WA Activists Alarmed: New House Speaker is Veteran Anti-Gunner

Washington State Rep. Laurie Jinkins, (D-27th District) has been elected the state’s next House speaker. (Official photo, Jinkins legislative website)

Washington – -(AmmoLand.com)- The election of veteran Tacoma Democrat State Rep. Laurie Jinkins as the next speaker of the Washington State House of Representatives is raising alarms among Evergreen State Second Amendment activists because she has an anti-gun track record that includes taking contributions from Everytown for Gun Safety and Alliance for Gun Responsibility action funds.

Jinkins made history by being the first woman elected to the Speaker’s post in state history. She is openly gay, as noted by the Seattle PI.com. Only seven other states have female speakers: Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, neighboring Oregon, and Vermont, according to the Associated Press.

Ironically, while the anti-gun Democrat has been named House Speaker, where she can move gun control legislation and stall gun rights efforts, there is a continuing surge in concealed carry, according to the state Department of Licensing.

Ammoland News learned that as of July 31, there were a record 627,497 active concealed pistol licenses in circulation. That’s up 5,286 CPLs from the end of June, when Washington boasted 622,211 CPLs.

Even more significantly, the new number reveals that in the past 12 months, a whopping 39,178 new CPLs have been added, which is surprising for a state that has officially voted “Blue” in national politics for the past several election cycles.

That vote is dominated by the heavy Democrat base in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties and the Puget Sound basin. King County encompasses Seattle, the headquarters of the billionaire-backed Alliance for Gun Responsibility and the less active Washington Ceasefire.

Still, according to the new DOL figures, there are more than 100,000 CPLs in King County, along with 80,623 licenses in Pierce and 69,015 in Snohomish County. Roughly 20 percent of the state’s CPLs are held by women, and in some counties, that percentage is even higher.

How that may translate to political action remains to be seen. Republican State Sen. Phil Fortunato suggested in a telephone interview that his anti-gun colleagues may not pay it much attention.

Gubernatorial candidate and Republic Police Chief Loren Culp said via email that in a state with about 7.5 million residents, “We should have more” active licenses. Culp, running as a Republican, opened his campaign last month after being encouraged by citizens across the state for his stand against a sweeping gun-control measure, Initiative 1639, passed by voters last November. The police chief vowed not to enforce the measure’s restrictive provisions, and instead encouraged the Republic City Council to declare the community a “Second Amendment Sanctuary.”

I-1639 is being challenged in federal district court by the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association on constitutional grounds.

Culp’s campaign has announced what is being billed as a “money bomb” will drop on Friday, Aug. 9, when gun owners are being asked to make campaign contributions.

“If only 100,000 people make a donation of $50 that gives his campaign $5 million dollars and that’s what (current Gov.) Jay Inslee spent in the last election,” a message announcing the “money bomb” effort explained.

Meanwhile, Fortunato is preparing his own run for the governorship, he indicated.

Between now and next November there will be a short legislative session in Olympia, where Jinkins’ gun control track record bodes ill for an estimated 2 million Washington gun owners.

News of her election as speaker, which becomes official in January when she is elected by the full House, has already fired up rights activists. Many have already weighed in negatively via social media, and they are already talking about working to shift the House majority to Republicans in 2020. But they are cognizant of the damage that gun control legislation could do if passed during the Winter 2020 session.

Jinkins supported I-1639, which raised the minimum age for purchasing a semiautomatic rifle in Washington to 21 years, and classified every semi-auto rifle ever manufactured as a “semiautomatic assault rifle.”

On her campaign website, she wrote, “Gun violence is an epidemic in Washington and in our country. We can and must do more to prevent it. In Washington, we’ve already taken great steps, but there is still more to do.”

She said passage of I-1639 would allow gun control advocates in the Legislature to “do more legislatively to pass evidence-based gun violence prevention policies that will make Washington safer and save lives.”

“As Chair of the committee that hears all gun violence legislation in the House of Representatives,” she said, “and as a long-time public health worker, I support taking additional common-sense steps to prevent gun violence.”

