- Messages
- 451
- Reactions
- 277
For those that didn't know, I had a meeting to discuss gun control issues with Democrat Sen Nick Harper, 38th District up in Everett. The meeting was on Thursday, 21 February down in Olympia.
That being said, the meeting went great! A lot better than expected and am very happy with it all.
Sen Harper impressed me a lot. After giving him some facts on magazines and such in previous emails before the meeting, he went out and did some research of his own. With this being said, he stated he will no longer support ANY attempt to ban magazines of any kind. Also, he realized that a ban on a certain kind of gun that depends on cosmetic features was foolish and he was sorry for supporting it in the beginning.
We also spoke of the proposed universal background checks. After telling him my concerns about how it would not allow family members to transfer a firearm between each other and also wouldn't allow CPL holders to be exempt, like we are for buying from dealers. Another thing I brought up was how a dealer would be required to hold the firearm until the background check was finished. This would put a burden on the dealer to be responsible for property that wasn't theirs, along with having to store it, etc. He didn't think about all the technical things involved and after much talk, said he won't support that either. If he does go for it, it would have to be revised to the point of a new bill being written. Seems that I was able to get through to him and I do have the entire conversation recorded, with his knowledge and approval. Our 15 minute talk ended up going on for over an hour and he made other appointments wait until we were finished.
At the end, I gave him an open invite to go shooting and be able to learn how the guns work and what we are talking about. When I said this, he lit up like a little kid in a candy store. He admitted that he never was around guns growing up, other than his grandfather's shotgun. We plan on going to the range end of next month or so, depending on schedules. Not too bad for a democrat Senator from Western Washington...lol
That being said, the meeting went great! A lot better than expected and am very happy with it all.
Sen Harper impressed me a lot. After giving him some facts on magazines and such in previous emails before the meeting, he went out and did some research of his own. With this being said, he stated he will no longer support ANY attempt to ban magazines of any kind. Also, he realized that a ban on a certain kind of gun that depends on cosmetic features was foolish and he was sorry for supporting it in the beginning.
We also spoke of the proposed universal background checks. After telling him my concerns about how it would not allow family members to transfer a firearm between each other and also wouldn't allow CPL holders to be exempt, like we are for buying from dealers. Another thing I brought up was how a dealer would be required to hold the firearm until the background check was finished. This would put a burden on the dealer to be responsible for property that wasn't theirs, along with having to store it, etc. He didn't think about all the technical things involved and after much talk, said he won't support that either. If he does go for it, it would have to be revised to the point of a new bill being written. Seems that I was able to get through to him and I do have the entire conversation recorded, with his knowledge and approval. Our 15 minute talk ended up going on for over an hour and he made other appointments wait until we were finished.
At the end, I gave him an open invite to go shooting and be able to learn how the guns work and what we are talking about. When I said this, he lit up like a little kid in a candy store. He admitted that he never was around guns growing up, other than his grandfather's shotgun. We plan on going to the range end of next month or so, depending on schedules. Not too bad for a democrat Senator from Western Washington...lol
