WA Gun Rights

Monday night Town Hall Seattle held a community meeting about the recent violence in Seattle. While much of the meeting focused on preventing violence by bringing communities back together, and to identify individuals that would commit violent crimes before they began taking lives. While the panel was fairly one sided, the question was asked about an invitation to the pro-gun side.

The panel at the Seattle public safety meeting.

According to Town Hall Seattle Communications Director Anthony Detrano for, the Second Amendment Foundation was invited but declined to participate. Ray at the Second Amendment Foundation did confirm that an invitation was extended, but was unable to attend due to prior commitments out of the country. What is troubling about just inviting one organization is that we are in an area that has a number of knowledgeable organizations. The Washington Arms Collectors have a new president, John Rodabaugh who would have been a good addition to the panel, or even the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms might have been able to participate. And those are just the big names in second amendment rights. There are plenty of other local organizations as well as individuals that would have been good additions to the panel as well. But none of them were invited.

Seeing through all the feel good measures, there was still two individuals on the panel that were pushing for gun-control. Mayor Mike McGinn and Councilmen Bruce Harrell both spoke of removing preemption from Washington State law, and being able to make their own laws for Seattle. The other side of the anti-gun agenda was when Bruce Harrell said “that is what is known as a bad ruling, by the way,” when one panelist brought up the cases Heller v. District of Columbia and McDonald v. City of Chicago. The tone of Councilman Harrell all night was that of taking guns away, leading some gun rights supports to cry foul at not being able to speak up for their rights.

Many frustrated gun rights advocates were very dismayed at the way that questions were handled during this event. Questions were to be written down, handed to an usher and then vetted though not only Anthony Detrano the Communication Director, but also though the host for the night, Program Director Bob Redmond. Many supports believe that the decision to have this in a private venue was not a coincidence. One gun rights supporter was even harassed by an usher for booing Councilman Harrell. “This was held at a private venue so they controlled the questions and they could tell you to leave if they didn’t like what you were doing,” he said. This column writer was even told by an usher that “first amendment rights don’t count here, this is private property,” When asked about why he was threatning to kick someone out of the venue. This led many to call this northing more than a dog and pony show and not a serious discussion of solving the violence problem.

Many people, from both sides of the argument, were frustrated by last night’s event because there were no answers. Even the director of Ceasefire Washington, Ralph Fascitelli told KOMO News “people are frustrated, they want answers and they are not getting it [sic].” While many from the pro-gun side are not fond of the tactics used by Ceasefire Washington, they felt they had to agree with his statement. Much of what was said last night was the same thing that was said that morning by the mayor, leaving no new ideas on the table and more rhetoric about guns to wade though. Even the police administration could not keep their stories straight. Yesterday KING5 ran a story that Seattle Police Deputy Chief Nick Metz said that 81 guns have been stolen in Seattle this year. Last night Chief Diaz said that “there have been 90 reported gun thefts so far this year.” So which is it? In a city the size of Seattle a disparity of 9 cases is pretty large. Lest we forget that in 2005 then Police Chief Gil Kerlikowski’s service weapon was stolen out of his parked car, so even Seattle Police is contributing to the gun violence. To date there has been nothing to suggest that the gun has ever been recovered.

Many people are now waiting, wondering what the next move will be in this way on violence. One question last night did stand out, and was a good example of the problem at hand.

“Why the emphasis on gun violence? [sic] Long before guns came into play, violence has already occurred. The basic problem is violence. Let us discuss the basis of that problem rather than distractedly focusing on the tools of violence. Don’t treat the symptom, why not treat the cause.”

The problem is violence, whether it is gun violence, knife violence or even sausage violence. The gun is only a tool, without someone to make the gun function it is simply an inanimate object that is incapable of committing crimes on its own. What we need to do is start to prosecute people for the crimes they commit and stop letting them plead out to lesser crimes.

Today the Seattle police, Mayor McGinn and federal prosecutors held a press conference to announce a new way of filing charges in firearm crimes. The federal prosecutor will now be taking on the gun crimes in Seattle as a way to send a message to criminals about using a gun in a crime and send them to federal prison for the crimes they commit. Mayor McGinn also talked with KING5 this morning about their new program. But he also talked about gun control laws, and while his actions today are a step in the right direction, his statements show he is still working on gontrol in the background.

Meanwhile the Seattle City Council is still working on changing state law to better suit the needs of the city. And the Brady Campaign is still working on changing our state law to become a shall issue state.  The Seattle Police have also taken steps to remove illegal guns from the streets of Seattle. Deputy Chief Nick Metz said that over 360 illegal guns have been pulled off the streets this year. Metz did say:

Tonights “Public Safety: A Community Conversation,” with the mayor and city officials should be the cities time to get more of the information out to the public about their plans to stem the violence in Seattle. Many pro-gun and anti-gun groups will be in attendance to find out what the plan is. The meeting tonight is free with RSVP, and details can be found here if you plan to attend.