According to the state Public Disclosure Commission website, last year Jinkins received $1,000 from the Everytown Action Fund, and equal contributions from Nick and Leslie Hanauer. Nick Hanauer helped found the Alliance for Gun Responsibility.

In 2016, Jinkins received $2,000 from the Alliance’s Victory Fund, and Nick Hanauer gave her another $1,000. The Victory fund also gave Jinkins $950 in 2014, the PDC report revealed.

Washington has not had a Republican governor for more than 30 years. But Culp’s campaign has already revealed that a majority of contributions so far have come from the Puget Sound area. Whoever the Republican candidate is next fall, that person will have a daunting task because of the heavy Socialist-Democrat voting power in western Washington.


About Dave WorkmanDave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

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Whodaty

Laurie should attend a Pink Pistols meeting to see what that part of her constituency thinks about gun rights and the reasons therefore. The concept of “When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away!” is so logical and understandable that even a progressive should be able to comprehend the situation.

JPM

The entire left coast (Kalifornia, Washington & Oregon) is a liberal hell-hole. The good people (conservative patriots with common sense) of those states (yes, including Kalifornia) seem to all inhabit those portions of those states East of the coastal areas and I feel sorry for them and wish them well. Other states suffer as well given the populations centers (liberal bastions) of the states usually dictate to the entire state by controlling the elections. The states need an Electoral College system so that the small towns and rural areas (usually with most of the residents of the state) are equally… Read more »

Ej harbet

Fun fact! The world record for single handed mass murder is held by a fine socialist.
Sadly his suicide by gun happened after he filled mass graves with tens of thousands of innocent
“Enemies of the state” stalin gave him a medal. Google,vasily blokhin. Socialism is the darkest evil
And i wish i could show these punk snowflakes what the creator saw in eastern european basements and forests.
Those who didnt go mad would straighten out

Vern

Communists/socialists have never in their history brought peace or safety. They have been proponents of death and suffering in all of their existence. Even the “soft” socialism they are trying to push today is a lie. They still don’t have enough smarts to recognize socialism is only for those at the top, those beneath them are expendable for those at the top. Gun control means only those at the top have guns and those under them are the targets.

Superman

There will soon be a massive push in Washington to legislate firearms owners out of existence. The only avenues open for Washington gun owners are to ignore and refuse to comply with unconstitutional/silly/worthless laws.

nrringlee

Correct. Or Leave. I was born there. I would not live there if you held a gun to my head. While they still have guns, that is.

Wild Bill

@Superman 1, You write, “The only avenues …” Then you mention only noncompliance. What other avenue or avenues were you thinking about? Leaving, as mentioned by nrringlee, or some other avenues?

Oldshooter

It seems that our whole country is now facing a problem similar to the one the founders faced in regards to densely populated states vs. more rural ones. This time it is densely populated city areas vs. The rest of the country. The 2016 electoral map by county clearly shows this, and the Democrat party has already begun attacking the Electoral College, which was the founders solution. The most populous city areas have the vast majority of the nation’s crime, and are generally run by Democrats along Socialist principles. The rest of the country is more divided in terms of… Read more »

gregs

our founding fathers were levels of magnitude more intelligent than any politician today. they wisely set up the electoral college and it would be a huge endeavor to change and not enough of the states will approve of changing the Constitution. the Bill of Rights is already under assault with free speech being suppressed, gun control laws being passed and violations of fourth amendment by governmental officials. we are already on that path.

Whodaty

Oldshooter- YES!!! State elections need to be run just like the national elections, using the electoral college system.
While we’re at it, give parents back the “right” to effectively discipline their kids (whacking) so that the young can learn that there are limits and consequences to what they can get away with. Add civics and ethics classes to the K-12 school curriculum, and cut way back on electronic babysitting and violence. Then , perhaps, things might start to improve.

BTW, no more referendums (mob rule) on Constitutional issues.