Senate Bill 5737 - Banning the sale of assault weapons

Feb 2009
126
0
Lacey, Wa
Holy ****.... as a Senator how do you fuckin sign a bill without reading it?


Misstep in gun bill could defeat the effort | Local News | The Seattle Times
Misstep in gun bill could defeat the effort

One of the major gun-control efforts in Olympia this session calls for the sheriff to inspect the homes of assault-weapon owners. The bill’s backers say that was a mistake.

By Danny Westneat

Forget police drones flying over your house. How about police coming inside, once a year, to have a look around?

As Orwellian as that sounds, it isn’t hypothetical. The notion of police home inspections was introduced in a bill last week in Olympia.

That it’s part of one of the major gun-control efforts pains me. It seemed in recent weeks lawmakers might be headed toward some common-sense regulation of gun sales. But then last week they went too far. By mistake, they claim. But still too far.

“They always say, we’ll never go house to house to take your guns away. But then you see this, and you have to wonder.”

That’s no gun-rights absolutist talking, but Lance Palmer, a Seattle trial lawyer and self-described liberal who brought the troubling Senate Bill 5737 to my attention. It’s the long-awaited assault-weapons ban, introduced last week by three Seattle Democrats.

Responding to the Newtown school massacre, the bill would ban the sale of semi-automatic weapons that use detachable ammunition magazines. Clips that contain more than 10 rounds would be illegal.

But then, with respect to the thousands of weapons like that already owned by Washington residents, the bill says this:

“In order to continue to possess an assault weapon that was legally possessed on the effective date of this section, the person possessing shall ... safely and securely store the assault weapon. The sheriff of the county may, no more than once per year, conduct an inspection to ensure compliance with this subsection.”

In other words, come into homes without a warrant to poke around. Failure to comply could get you up to a year in jail.

“I’m a liberal Democrat — I’ve voted for only one Republican in my life,” Palmer told me. “But now I understand why my right-wing opponents worry about having to fight a government takeover.”

He added: “It’s exactly this sort of thing that drives people into the arms of the NRA.”

I have been blasting the NRA for its paranoia in the gun-control debate. But Palmer is right — you can’t fully blame them, when cops going door-to-door shows up in legislation.

I spoke to two of the sponsors. One, Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, a lawyer who typically is hyper-attuned to civil-liberties issues, said he did not know the bill authorized police searches because he had not read it closely before signing on.

“I made a mistake,” Kline said. “I frankly should have vetted this more closely.”

That lawmakers sponsor bills they haven’t read is common. Still, it’s disappointing on one of this political magnitude. Not counting a long table, it’s only an eight-page bill.

The prime sponsor, Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, also condemned the search provision in his own bill, after I asked him about it. He said Palmer is right that it’s probably unconstitutional.

“I have to admit that shouldn’t be in there,” Murray said.

He said he came to realize that an assault-weapons ban has little chance of passing this year anyway. So he put in this bill more as “a general statement, as a guiding light of where we need to go.” Without sweating all the details.

Later, a Senate Democratic spokesman blamed unnamed staff and said a new bill will be introduced.

Murray had alluded at a gun-control rally in January that progress on guns could take years.

“We will only win if we reach out and continue to change the hearts and minds of Washingtonians,” Murray said. “We can attack them, or start a dialogue.”

Good plan, very bad start. What’s worse, the case for the perfectly reasonable gun-control bills in Olympia just got tougher.
 
Jan 2009
1,684
0
s. greenlake *****
listen you guys.. reading is tough work.

The intern who was suppose to read that has been let go and will never work in this town again.
 
Jan 2013
8
0
Santa Maria, CA
When an elected office holder admits to signing something he or she never read, then it is time to make news headlines out of that fact and start a campaign to toss them out of office. Too bad they cannot be sued for being stupid and lazy.
 
Jan 2009
845
0
Renton, WA
When an elected office holder admits to signing something he or she never read, then it is time to make news headlines out of that fact and start a campaign to toss them out of office. Too bad they cannot be sued for being stupid and lazy.

It's been in the news many times, and is common knowledge and sadly just accepted that they don't read half of what they vote on. And they're too busy trying to get re-elected to worry about petty stuff like actually doing their jobs. In this hyper-partisan era, most votes are on party lines so they don't really care what's in it, if it's good, bad, or indifferent, just which party came up with it decides their vote.
 
Jan 2009
1,318
1
Kirkland, WA
It's one thing to not read a bill that you're voting on (I mean, this WAS an 8 pager), but to not read one that you're the sponsor of? Or the creator of?

Christ on a cracker...
 
Jan 2011
69
0
Grandview, WA
Reading the anti-Gun Bill

Now you understand the liberal viewpoint. As Nancy Pelosi said about Obamacare, first let's pass it and then we can read it and see what's in it. Well we're still finding out the hidden little secrets of this 1100 page bill and all the new enabling regulations mean. All legislators have aides, these are readers and advisors. If they don't read the proposed bills and consult with the legislator, then it ain't goina' happen folks!:mad: So they sponsor and vote for bills they have no idea what's included in them. "But it's the direction they want to go." That means confiscation! My cold dead hands! :thumpdown:
The only thing to do is remember when it comes time to vote for these idiots at the next election and make sure you vote for their opponent.:mfclap:
 
Jan 2013
8
0
Santa Maria, CA
One of the problems is that many people do not know how to read, especially not able to read and glean what the text means.
 
Feb 2013
212
0
Puyallup, Wa
I've gotten two really pro-2nd amendment responses from Matt Shea and Pam Roach via email and a letter from Chris Hurst that seemed probably pro-2nd amendment.
 
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