Bloomberg Supported Initiative 1639 Threatens Second Amendment

Editors Note: Yes, we’re posting this article on election day, by the time some of you see this we will know the outcome of the critical 2018 elections for good or bad. Fingers crossed.

Pick Out The Assault Rifle
Pick Out The Assault Rifle

Washington – -(AmmoLand.com)- In all the fight over the United States Senate, governorships, and control over the United States House of Representatives, there is another threat that has been looming under the radar. That threat is I-1639 in Washington state. Given the realities of the political landscape in that state, this measure is likely to pass.

The initiative is not an outright ban on semi-automatic rifles, like that called for by Dianne Feinstein, but it is very nasty. This 30-page initiative made it on the ballot thanks to some blatant judicial activism by the state supreme court. That activism was aided by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who has actively supported I-1639 rather than maintain neutrality, as has been the tradition in that state.

In essence, this initiative declares any semi-automatic rifle to be an “assault weapon,” and imposes a very strict requirement to own it. There are also provisions that will make having your gun ready to protect yourself or your home illegal, mandatory training requirements, and the underpinnings to create a registry of gun owners.

In other words, you may not face an actual ban, but it will become more expensive to exercise your right to own any semi-automatic rifle. You will face numerous vague provisions that will leave you open to criminal charges, even if the gun is stolen by someone who breaks into your house. What starts out with the semi-auto rifles could be expanded to include any firearm at all.

But the threat is not just the provisions of the legislation, even though they are quite onerous and draconian, and ignore the fact that rifles are rarely used to commit murder. According to Justice Department statistics, in 2017, you were about four times as likely to be stabbed to death than being shot by a rifle of any type, much less a semi-auto. You’re also about 15 percent more likely to be bludgeoned to death with a hammer or some other object, and about 75 percent more likely to be killed with someone’s bare hands or by being kicked. Rifles fall behind the category known as “other weapons or weapons not stated.”

The fact is, Bloomberg’s billions have been used to put “universal background checks” on the ballot before, and for the most part, that approach is succeeding. In essence, by going with referendums and initiatives, Bloomberg can bypass lawmakers and use his scare tactics and demonization of Second Amendment supporters to get restrictions that he wouldn’t otherwise get. Furthermore, efforts to repeal them can always be overturned with a second referendum, backed by the media, Hollywood, and even government officials.

Exactly how can this threat be countered? It’s going to be a long, hard road. First, waging a campaign against an initiative is different than voting for an elected official. This requires educating the public about the facts around the Second Amendment – and with a media that is more and more biased, that is doable but difficult and expensive.

The other line of defense is to build the legal precedents that can sink these measures. That will also cost money, and involves winning elections for President, United States Senate, governor, state lawmakers, and in some cases, state supreme court justices. The best approach is to combine these two lines of defense and accept that in some states, restoring our Second Amendment rights will be a long, bitterly-fought battle.


Harold Hu, chison

About Harold Hutchison

Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.

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Greg

Incrimentalism is checkmate y’all. Study r/K gene selection (molyneux explains it best) and you’ll understand that there is no changing (r) minds, biology has decided the issue.
Understand that at some point rough men will have to run a pheonix program against these legislative traitors and their badged orcs. It sucks yes because conservatives want nothing more than order, stability and peace. But the statists will never stop, ever. It’s what they do.

Alan

Regarding the opening photograph and question, assuming that the rifles shown lack selective fire capability, neither are “assault rifles”, as such are correctly defined, by military organizations, which should know.

Lou

I hear ferguson is an avid runner. Maybe you can stop him in the street and tell him how unhappy you are with his actions?

Chas

I hear Ferguson is an avid runner… Why not stop him in the street and tell him how unhappy you are?

