Judge Sides with NRA, 2nd Amendment Foundation, Disqualifies Washington Gun Control Initiative

A Thurston County Superior Court judge sided with the NRA and Second Amendment Foundation against a gun-control ballot initiative in the state of Washington.

On July 3, Breitbart News reported that the initiative, I-1639, was being presented as a simple attempt to raise the legal age for long gun purchases from 18 to 21. Although an attempt to disqualify 18- to 20-year-olds from exercising their Second Amendments is troubling enough, the reality of the matter is that I-1639 would have put in place a new system of background checks and myriad other guns controls as well.

• The NRA-ILA listed a few of the controls I-1639 would have put in place:
• [Created] a gun registry for any transfers of commonly owned semi-automatic rifles;
• [Introduced] a 10-business day waiting period on the purchase of semi-automatic rifles;
• [Imposed] criminal liability on otherwise law-abiding gun owners who fail to store their firearms to state standards;
• [Increased] the age limit to possess or purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21;
• [Mandated] training prior to purchase;
• And [authorized]a $25 fee to be assessed to semiautomatic rifle purchasers.

The fee alone would be a new tax that could be raised after a period of time in order to make the purchase of commonly owned semiautomatic firearms cost prohibitive.

The NRA and Second Amendment Foundation filed two separate suits against the initiative, the suits were consolidated and the ruling in favor of both groups was handed down Friday.

The NRA-ILA’s Chris Cox responded to the ruling, saying:

The National Rifle Association is glad to see the court today recognized how negligent, if not worse, gun control advocates were in their signature-gathering for this ill-advised ballot initiative. We got involved because I-1639 tramples on the rights of Washington state voters, and because the way these anti-gun activists went about pushing their agenda was egregious. We applaud this decision, and will remain vigilant in protecting the constitutional freedoms of all Americans.

Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan Gottlieb said, “A few billionaires donated millions of dollars to buy the signatures to get this fraudulent initiative on the ballot. But they couldn’t buy...Read More HERE