Central Firearms Offender Registry Legislation Passed 4/17 Update now a Database

[ICEMAN]

I gotta disagree with this one.

What is the purpose? It is written to only to be viewed by Law Enforcement (for now)....

It is also written so that those on the registry only need to maintain their address with their local LEO, for a short period of time (four years). The requirement to register will expire after four years they originally register. Then it will expire and the record will be removed/destroyed. So answer me this; What is the purpose of this legislation, if not to harass someone who has this type of conviction? IF it is a good idea for four years, is it not a great idea for more?

According to Rep Hope who is a current Law Enforcement Officer and the prime sponsor, it is essentially so that if an officer contacts the individual he automatically knows the individual is a "firearm offender" so basically be aware.

 I did not see wording which would cause this data to be entered to NCIC like a warrant would be, so the information would not necessarily be be immediately available at time of field contact. Dispatch would have to run a name/date of birth search of the Washington database to then look at a conviction record.

My point is that this does not sound like an officer safety enhancement to me. If not for officer safety, why create a list that expires in four years?

[Mudman]

Exactly, Iceman has it nailed.  Totally redundant list.  Leo already can check and this would not change that system much.  Expensive, more laws not needed and just another attack on gun rights.  A sex offender type system?  Really?  What will come after this is established?    Maybe gun owners could be added to this system once it is set up.  Great system established and in place to track all gun owners and where they are registered and where they live!  HMMMM?  Canada???

[ICEMAN]

Exactly, Iceman has it nailed.  Totally redundant list.  Leo already can check and this would not change that system much.  Expensive, more laws not needed and just another attack on gun rights.  A sex offender type system?  Really?  What will come after this is established?    Maybe gun owners could be added to this system once it is set up.  Great system established and in place to track all gun owners and where they are registered and where they live!  HMMMM?  Canada???

Hey! I thought that you thought that I was a liberal commie!

[Mudman]

  Nah.  Just a commie liberal!  Kidding.  Its all good n fun!  Spirited debates would be boring if we all thought the same.

[ICEMAN]

True!

[csaaphill]

so this one goes to the way side then? no fight no nothing?

[ICEMAN]

so this one goes to the way side then? no fight no nothing?

If everyone would just adopt my viewpoint things would be perfect.

[TONTO]

This really has nothing to do with game laws and hunting, but rather the act of having a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle.

A hunter hunting in Cle Elum with a loaded rifle in his vehicle is charged under RCW 77.15.460
A gangbanger driving in downtown Seattle with a loaded rifle in his vehicle is charged under RCW 77.15.460

RCW 77.15.460 is not simply for hunting.

 Or an Oregon resident clam digging on LongBeach who forgets to unload the magazine in his "truck gun" before crossing the bridge. My brother has been cited for this, legal in OR to have a loaded mag as long as a round is not chambered, but if checked by WDFW while clam digging it is a violation Funny thing is since he was clam digging he would have been legal with a loaded handgun, but the gun in question was a marlin mod 60 22lr behind the seat.  Had another freind get the same citation, while fishing he decided to do some target shooting. He sat his 10/22 on the seat of his truck when it started raining, had the mag in the gun, alittle later a WDFW officer showed up too late BUSTED Again funny thing is he had a loaded 40 S&W in the truck too but got cited for the 10/22. Some real serious criminals right there.

[Mudman]

This really has nothing to do with game laws and hunting, but rather the act of having a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle.

A hunter hunting in Cle Elum with a loaded rifle in his vehicle is charged under RCW 77.15.460
A gangbanger driving in downtown Seattle with a loaded rifle in his vehicle is charged under RCW 77.15.460

RCW 77.15.460 is not simply for hunting.