Fuck you

Come and take em

joefoam

You can puff out your chest all you want, but when the cops show up in swat gear and a warrant you will lose your weapons and possibly your life. Expect a bunch more of these ballot initiatives to appear all over the country now that this one has passed. They will be passed most everywhere as the population centers with the most votes have voters that have no skin in the game. They are not gun owners, and see weapons as pure evil and have no place in society, so why not ban them completely. Might as well sell… Read more »

Robert J. Lucas

Well it is time for the Supreme Court to be utilized. Constitional Law needs to be respected by the lower courts, and all 50 states….

Alan

Think The Court, aka The U.S. Supreme Court will elect to hear arguments, assuming that such are proposed?

G dubb

This anti-constitutional initiative will be held up for years in the State court of appeals, on it’s way eventually to the higher courts, where it will die the miserable death it deserves.

Greg K

True…but isn’t it interesting that when a District Judge found it to be an illegal Proposition, it only took McKenna 1 week to push it through the State Supreme Court? How does that work?

Greg K

Oops, Ferguson…My bad.

Steve

“When law becomes injustus , Resistance becomes duty”
Thomas Jefferson
“The once happy and peaceful plains of America , are either to be drenched in blood , or inhabited by slaves….sad alternative , but can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice ! ”
George Washington ( statement after Lexington / Concord )

Rick

Why do the activities of the criminal eliment determine the restrictions imposed on law abiding citizens ?

Dan

Because all citizens are law abiding until one of them does something criminal.

steve McTaggart

so 90%of the law respecting people should be governed like the 10&[bull—-]

Wild Bill

@Steve McT, yeah, you are correct. Restricting Constitutional rights based upon what may or may not happen was thoroughly repudiated by our founding fathers.
All the big tyrants of world history embraced the principle.

tomcat

Sounds like a good state not to even be from let alone visit. Good luck with your commie government, Washington.

Sara is laughing at you. Hard.

Lol. In Washington rn. Reading y’all’s comments LAUGHING MY ASS OFF. How are you ever going to defend yourself from the litterally gang members litterally in your back yards if you can’t sleep with your guns in bed anymore?? Lololololol

James Russell Bailey

When I chose to read this article, I thought the author might actually have written something about the initiative itself concerning its specifics. What a shocker that the author just proposed political pablum in generalities rather than actually dealing with specifics!

Yet another Ammoland author who does not actually write what the title of the article speaks to! What a shocker!

Mark Andrews

The SECOND ADDMENMENT SHALL NOT BE IN FRENGED UPON. THAT MEANS BOYS AND GIRLS that NO LAWS CAN BE WRITIN UPON THE SECOND ADDMENMENT.

Conrad cortmarshel

Ya, watch out calif. Cuz here comes the big bad liberal wolf Gavin Newsom the gruesome!!! he thinks he can do what ever he wants and his balls are big as an alaskan moose!! This will probably be the first thing he puts into affect when he gets in. And I tell you America watch out because commiefornia is going to be the cause your demise!!
But when the fight comes, we’ll be ready…its really unfortunate that these foolish people dont know what they are causing, theres so many other ways go.

Sara

Uhmmmm you just made that up. The second ammendment doesn’t garuntee anyone the right to any specific arms, either. Entitlement issues, much?

Larry Brickey

The amendment doesn’t but have you looked into the writing of it? It was expected that the civilian populace would have the same small arms as the Army. Actually, at the founding most civilians had superior weapons to the military. Kentucky and Pennsylvania Long Rifles for instance.

pigpen51

It was generally understood at the time of the writing of the constitution and the addition of the 2nd amendment that the specific arm were those in possession of the people at the time. When men came back from WWII, they had been using semi automatic rifles, and as civilians that is the arms that they desired to own, both to hunt with and to defend their homes with. When men came back from Vietnam they had been using the M16. The laws had already made it impossible for civilians to own fully automatic rifles, without going through very draconian… Read more »

John G

The second amendment is accompanied by this thing called the militia act.. hell yes I am entitled to an AR-15 with a 30 round detachable mag and a collapsible stock.. shall not be infringed…

joefoam

The 2nd amendment has already been infringed upon over 20,000 times. Don’t expect that to change soon, We have allowed to slowly to be eroded for generations now.

