I-594 | 10-08-2014 | Bellingham Herald
Voters will have to decide between two clashing gun initiatives on the November ballot. Initiative 594 would add another hurdle to buying guns in this state, while initiative 591 would limit government interference in these same gun sales.
We are all for reducing gun violence, but there is no guarantee that’s what will be accomplished if I-594 is approved.
I-594 | 09-11-2014 | Breitbart.com
Initiative-594, the universal background check initiative being bankrolled by millionaires and billionaires in Washington state, will lead to "universal handgun registration" if passed.
I-594 | 09-11-2014 | Breitbart.com
A gun control ballot measure expected in the upcoming elections in Washington State could turn law-abiding citizens into criminals by the thousands at places like gun shows and gun ranges.
According to the National Rifle Association (NRA), Ballot Initiative 594 could make the act of simply lending one’s gun to another person without a background check by a licensed dealer, at a firing range, for example, illegal.
I-594 | 08-12-2014 | Examiner.com
Another big bucks infusion from billionaire Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie to the Initiative 594 campaign, reported yesterday by the Seattle P-I.com, shows what Washington state grassroots gun rights activists are up against in their battle to prevent government gun confiscation without due process, while also resisting what they consider an extremist gun control measure that even the state’s rank-and-file police and sheriff’s deputies oppose.
I-594 | 06-02-2014 | Examiner
Monday’s noon campaign kickoff for Initiative 594 came on the heels of yesterday’s Seattle Times report on “skyrocketing” concealed pistol licenses (CPL) in Washington, and ten days after the Isla Vista attack demonstrated that the so-called “universal background check” (UBC) scheme at the core of the well-financed gun control measure does not prevent the kind of crime its backers use as an example for why voters should pass it,gun rights advocates say.
I-594 | 06-01-2014 | Examiner
Evergreen state gun prohibitionists — especially those pushing Initiative 594, the 18-page gun control measure — may be having their Sunday ruined by a headline story in the Seattle Times that concealed pistol licenses are surging, “especially for women.”
I-594 | 05-29-2014 | Examiner
In a stunning acknowledgement Thursday morning during the last half-hour of KVI’s John Carlson show, the head ofWashington CeaseFire said that there probably is no law that could have prevented the Santa Barbara spree killing.
I-594 | 05-15-2014 | Examiner
The Seattle-based Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility (WAGR) – the well-financed gun controlgroup pushing Initiative 594 – has announced its noon campaign kick-off on June 2 at Seattle’s Westin Hotel, but this is not the first such event the organization has had since launching the effort more than a year ago.
I-594 | 04-06-2014 | Examiner
In the gun rights community, it’s called “dancing in blood,” and yesterday the Initiative 594 campaign donned its ballet slippers, using the tragedy at Fort Hood that Fox News earlier today reported at “sparked a new debate about gun control and the defense budget.”
I-594 is a “simple measure to ensure that a background check is conducted for every gun purchase.”
No 18-page law is simple! Further, 594 is classic bait and switch…supporters constantly and dishonestly refer to “sales” when the language of the proposal regulates “transfers”, very broadly defined! Virtually every time a firearm changes hands, the transfer would be required to be processed through a licensed dealer. Worst of all, I-594 is being disguised as a simple background check measure, when in fact it would result in handgun registration!
I-594 proponents specifically claim that the initiative “does not create a registry.”
Virtually every temporary transfer of a handgun under the provisions of I-594 is subject to dealer regulation and completion of the Pistol Transfer Application, a copy of which RCW 9.41.110(9) requires be sent to the Department of Licensing for inclusion in the state database of law-abiding handgun owners.
I-594 includes “reasonable exceptions.”
The exceptions included in I-594 are drafted so narrowly that they are essentially meaningless. Examples:
Concealed Pistol License holders, who are subjected to fingerprint-based checks, are not exempt!
“Criminals go to gun shows to buy guns with no background check.”
In each of several studies by the U.S. Department of Justice over the last 23 years, between 0.6 and 0.8 percent of state prison inmates incarcerated for gun crimes obtained guns at gun shows. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Guns Used in Crime, July 1995; Firearms Use by Offenders, November 2001; and Firearm Violence, 1993-2011, May 2013.)
I-594 proponents cite a Justice Department study claiming that 80% of prison inmates obtained guns through private transfers.
The Justice Department study in question found that 77 percent of state prison inmates incarcerated for gun crimes had acquired their guns through “street/illegal sources,” including “theft or burglary,” “drug dealer/off street,” and “fence/black market,” or from “friends or family.” (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Firearm Violence, 1993-2011, May 2013.)
Criminals will ignore I-594 and continue to use these illegal sources.
“Private parties complying with the background check requirement are exempt from sales tax.”
Current law already exempts “casual and isolated sales of property” (such as private firearm sales) from sales tax…but subjects them to use tax. The sales tax exemption in I-594 is a disingenuous attempt to hide the facts that private transfers will be subject to use tax and that the records created by these dealer transfers will give the government the necessary tool to single out and collect more tax from law-abiding firearm owners.
“Law enforcement agencies and public safety officials agree that this (private firearm sale) loophole promotes illegal gun trafficking and enables individuals with criminal intent to purchase firearms.”
Numerous law enforcement officials, including the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs (WACOPS), have come out publicly opposed to I-594 and more are lending their voices every week. They understand that I-594 will divert their attention and resources away from keeping violent criminals off our streets and shift them to doing checks on law-abiding citizens, keeping us all less safe. Further, a police officer who loans a personal firearm to a fellow officer would face criminal prosecution under the provisions of I-594!
Give us your email address and we’ll keep you up to date about efforts to defeat I-594.
VOTE NO 594 is presented by NRA Institute for Legislative ActionPaid for by National Rifle Association of America Washingtonians Opposed to I 594, 11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030
Pursuant to WAC 390-18-025(1), the Top Five Contributors are: National Rifle Association of America
