppressor law.

Old thread closed over two years ago. The only people I have found willing to work with me on this law are a few guys that post here. I still look for support on THR and TFL forums, but is it easier to find support here are it is more Pac NW.

Ranb

Ranb, What can I do to help you with the cause? I must admit that I've never contacted my Representatives, and don't exactly know what to do, and am kind of intimidated by the matter.

I want suppressor de-criminalization to pass so badly...

Appreciated.

Here are some useful links. Go to Access Washington - Welcome to the State of Washington then click on government at the top, Access Washington - Government then click on legislature Access Washington - Government to find links to the House and Senate.

You will find a link to the Representatives here; House of Representatives You can search by name or have a search done for you.

Write a real letter and mail it in a legal sized envelope, e-mails are usually ignore unless you are someone important or you are replying to their email. If they e-mail you back, save whatever they send to you so that relying to them is as easy as clicking on the reply button of your e-mail program. The subject line will also show that you are replying to an e-mail they sent to you, so you are more likely to get a reply.

1. The most important thing is to be polite even if they lie to you (ie silencers are illegal).

2. Say only what you can prove. For example, you can not prove that silencers are never used in crime (they are, but very rarely, I have proof of that), but you can say that you have never heard of any silencer related crime. While they can be useful for a poacher, they are rarely used by poachers and changing the law will not make them more available as the law only prohibits use, not possession.

Also, RCW 9.41.250(c) prohibits the use of ANY device that suppresses the nose of a firearm. I have been told by the Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney that this includes anything not attached to the firearm, such as a box the barrel is inserted in to muffle the noise at a rifle range to reduce neighbor complaints. There is no legal way to reduce noise from a rifle range the way the current law is written. IN other words, this is a very stupid law that does nothing to prevent crime and only makes us helpless to reduce noise from firearms, which helps no one.

3. Ask them how they stand on the issue of REGISTERED SILENCER use. Explain what it means to own a registered silencer (FBI background check, sheriff signs ATF application, $200 tax) and that they are useful for protecting hearing and reducing noise at and around rifle ranges. If you get a reply, they will probably say that they support silencer use, but not say how they will support it.

4. Ask them what they are willing to do to support a silencer use bill. NO ONE in the House supported bill 1604 the last few sessions, according to Judiciary Committee Chairman Pedersen when I spoke to him. He claimed no one told him it was a priority. While some people have told he was just blowing smoke, I believe him because all of the bill 1604 sponsors told me they did not push for a hearing for the bill, because they did not think it would pass, for one obvious reason. Almost no one (gun owners included) could not be bothered to write any f-cking letters in support of the bill. See where I am going with this?

So ask them specifically what they are willing to do to ensure the bill get a hearing. They need to something like have a meeting with the Chairman or at least write him a letter supporting it. If they do nothing, then their support is merely limited to watching it die in committee, again.

5. In addition to writing to your Reps, write to the bill sponsors and the Judiciary Chairman, Jamie Pedersen. Bill 1604 is dead forever, another bill is to take it's place next session. Whatever bill number it has is the one we need to reference.

6. Keep the pressure on. If they will not tell you that they support it 100%, then ask for a face to face meeting. Do whatever it takes to go to a meeting. I have met with Haigh and Pedersen. Both meetings were very low key and illuminating.

7. There was no fiscal note associated with bill 1604. In other words it will not cost the state anything to implement the law that is changed by the bill if it should pass. It simply makes something not a crime and does not require the state to do anything except stop arresting people for using a registered silencer.

8. Write to the Democrat members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, make your first letter to Kline. Ask the House committee members if they will ask the chairman to give it a hearing. Ask the Senate members if they will support the bill if it passes the House and gets to the Senate.

There is useful info here; House Bill 1604 (r4)
I made a silencer education video that has useful info. I sent it on DVD to most of the House Reps. YouTube - Silencer use in Washington. part 1 and YouTube - Silencer use in Washington. part 2

Ranb

Thanks Ranb, all the work you've done is commendable. Do you happen to have pamphlets made up to hand out? If not, I'll set to work on some and submit them to this board for review. Something to hand out at gun shows or gun ranges would be a great way to spread the word. I'll be at the Puyallup gun show this weekend, and would like to hand out some literature.

The material at House Bill 1604 (r4) will make a good pamphlet. It was put together by me and two other guys (8ball and luftpost) to use for those of us who need handy reference material when meeting with legislators about silencer use. I think it is getting some hits as it is the second link when searching for "bill 1604" on google.

Ranb

I asked john snaza on his Facebook about silencers and he said in thruston county you just need to go into the office and tell them you have one.

I don't want to get into a semantics feud, but I would call them suppressors not silencers, as they don't totally silence anything except that of a .22 and that depends on the can being used.

Okay. I'll use can. How's that.