The Brady Bunch has begun here in Washington, and is pushing for Washington to become a MAY Issue like California and New York. As someone that has lived in both states, let me reflect on this a little. I was a Washington resident, and was lucky enough to get stationed back here in Washington State after boot camp. But then it was time to move on, and go somewhere else. And that is when I began to learn about gun laws.

    When I received orders to go to California I was still in the military. I though this will be fun, and moved there without a though. Although I remained a Washington State resident, I still was going to be forced to pay a registration tax to bring my guns down from Washington State. It would have cost me almost $1000, and three of my guns were not allowed to come into the state at all because they were “assault weapons.” So I refrained from bringing my guns down to California. While I was down there I also worked in a sensitive field in the military. So I went to my local police department thinking that I would be able to apply for my concealed weapons permit, and being a MAY issue state I thought I had a pretty solid argument. So I applied, wrote a two page narrative on why I needed a CWP and the ability to carry a firearm and paid my fee. Two months later I received a letter from my local police department stating that I was being denied a CWP because the office of the chief of police didn’t think that I had a valid reason. That was my first denial. I went on to be denied 3 more times by 3 other police departments. After my fourth denial, I was looking at getting out of the military and moving back home to Washington State anyway so I chose to let it go.

    When I arrived home, I was reunited with my gun collection and went down to my local sheriff’s office, filled out the paper work, got fingerprinted, paid my $55.25 and walked out 20-minutes later with my concealed pistol license in hand, put my 1911 in his holster and drove home. No one asked me for a reason, no one asked my why. No one told me that my reason wasn’t good enough for them. They simply laminated my card and handed it to me. It was that simple, as it should be.

    Can you imagine the amount of licenses that are going to get denied if we were to go to a MAY issue state? We would look like California or New York where only the elite will be able to carry a firearm. It gets to a point where the only way you can get a concealed pistol license is to donate generously to someone’s reelection campaign. Imagine people seeking protection orders against an abusive spouse being told that isn’t a good enough reason. Imagine being told that wanting to protect your family isn’t a good enough reason. What we will end up with is a gun culture like California, where the elite can buy theirs, and only police and criminals will have guns. Imagine what the great state of Washington will look like then. Remember the North Hollywood shoot out? All the weapons used were illegal in California. That didn’t seem to stop that from happening and yet those of us that have legal firearm will be the ones that will pay. Because criminals don’t follow laws, if they did they wouldn’t commit the crimes they did, because they were already against the law in various ways. The North Hollywood shoot out should have never happened if everyone followed California laws.

    This will be pushed onto lawful gun owners with the promise that it really won’t change anything, and that they are “common sense” gun laws. There will be promises that licenses will still be easy to get, but those are the promises that will go away as soon as they pass the legislation. Gun owners in the state of Washington need to come together now, and quash this. That is the only way that we will continue to be allowed to keep our freedoms. Because they liberal elite are going after are guns and our licenses to carry them, period. It is time to fight this, and if we provide anything other than a unified front we will be defeated. The choice is ours now, take it or leave it, like it or not. But it’s time to make a decision to roll over or fight. I am choosing to fight. Hopefully more will join the cause.

Today is a dark day for the Seattle history books. A gunman walked into a Café Racer and shot six people because they asked him to leave. Three of those people are now dead; the other three have a long road to recovery. There is another person that lay dead because the gunman decided to car jack her, and then stand over her and execute her with a shot to the head. These are horrible and unspeakable acts of violence. But rather then looking at the root of the problem, the city and all of the groups out there begin spewing rhetoric about gun violence.

    Washington Cease Fire has a letter posted from Ralph Fiscitelli that can be found here. In this letter he states that our gun show loophole allows angry people to get guns easily. Washington does not have a gun show loophole. What we have is the ability to buy and sell firearms in this state without government intrusion into our private affairs. He blames Olympia for Seattle not being able to ban guns on city property, or ban the ownership of guns that the city deems “evil.” Well Mr. Fiscitelli, none of those would have prevented this shooting. It did not happen on city property, and it was perpetrated with a handgun, actually two handguns. So how any of the proposed City of Seattle laws would have made any sort of difference here? What he is referring to is state preemption or RCW 9.41.290. This law allows only the state to enact firearms law. To many the question to this is “Why?” Well here is a short answer; it allows the firearms laws to be uniform across the state. What it prevents is a patchwork of laws in different cities or counties. What the state told local governments is that if they want something changed, statewide, they need to come to Olympia and talk to the legislature so that everyone is on the same page. That’s like red cars being vilified and having to drive around Kent to get to Renton because you will be arrested for driving a red car in Kent. Sound silly doesn’t it? Now vehicle laws are not preempted by the state, but that is just an example of the silliness that could ensue. Should I have to drive 40 miles out of my way around Seattle to get to Lynwood because of the gun laws in Seattle?

