My phone has been ringing off the hook since Tuesday. My article I wrote the morning after the elections nearly crashed my website from the traffic it received. America Tonight of Al Jazeera even called me for an interview. Sheesh people, Wa State and this stupid Bill made international news! They want to know what we think will happen to our 2nd Amendment rights in Wa and eventually the country. Now that my initial anger has subsided, a little, we need to understand what is to happen next. What does the law really say and what should we do to not turn our selves in to criminals unintentionally? Let’s not panic. We need to harness this energy we all have to stay engaged and focused. Olympia is basically in a lame duck session and the holidays are upon us and everyone goes home. We (gun rights supporters) have an advantage when the session convenes in January. Wa had a strong Republican win which will help us more in January when the discussions of 594 start. Even so, Olympia has always turned away from gun control issues. They don’t want to touch it. 594 can not be repealed. (for 2 years anyway) But we can hopefully dissect the law and shave away at some rough edges of it. Or, we can expect a lawsuit to be filed shortly that will put a temporary injunction on it as the courts decide whether or not it, or parts of it, are unconstitutional. In my opinion only, Dec 4th likely will not be the last day you can transfer or sell privately without being arrested. We may have some extra time. Regardless, let’s go back to what this law will mean for us.
I wish I could tell you exactly what this law will mean. As I said, the law has many narrow definitions. January will be the time the Legislators and 594 have to hash out the details and clarify things such as “transfers”. It is a mess as it is written now. I have been on the phone for 3 days now with members of CCRKBA, SAF and the West Coast Rep of the NRA learning what the next moves may be and what to expect. To be honest the answers are not definite. Everyone is scrambling. I do expect lawsuits. But of course that will be hush hush until actually filed. Many groups are trying to work together to efficiently deal with this and not cancel each other out. The WAC is working hard with SAF. If you do hear of any other group trying to file lawsuits, I ask you to send them to the SAF instead. These guys have an amazing track record of winning court cases across the country on behalf of Gun Rights. They know what they are doing.
I just cringe at the thought of what these gun control advocates have up their sleeves. It just dawned on me yesterday about another situation that would affect me from this law. We (Charles and I) donated an auction item, “Day At The Range With 30CalGal” at two events last month. The winning bidders spent quite a bit of money on this. Well, a day at the range means that we bring our rifles and teach and let the winners shoot our rifles. Guess what? That would be a criminal act under the law the way it is currently written. Do I want to risk any of us to an over zealous LEO that wants to make an example of us? No. Frankly I don’t have $5000 and I don’t want to spend a year in jail for this act that is an American past time normally. (And that is only for the first offense) I’d have to change my nickname to 30CalGalFelon. We will find out the true colors of 594 in January.
That is the time when 594 is supposed to convince us that they really did not intend to punish us for just sharing/loaning/transferring our guns with friends and family members. If they do not work together to shave off those points then we know their agenda. Complete gun control. (As much as I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt I know that is the only thing they have in mind) It is already in the works to present Olympia with more bills for Gun Storage laws, magazine restrictions and more. I believe, that as in the past, our Wa Legislators will not pass any of those. So expect them (writers of 594) to come back to the voters in 2016. We need to focus our energy right now, especially in January, on contacting our local representatives and sheriffs. Especially the ones that voted for 594. We had about 26 sheriffs against 594 but there are some that supported it. Tell them you are angry. No threats please, let’s be firm but civil.
Apparently there is a huge rally being organized to show our anger over 594 passing. It is scheduled for Dec 13th in Olympia. An amazing 5000 or so people have rsvp’d. How cool is that? BUT! Here is my thought on this. I am in support of a rally. But in December there is no one in Olympia. No one. They are on Christmas vacation. A Saturday in mid December is full of shoppers. The rally will be a waist of energy. Even though 5000 people show up it will be lost. It should be held in January on a weekday when the Capital is full and in session. We can then, calmly and professionally, walk down the halls of our Capital with the 5000 plus participants and let the Members see and hear us directly. Our voices will be heard. If you must do this in December then I hope you still have the momentum to come back and do it again in January when it counts.
We must inundate our sheriffs and legislators with letters. To contact your local representatives we had some instruction from Representative Elizabeth Scott. “You can quickly contact your representatives in one of these ways: email them at this pattern: firstname.lastname@leg.wa.gov (example: Elizabeth.Scott@leg.wa.gov; this works for Reps and Senators both). OR, call the hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and give them your address. They will look you up and then give your voicemail to your 2 State Reps and your Senator. OR, go to www.leg.wa.gov and click on the ‘find your district’ tab on the upper right hand corner. Put your address in and it will bring up the names of your reps. Click on their name to email them! Easy!
Tips: be polite and be brief. Example: My name is —and I’m calling to strongly urge you to repeal 594 because —. That’s it. If you can add an emotional-appeal story of how this affects your family, it’ll get through to the legislators who are not so facts-and-numbers based.”
Who knew when I picked up
a gun for the first time in 2005 that 9 years later I would be so
active in our gun rights community and the beautiful 2nd Amendment? Oh
well. You are stuck with me now. 
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