Doug Brashear

There are 39 counties in Washington. It only took 11 of them to pass 1639..All these bleeding heart liberals on the west side, I believe if you are too young to buy a rifle at 18, you are probably too young to vote also.

Sara

Bleeding heart liberal in Hillyard, here. I voted. Sup?

Eric Lautz

Then Sara your idiotic If you voted yes to I 1639. Let me ask something if you really believe Trump is in cahoots with Russia, and That he is a dictator(liberals compare him to hitler, and kim jung un). Why would you vote away, your only way to fight him if the shit hits the fan. I am a Dem as well but only so far. I am slowly being disillusioned with the Democratic party because they are not really Dems anymore they are Left wing radicals. There is not Moderation. Our rights to own guns is an insureance policy… Read more »

Don kaferlein

Also to go into the army

Mike Settles

Mr. Hutchison: Looking at the county-by-county results, voters in the conservative counties of the state still went for this turd at the rate of 30-40%. Voter education! I saw (once again, as with I-594) not one TV ad in local markets against 1639. Lots of signs locally against, few for, lots of grass-roots against, but once again King County voters decided FOR this travesty at the 70% rate, which overwhelmed the vote AGAINST throughout the rest of the state. The only way to win by numbers is to get ALL of the conservative counties, all of the voters in them,… Read more »

js

After watching the election results I am convinced there are more stupid people voting than ones that can think. Unfortunately there is no way to deal with stupid.

Wild Bill

@js, I think that it is urban people against rural people. Their lives are so different. What what makes sense to city people, makes no sense to rural people. What is the norm in the country, is unthinkable in the city. The problem is that there are fewer and fewer rural “food raising” people.

dava golino

we should have had a civil war when we had the chance. now we march to the EU agenda shite hole. slow, slow death by stupidity (infectous californious).

Sara

Liberal here, totally for civil war. Seeing as how no one’s banned guns or even made it harder to get one than it is TO ADOPT A KITTEN, and the fact that liberals outnumber conservatives by a wide margin, I’m down. Super down. Possibly the only solution to the division conservatives live to sow.

james

This time they will include rimfire rifles as assault weapons.
We can paint the rifles pink so they will pass the test.

Greg K

Oh, it passed alright…Among other problems, it creates a class of firearms named; “Semi Automatic Assault Weapons.” Now that Washingtonians have allowed this to pass via referendum, the legislators will habitually redefine “Semi Automatic Assault Weapons” without the people’s input. It will evolve into everyone in this state to undergo firearms training to buy guns every five years. Also it provides for the disqualification for legal gun owners from having guns in the home if there are “Prohibited Persons” that can access them. Which parts of “Right of the PEOPLE to Keep and Bear Arms, Shall not be Infringed.” is… Read more »

justjim

it passed

Tionico

The flooding of a state with money from outside that state to force laws like this down the throats of the people should be illegal.

Tionico

Many problems with this initiative. First, the petitions used to gather signatures were NOT complaintnwith the clear laws in the state. The complete text was NOT present, nor was what WAS present readable, as mandated by our COnstitution. Efforts to have it disqualifled from the ballots were corrupted by the state SUpreme COurt. Second, this initiative, contrary to clear state law, deals with at last SIX different issues, and no citizens’ initiative can do that. ONE issue only. It redefines “assault weapon” to include my Ruger 10/.22, Marlin, Remington, etc semi auto .22 rifles!!!!! The Browning BAR is now an… Read more »

Rich

Do not register your assault weapons as the law abiding citizens of New York City did. When the the so called assault weapons ban was passed NYPD officers went and confiscated them.

joefoam

And yet it passed and will be enforced. Enjoy!

Capndad

They can only take what you give them.

Randy krepps

Don’t GIVE up anything! So damn easy, THEY COME for it,time to kill OR BE KILLED!

TLM

Molon Labe.

RJL

Gun Control=Extermination…