    Mr. Fiscatelli also goes on to say that banning of open carry would have somehow prevented this from happening. This one is still lost on me, so if someone could explain this one… Please leave a comment…

    The fact of the matter is this. We don’t yet know where he got the guns he used. So how any of the rhetoric being spewed prevented today’s tragedy from happening? The truth is that it would not prevent any of this from happening, but Seattle’s mayor, city council members and police department will tell us it is a gun problem. Cease Fire Washington will go down to the scene for their ten second sound bite and spew nonsense to the viewers looking for an emotional response and not a logical one. If someone stops and looks at this logically, none of the things listed by anyone could stop something like this. But I will tell you, the one thing that might have… An armed citizen in the right place at the right time. That is not something that you can dispute. If and armed citizen in that café was able to stand up to the shooter then maybe we would have a different outcome.
    Four people lost their lives today. A tragedy that no one, pro or anti gun would condone. They were people with friends and families that cared about them. They were husband’s wives, brothers and sisters. They were the people in our lives that made our day or made us mad. But now they are no longer with us. To everyone out there that was touched by any of these people, I am sorry for your loss. To the families of the survivors, it will be a tough road ahead. But persevere and you will make it though this tough time. Lastly, to the victims… You lost your lives early, but I am sure your memory will remain with those you knew. You are at peace now, even though you met a violent end.

    There is so much that we still do now know about this, and yet many groups are jumping to conclusions. Let’s let the dust settle, the family’s mourn their losses and heal as a community before we begin blaming everyone else for this. At this point there is one person to blame, and his name is Ian Stawicki.

In 2008 there was a very polarizing shooting at the Northwest Folklife Festival. It did more than just injure two by standards it divided a city. There was Mayor Nickels and Ceasefire Washington fighting to ban guns from city property through executive order. This of course sparked outrage amongst the firearm community as Washington has a preemption statute in the RCW to prevent government below the state level from enacting ordinances more strict then state law.

Now in 2012 we have another shooting. This time between two admitted gang members that decided to fight on the street. Thankfully there was only one minor injury. What many don’t get is that many in the firearms community feel the same way about this violence as many of the liberal elite out there. It’s deplorable, and needs to stop! Where we part ways is that banning all guns doesn’t solve the problem. Many people legally carry firearms for self defense. Taking my gun from me only makes one group of people more safe, criminals and thugs.

There is no doubt in my mind that this and the 5 other shootings this week will have a enormous turnout from the anti-gun crowd even though there was numerous laws broken in each case… If they don’t follow the laws already on the books, what on earth makes the anti-gun crowd think that one more law will be the straw that broke the camel’s back?

It is time to take back our communities, and there are those out there that will try to nanny-state us out of existence. Ceasefire has already posted this on their site as a news story. No doubt in my mind this will start another firestorm. I am also sure that Mayor Mike McGinn will take this up again. We shall see what is going to happen… Only time will tell.

Going to have some new content coming up soon!

From StormCloudsGathering’s channel.  While I may not agree with all of the information, it is still a reminder that we are in charge, and can still change the course that we are headed down.  As someone who could be called an “enemy combatant” because of my views and the fact that I own weapons, I implore you to at least listen and judge for yourself.  When Senator Graham stands in front of the senate and says “when they say I want my lawyer, you tell them shut up, you don’t get a lawyer, you’re are an enemy combatant.” people need to listen, understand and start taking action before they too are declared an “enemy combatant” and disappear.  This video has been re-uploaded to my youtube channel, found here.

    There are several misconceptions that I hear every day from people who own guns in Washington State. They range from understandable to wildly dramatic to wanting to straight up smack someone. I am going to attempt to answer some of those questions here. I feel that it is important to not only educate people, but give them the best information possible. First and foremost, working in the firearm industry, and dealing with people that carry on a daily basis I run into a lot of people that don’t even know where they cannot carry a firearm in public. This one always makes me stop and wonder, then how are they carrying and are they not carrying in places that they can, or worse carrying in places off limits by law.

1. Where Can/Can’t I carry a firearm

This question is easiest to answer by covering the “cannot” side of things. Places that are off limits to a firearm are pretty black and white here in Washington State. The RCW for this is 9.41.300 and it covers all the places that you are prohibited from carrying a weapon, with the exception of one.