 Or an Oregon resident clam digging on LongBeach who forgets to unload the magazine in his "truck gun" before crossing the bridge. My brother has been cited for this, legal in OR to have a loaded mag as long as a round is not chambered, but if checked by WDFW while clam digging it is a violation Funny thing is since he was clam digging he would have been legal with a loaded handgun, but the gun in question was a marlin mod 60 22lr behind the seat.  Had another freind get the same citation, while fishing he decided to do some target shooting. He sat his 10/22 on the seat of his truck when it started raining, had the mag in the gun, alittle later a WDFW officer showed up too late BUSTED Again funny thing is he had a loaded 40 S&W in the truck too but got cited for the 10/22. Some real serious criminals right there.

Ya and now Wa wants to treat them like a sex offender!  And some people are supporting this!

[Hi-Liter]

The bill also rejects the transfer of firearm (sale) between private citizens in home?i received a card from the NRA yesterday on this in the mail.  Central registry, what does this really mean?

Problem I see is that a lot of people are going to be cited and possibly lose their firearm rights. Good job Mike Hope for introducing this bill-I will make sure my vote doesn't go for you.

Did any one know that Mike Hope was a former Marine?

[huntrights]

The following is an opinion.  Some may disagree, but after careful thought, I have come to the conclusion that HB1612 lends itself to possible abuse and may condemn some individuals for non-felony violations (i.e. RCW 77.15.460: Loaded rifle or shotgun in vehicle …).  Please consider communicating with the House Judiciary Committee and your representatives regarding this proposed legislation that enters into the world of registries of individuals.  Feel free to copy and paste the message or write your own.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2013&bill=1612

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2013-14/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1612.pdf


Copy and paste House Judiciary Committee email addresses:

jamie.pedersen@leg.wa.gov; drew.hansen@leg.wa.gov; jay.rodne@leg.wa.gov; steve.oban@leg.wa.gov; roger.goodman@leg.wa.gov; mike.hope@leg.wa.gov; laurie.jinkins@leg.wa.gov; steve.kirby@leg.wa.gov; brad.klippert@leg.wa.gov; terry.nealey@leg.wa.gov; tina.orwall@leg.wa.gov; maryhelen.roberts@leg.wa.gov; matt.shea@leg.wa.gov


Copy and paste subject:

Please Oppose HB1612 – AN ACT Relating to firearm offenders


Copy and Paste message:

Dear members of the House Judiciary Committee:

I am writing to respectfully ask that you oppose HB1612 – AN ACT Relating to firearm offenders.

The opportunistic anti-gun/gun-control legislation flooding our legislative assemblies is riding on a wave of emotional hysteria brought on by the tragedy in Connecticut.  Anti-gun legislators and others that have been misguided by the emotional currents will squeeze as much out of this emotionally based opportunity as they can.  We are experiencing an unjustified and blatant demonizing and vilification of firearms and firearm owners as a result.  This translates into significant threats to our Bill of Rights.

Please resist the temptation to jump on the emotional bandwagon by pursuing any legislation that further restricts our rights or abilities to legally own and use firearms.  This would include prejudiced taxes or fees, restrictions on the purchase of ammunition or reloading supplies,  registration of firearms, potential requirements to register as a firearms offender for a minor violation (i.e. RCW 77.15.460: Loaded rifle or shotgun in vehicle …), etc.

I noted, as have others, that all of the “firearm offenses” listed in HB1612 are class b felonies or any felony offense that is a violation of chapter 9.41 RCW; the noted exception is RCW 77.15.460.  If law enforcement officers need to identify violators of felonies or misdemeanors, they already have the capability to do so if they have just cause to pursue that information.  I oppose this legislation because of the inclusion of RCW 77.15.460 and that there is too much risk of abuse of such a registry. 


Please don’t take the risk of registry abuse lightly.  The Holocaust is an extreme example, but abuse can happen at many levels.

How a registry can lead to abuse:  

Excerpts are from the following web site:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Chronology_1938.html

April 26, 1938:
The German government demands that all Jews register with the authorities all real estate and other assets exceeding 5000 marks. This is the first step toward expropriation of Jewish property; that is, Aryanization, a process whereby the Reich government seizes Jewish property and auctions it off to gentiles.

June 15, 1938:
“Asocial¬Action”: Arrest of all “previously convicted” Jews, including those prosecuted for traffic violations, and committing them to concentration camps (approx. 1,500 persons).

