BELLEVUE, WA – -(AmmoLand.com)- Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson need a refresher course on the constitution; Inslee because he doesn’t know the difference between a regulated privilege and a constitutionally-protected fundamental right, and Ferguson because he evidently believes Second Amendment rights are subject to public opinion polls, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
In his Monday demand for a new round of restrictive gun control measures, Inslee told the media;
“You need to get a license to drive a car in the state of Washington. You need to get a license to go fishing. It’s time to get a license to make sure you have the safety training to purchase a gun in the state of Washington. And it’s high time we pass a bill to make sure you get a permit before you purchase a firearm.”
“Maybe Jay Inslee should head back to law school so he can get it right,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb.
“Driving is a privilege. Recreational sport fishing is a privilege. But owning a firearm is a right protected by both the U.S. and Washington state constitutions. The notion citizens should need a license to exercise a right, and a permission slip from the police before they can exercise that right, is an abomination that clearly doesn’t pass the smell test.
“In his news release, Ferguson mentions two polls showing public support for a ban on semiautomatic rifles,” he added. “The attorney general should know that constitutionally-protected rights are not determined by the whims of opinion polls. Both the U.S. and Washington constitutions protect the right to bear arms. Neither says a thing about the type of arms, how they function or what they can, or cannot, look like.”
The Washington State Constitution’s Article 1, Section 24 states, “The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men.”
“Requiring a license and permit to purchase a firearm is clearly an impairment of the right to bear arms,” Gottlieb observed. “No other enumerated constitutional right is encumbered with a permit requirement. As Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the Bruen decision earlier this year, ‘The constitutional right to bear arms…is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees’.”
“Inslee and Ferguson are grand-standing,” he continued. “They’re not talking about sending criminals to prison. They’re talking about restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens to create the false impression something is being done about violent crime, when it really isn’t. The Legislature should soundly reject these proposals.”
Read Related: War on Washington Gun Owners, Governor Announces 2023 Agenda
About Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.
Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson need a refresher course on the constitution;
NO. What they both need and deserve is to be arrested and charged with felony perjury for swearing their oath of office and refusing to uphold that oath. Law school wnt help Jayzie. It didn’t take the first time through because he lacks the appropriat circuits in his brain to absorb, process, and utilise that to which he was exposed in aw school the first go-round.
The Left has nothing but utter contempt for our Constitution and our laws. Democrats pick and choose which laws they will and will not obey and which laws they will and will not enforce. The Left has been shredding our Constitution, one little piece at a time, for well more than a century.
Time for the right to ignore all the Bull the left passes, and just abide by the Constitution. And enforce the Constitution on all.
Jay-me “there is no such thing as ANTIFA” Peterson. ’nuff said.