Crime

Anti-gunners didn’t see genuine grassroots coming in WA

WA - Brian Judy crowdEvergreen State gun prohibitionists eager to build on their gun control victory with the passage of Initiative 594 last November never saw this one coming: Genuine grassroots gun rights activists derailed a nasty piece of legislation in Olympia that would have opened the door wide for abuse of someone’s Second Amendment rights.

House Bill 1857 was all-but-a-sure-thing until angry Second Amendment activists decided to fight back by flooding Olympia with phone calls and e-mails. Testimony during hearings on the measure was devastating.

Sponsored by Democratic State Rep. Laurie Jinkins, HB 1857 was dubbed the “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” bill. It was aimed at allowing firearms seizures from people who allegedly posed a danger to themselves or others, based on what critics worried could be the flimsiest of information.

Because of the bill’s failure, the gun prohibition lobbying group, Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, has mounted a fund raising effort. They sent an e-mail that described the measure as some kind of mental health bill, but it was really a gun control scheme. WAGR is linked to Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization dubbed by award-winning reporter Sharyl Attkisson as “astroturf.” They claim to be something they aren’t.

Two gun rights activists, Robert Arco and Larry Vander Griend, organized activists at the grassroots level, fired them up and the campaign was launched. They stopped HB1857 in its tracks.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Bob Ferguson has petitioned the federal court in Tacoma to dismiss a lawsuit filed against provisions of I-594 by the Second Amendment Foundation on the grounds that nobody has been cited or arrested.

Read more at Seattle Gun Rights Examiner.

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