Is getting worked up over Senate gun control bill for naught?

by Dave Workman, The Examiner

Are gun rights activists getting all worked up over nothing, now that the U.S. Senate has voted to open debate on new gun control legislation that focuses on expanded background checks?

Pacific Northwest gun owners are engaged in furious discussions at Northwest Firearms and Seattle Guns, along with the national debates on Gun Rights Media and The High Road (here and here) forums. But is all of this for naught? Should these gun activists be burning up their emotions over a vote just to open debate?

How many people have actually read the compromise bill unveiled by Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey?

Anger was ripe against several Republicans including Second Amendment stalwart Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) who voted to allow the debate to begin. While the National Rifle Association promised to record their votes, one might step back and ponder this: How else will gun owners learn how their senators feel about gun rights without allowing them to debate and vote on the record, on particular measures sure to come up in the days ahead?   Read the rest of the article at The Examiner

State GOP's AR-15 auction unites far left fury

by Dave Workman, The Examiner

Liberal anti-gun readers of the Seattle Times and Seattle P-I.com are having fits over the announcement that the State Republican Party will auction an AR-15 during this weekend’s annual fund raising banquet.

The event kicks off with a silent auction beginning at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Bellevue Hilton, followed by the live auction and dinner beginning at 7 o’clock, according to State GOP Chairman Kirby Wilbur. He was filling in all week on KVI for vacationing John Carlson. This was like an old home week for Wilbur, who used to occupy the morning drive slot on KVI before a former program manager made the monumentally wrong decision to not renew his contract.

Instead of sending Wilbur into a professional gulag, Wilbur successfully ran for the Republican Party chairmanship and won. Now when he fills in on the air, it’s the best of both worlds for the politically active Wilbur, and tens of thousands of KVI listeners who miss the days when he and Carlson dominated Seattle talk radio.   Read the rest of the article at The Examiner

Wash. state legislators not passing gun control legislation; went shooting on gun range instead



Photo of Senator Pam Roach (R) courtesy of KOMO News

 by Dave Workman

This morning’s Seattle Times website had, as its lead story, Thursday’s shooting session for state lawmakers at an Olympia-area gun range, an event that has heightened meaning this year with the tsunami of anti-gun legislation that has been proposed across the landscape.

Washington State gun rights have essentially remained intact while gun laws adopted elsewhere in a rush by gun prohibitionists in Colorado, Connecticut and New York are of questionable constitutionality and potential effectiveness, say gun rights advocates. As this column reported, the National Shooting Sports Foundation – ironically headquartered in Newtown, Conn., not far from Sandy Hook Elementary – is already hinting at a possible legal challenge to laws signed yesterday by Gov. Dannel Malloy.   Read the rest of the article at The Examiner Read the KOMO News article

Washington: Freedom Prevails in Olympia – Anti-Gun Legislation Dead for 2013

The fate of the so-called “universal background check” legislation and your rights came down to the wire.  House Bill 1588 failed to come up for a vote on the House floor.

The following anti-gun bills are also dead for this session:

• House Bill 1676, introduced by state Representative Ruth Kagi (D-32), a so-called “child access prevention” bill which would have singled out the storage of firearms for criminalization under certain circumstances.
• House Bill 1703, introduced by state Representative Laurie Jinkins (D-27), would have levied an outrageous tax on all firearm and ammunition purchases to create more bureaucracy in the form of a “firearm safety” education program.
• Senate Bill 5737, introduced by state Senators Ed Murray (D-43) and Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36), would have banned commonly owned firearms mischaracterized as “assault weapons” and magazines that hold more than ten rounds.  This extreme measure would have also allowed in-home inspections by law enforcement

Read the rest of the article at Ammoland

I will be on Tacoma's KLAY Morning Show Thursday to discuss Western Shooting Journal, gun control

I will be a guest on Craig Thorne's KLAY Morning Show Thursday morning at 7:15 a.m. PST to talk about Western Shooting Journal and the latest gun legislation. How is Western Shooting Journal different from other gun magazines? What kind of topics do we cover? What's coming up in our April issue? How can you contribute to the magazine? I will provide an update on the latest status of gun control efforts around the country. So far, New York and Colorado have passed gun control laws since the Sandy Hook shooting. Listen to the podcast here.

Contentious Gun Bill Fails to Pass Washington State House

A bill that would have extended background checks to private gun sales failed to make it out of the Washington State House of Representatives last week.

A similar Senate bill (5737, which can be read here), in an early version referenced possible annual home inspections by law enforcement, but was corrected, removing that provision, before it was introduced. The corrected version never received a reading on the Senate floor, Senate staff told Patch.   Read the rest of the article at Edmonds Patch

I will be on the Austin Hill Show Tuesday morning discussing the left's current gun control efforts

If you're up early Tuesday morning, and want to hear what community organizers are doing in Idaho and other states to implement gun control, check out my interview as editor of Western Shooting Journal on Austin Hill's Idaho show. 6:35am PST (9:35am EST) ......click here to listen to NewsRadio KINF 99.1 FM live. Click here to check out Western Shooting Journal and subscribe (only $1.89/mth online).