July 12, 1938:
The first 50 inmates arrive at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, about 20 miles from Berlin. Following Kristallnacht, 1,800 Jews are jailed here and subsequently murdered. By September 1939, the camp held 8,000 prisoners. In April 1940, the first crematorium was built. In March 1943, a gas chamber was added. In April 1945, as the Soviet Army advanced, 33,000 prisoners began a Death March. The Soviet Army found 3,000 survivors in the camp.

November 12, 1938:
The Nazis decide on a decree to remove all Jews from the German economy, society, and culture. Reinhard Heydrich suggests that every Jew be forced to wear a badge. Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels suggests that Jews be kept from using public parks. Hermann Göring mentions that Hitler told him on the phone on November 9 that if war breaks out, Germany “will first of all make sure of settling accounts with the Jews. [Hitler] is going to ask the other nations: ‘Why do you keep talking about the Jews? Take them!’” In the Nazi Party’s principal newspaper, Goebbels writes: “We want only one thing, that the world loves the Jews enough to rid us of them all.”

Fast forward:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust
The Holocaust was the mass murder or genocide of approximately six million Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, throughout German-occupied territory.  Of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust, approximately two-thirds were killed.  Over one million Jewish children were killed in the Holocaust, as were approximately two million Jewish women and three million Jewish men.


Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[Your contact information]


---------------------------------------------------------------


Also, please consider contacting your state Senator and Representatives to respectfully ask them to oppose HB1612 should it make it to the House floor.  You can use the same text that was used for the email to the House Judiciary Committee.

http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

[bigtex]

JS,

I think the large majority of the public will not see any firearm violation as a "minor violation", if it was a "minor violation" it wouldn't be a criminal offense (misdemeanor in this case) but rather an infraction.

Honestly, the biggest issue/problem has already been noted, a large bipartisan support for this bill.

[huntrights]

JS,

I think the large majority of the public will not see any firearm violation as a "minor violation", if it was a "minor violation" it wouldn't be a criminal offense (misdemeanor in this case) but rather an infraction.

Honestly, the biggest issue/problem has already been noted, a large bipartisan support for this bill.

Where does RCW 77.15.460 (loaded rifle or shotgun in vehicle ..) fall in the case of the clam diggers?  Would that be a felony or misdemeanor?  My understanding is whatever the classification, it would fall under the 'firearm violation' definition in this Bill.

My personal opinion is that we should be concerned about central registries of individuals.  Perhaps they start with good intentions, but they may lend themselves to abuses at a later time.  Although the legislation says the information will not be available to the public, will it stay that way?  Remember the venomous behavior of the Journal News in New York as they published maps with the names and addresses of law-abiding owners of firearms with legal permits.  Some of the anti-gun factions in this state are equally as venomous.

[FisherKing]

This seems like one of those "foot in the door bills." Look we already register these offenders what's the big deal if we just register these people(aka gun owners) whats the big deal...

Uh Hell No..

[bigtex]

JS,

I think the large majority of the public will not see any firearm violation as a "minor violation", if it was a "minor violation" it wouldn't be a criminal offense (misdemeanor in this case) but rather an infraction.

Honestly, the biggest issue/problem has already been noted, a large bipartisan support for this bill.

Where does RCW 77.15.460 (loaded rifle or shotgun in vehicle ..) fall in the case of the clam diggers?  Would that be a felony or misdemeanor?  My understanding is whatever the classification, it would fall under the 'firearm violation' definition in this Bill.

No matter what the situation is RCW 77.15.460 is a misdemeanor. Yes, it is an offense that would be considered a "firearm violation" under this bill.

Like I said in another post, RCW 77.15.460 is not just applicable to loaded firearms while hunting, but everytime someone has a loaded firearm in a vehicle. Someone hunting with a loaded rifle in a vehicle is charged under RCW 77.15.460, and someone driving down 1st Ave in Seattle with a loaded rifle in their vehicle is charged under RCW 77.15.460