SAF Court Action Prompts Resumption of WA Alien Firearms License Program

[Sun195]

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association this week have won a preliminary injunction against the Washington State Department of Licensing that requires the state to resume processing applications by legal resident aliens for alien firearms licenses.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle also ordered that license renewals and applications sought by three individual Washington residents participating in the lawsuit also be processed. Washington is the only state in the union that requires an alien firearms license be possessed by resident aliens in order for them to have a firearm. SAF and NRA said the state law discriminates against legal resident aliens who own firearms by violating their Second Amendment rights under the equal protections affirmed by the 14th Amendment.

“We are delighted that the court has ordered a resumption of the licensing procedure, which was suspended by the state over what amounts to bureaucratic red tape,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “The State Legislature has had ample opportunity to fix what amounts to a glitch in a law that should never have existed in the first place. The people affected by the alien firearms license requirement are residents here; they are part of our community and have abided by the law.

“One of the plaintiffs works in a Bellevue gun store,” he continued. “Without a renewal of his firearms license, he would not simply lose his firearms, he would lose his job.”

The state stopped processing applications and renewals of alien firearms licenses because of a problem in running background checks. The result was that many resident aliens who had previously been issued licenses, and now possess firearms for sport, hunting and personal protection, could not get those licenses renewed. Upon expiration, these people would become “criminals on paper,” Gottlieb said, because they would be in possession of firearms without the license.

“Once again, as has happened in New Orleans, San Francisco and elsewhere, teamwork between SAF and the NRA has paid off in a sensible solution to a problem that should not exist,” Gottlieb stated. “We are confident in a final judgment and we hope this sends a signal to the Washington Legislature to fix this problem.”

Second Amendment Foundation: http://www.saf.org/

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[Doc In UPlace]

Washington is the only state in the union that requires an alien firearms license be possessed by resident aliens in order for them to have a firearm.

Well there is some braggin' rights, I don't care who ya are! Wow.

Quick somewhat related question, what is it that SAF does that the ages-old NRA is not able to accomplish? Obviously SAF gets things done, so I don't mean this to question their usefulness, it's more of why does NRA not have the horsepower and resources to get 'er done on their own?

 

[watchman]

Good question! Maybe it's because the NRA has become so much of a cliche and that if it were only the NRA fighting for us, that the liberal left wing wouldn't take the litigation seriously or would use the NRA as their main reason for their opposition. You know,"if the NRA is for it, we're against it". It seems like the only time our side wins a victory is when we all stand together, which is why we should all be supporting as many pro-gun groups as we can afford to. And , of course, writing our representatives. Solidarity my brothers!

 

[armedandsafe]

Actually, NRA was first complainant listed in the suit, SAF was second and the humans were listed following. This was a joint effort on the part of both organizations.

NRA and SAF often work together on suits. Sometimes SAF in the initial instigator and NRA joins or vice versa. In this case, it was pretty much a tie on who was first and the listing went alphabetical. I pounded on Alan G a long time ago and there were many other people who also rattled cages at SAF and NRA to get some action on this.

We have a court case going. This news is about a preliminary injunction for relief. We also have a couple of bills up in House and Senate. HB 1052 is the better bill, as there are some language problems with the Senate version.

We're working on it. We could do with some more cards 'n' letters to our hired hands in Olympia, though.

Pops

 

[ZeroRing]

Part of it may be due to the fact that the SAF is located in Washington state rather than over on the east coast so they are more intimately familiar with the laws and regs here in this state.