OLYMPIA — Gun rights supporters rallied on steps of the Washington Capitol on Thursday, admitting they were caught off guard by Initiative 594 while vowing to change and repeal the voter-passed initiative on gun background checks.
One legislator, Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, urged outright disobedience of the law, which requires criminal background checks for those purchasing firearms at gun shows and on-line.
“We will not comply: We will ask our sheriffs and prosecutors not to comply as well,” said Shea. Shea was a visitor last year to the compound of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who has refused to pay grazing fees on federal lands and staged an armed stand-off with federal law enforcement.
A group of 15 to 18 gun advocates did march into the Capitol.
They arrived in the House Gallery just as the state House of Representatives was adjourning. They heckled members on the floor, and made a show of violating I-594 by exchanging weapons in the Gallery. A Washington State Patrol officer instructed one demonstrator on how to more safely hold his gun.
The demonstrators talked about marching onto the House floor, but were dissuaded by staff and Washington State Patrol. Shea came in from the steps and gave them another speech.
Outside, State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, told the crowd that “we have at least six and maybe 10 bills to address problems” with Initiative 594.
“Hey, don’t tread on us,” shouted Roach, president pro tem of the Washington State Senate. (Gun rights advocates have adopted the Revolutionary-era flag that showed a copperhead snake with the slogan, “Don’t Tread on Me.)
The rally saw reappearance of Brian Judy, the National Rifle Association’s longtime Olympia lobbyist, who kept a low profile during the I-594 campaign.
In August, Judy used a gathering in Silverdale to liken I-594 to the gun policies of Nazi Germany, and to specifically question why any Jewish American — he singled out Seattle entrepreneur Nick Hanauer — would contribute to such a measure.
“Good morning, gun lobby!” Judy told the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, you ARE the gun lobby.”
The NRA lobbyist noted, however, that the gun lobby has had it good in Olympia. In 2013 and 2014, the Legislature refused to act on legislation requiring criminal background checks for gun buyers. The gun safety movement then took its cause to the ballot.
“It wasn’t government that struck our rights: It was voters in the state of Washington,” Judy said.
The anti-I-594 protest had a recurring theme: Criminal background checks are the first step down the path to gun registration.
“What it’s really about is a government list of law-abiding gun owners,” Judy claimed.
State Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, went further and declared: “Initiative 594 is just the tip of the iceberg with the people who want to control and confiscate your guns.”
Initiative 594 supporters dominated the airwaves, the editorial endorsements, and the public events in last fall’s campaign. The initiative had such billionaire supporters as Bill and Melinda Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The political shootout over gun laws now moves to close-quarters combat in Olympia, and to the federal courthouse. “We hope to get an injunction against enforcement of many parts of 594,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation in Bellevue.
Supporters of I-594 say they are ready to defend the law.
The Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility announced Thursday the creation of a Washington Gun Responsibility Scorecard. It will grade votes in the Legislature, as well as lawmakers’ willingness to hear out constituents on gun issues.
the Rev. Sandy Brown, a leading organizer of the I-594 campaign, said groups like the National Rifle Association like to operate behind the scenes in legislatures and Congress.
“Their strategy is to make deals behind closed doors and out of the public eye,” said Brown. “They are counting on people not to notice.”
The two sides actively dislike each other.
Joe Huffman, from a group called Boomershoot, quoted author Ayn Rand (“Atlas Shrugged,” “The Virtue of Selfishness”) at the rally, and declared, “We are standing up against evil, fools and appeasers.”
“The people who wrote I-594 want you to be in fear of going to jail every time you pick up your gun,” Huffman argued.
About the day’s only reflective remark came from State Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, a Democratic legislator who actively opposed I-594, which had the support of Gov. Jay Inslee and most members of his party.
“This is a culture war, folks,” said Blake. “They don’t like what we do.”
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