• Restricted access portion of a jail or police department.
  • Anyplace used for the confinement of a prisoner. These are not common access areas.
• Court Houses, which defines any place there are court proceedings and areas used to conduct court business.
  • Courts are supposed to, by law, have lock boxes or a means of checking a legally carried firearm.
• Restricted areas of mental health facilities.
• Any place that is posted with liquor control board signage prohibiting minors.
  • This does not include restaurants that serve alcohol, just the bar portion. You may carry a weapon into someplace like Red Robin or Applebee’s and sit in the restaurant portion.
• Secure area of airports. So any place past the screening point is a no-go. Anyplace before the security checkpoints is ok, like check in area, baggage claim, parking garage etc….
• Schools buildings or places designated solely for a school function.
  • So if the school rents out the aquarium for a dance, and the general public is excluded from entry, then carry would be prohibited. If there is just a field trip and the aquarium is still open to the public, carry would be allowed.
  • With a valid Washington State CPL you can carry while dropping off a student at school, and lock a firearm in your car (glove box, lock box) out of sight on school grounds.
• Federal Buildings.

These are the places that you cannot carry a firearm. Any place else that you come across is ok. Parks and municipal buildings sometimes will have no firearm signs, but because of 9.41.290 (State Preemption) you can carry a firearm there without breaking any laws, as long as they are not one of the prohibited places. Private business will also put up no-firearms signs, other times they will not put up signs, but make policy on the fly. A private business in Washington State can only ask you to leave if you are discovered to have a firearm. At that point, if you refuse you can be trespassed and charged, with trespassing, not a weapons violation. I will delve into state preemption soon, as it will take up its own blog post or two. Stay tuned if you are looking for more information on state preemption.

1. A gun purchased is registered to me! If I buy a firearm from someone I need to register it!

This is a pretty common misconception. First, let me put it like this. WASHINGTON STATE DOES NOT HAVE A REGISTRATION. There, now that’s out there. This really end up being a two prong misconception. If you buy a hand gun from a Federal Firearms Licensed dealer, you will fill out a pistol transfer form. This form is required by the state to transfer the pistol to you. It is not putting the gun in your name. It is not a registration.

Many times I also hear people say “if my gun is stolen, it’s tied to me if the commit a crime.” While this is not only untrue, it is a misconception that the gun is tied to you. Yes, if the ATF can look up the serial number it will show as sold to you by a FFL because your name and the serial number are on the Form 4473. If you had a gun stolen, I would hope that you would have filed a police report stating that. This is your best defense against the ATF if they were to knock on your door. The best way to deal with that is to step outside, shut the door to your house. Advise them that you can talk to them outside, and they are not welcome to come in without a warrant. At that time tell them the firearm was stolen on ____ date. Advise them you have a police report stating as such. Go back inside, ALONE, get the police report and produce it for them. Do not let them take it, if you have the ability, make them a copy. If not, they can write down the case number and get their own copy of the report. Giving them your copy means that you will now have to get another copy, which can take time and during this time you have no report showing the firearm was stolen. This will satisfy their inquiry into the weapon, and will not hear from them again about the matter.

On the other side of this is selling and purchasing firearms private party. In Washington State you can sell a firearm to anyone that is legally able to possess a firearm at any time, for any amount of money. So that shotgun you bought last year and never used? You can sell that to someone and make some money out of it. The easiest way to do this is to ask them to see their CPL if they have one. While not required, it will give you peace of mind that they are allowed to possess a weapon. Many people will also do a bill of sale with the seller’s info, buyer’s info and firearm info. This will go into their records just in case the ATF was ever to knock on their door about the firearm. Again, this is not required to sell a firearm to a private party. Once the firearm is sold, you are done. Keep in mind here, you cannot go to a police station to have them transfer the weapon. The police will not run the other person or the firearm for you. Not only is it a waste of their time, it is also illegal for them to do. Another thing to keep in mind is that a gun store will not do the paperwork for you. They have a business to run, and are not interested in getting involved in private party transfers.

While not something that I advocate, there is a Washington Department of Licensing form that you can fill out that is called a Pistol/Revolver Private Disposition/Transfer. You can fill this out, have both partied sign it and mail it is. This form is voluntary, and does not need to be filled out as there is not necessarily a record of you buying the handgun in the first place. Many people that deal in firearms choose to keep the government out of their lives and gun safes. I will never buy a firearm from anyone that will be requiring a transfer form to mail in, period…end of story. There are plenty of other guns out there with reasonable people selling them that don’t need to get everyone and their cousin involved with the sale of a firearm.

Stay tuned for more WA State firearm myths that I see and deal with quite often…. Including open carry, carrying a firearm in your car and state preemption as well as many more! If you have a topic or question or misconception that you get send it my way and I will research and put up a blog post about it!