• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The K-Var ArmoryThe K-Var Armory

The Largest Supplier of Firearms, Gun Parts, & Accessories Online

  • Shop K-Var
  • News
    • Industry
    • Politics
    • Second Amendment
    • Self Defense
    • Comics
  • Reviews
    • Anything AK
    • Anything AR
    • Gear
    • Pistols
    • Rifles
    • Shotguns
  • Newsletter

Bipartisan Bill to Repeal WA Gun Control

February 22, 2019 by David Dolbee 2 Comments

Ten Republicans and one Democrat have signed onto a bipartisan bill in the Washington State House of Representatives aimed at repealing the controversial gun control Initiative 1639. The 30-page measure was passed by the voters in November 2018. Currently, a majority of county sheriffs, at least one police chief, and two county commissions have come against the measure and refused to enforce its oppressive, and potentially unconstitutional, mandates.

Ruger 10/22 below, AR-15 rifle above illustration the subject of a bipartisan bill
Lawmakers in Olympia have introduced a bipartisan bill to repeal anti-gun Initiative 1639, which defines all semi-auto rifles, including the Ruger 10/22 small game hunting rifle, as so-called “assault rifles.”

Democrat State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has “warned” the sheriffs that they could face legal action if someone in their jurisdiction unlawfully gets a firearm and harms someone. KIRO radio’s Dori Monson wrote about that at MyNorthwest.com, calling Ferguson “The most dangerous politician I have ever covered in my 24 years on the air.”

House Bill 2103 is a 53-page measure that is dubbed “The People’s Defense of the Second Amendment Act of 2019.” Its prime sponsor is Spokane Republican Rep. Matt Shea, who is also a proponent of dividing the Evergreen State in half, with the eastside becoming the Liberty state.

The legislation may not gain much traction in the Democrat-controlled House, but it is stirring up a lot of discussion on social media, and grassroots gun owners are an unhappy bunch since I-1639 became law. It strips Second Amendment rights to purchase and own any semiautomatic rifle from young adults ages 18-20, and classifies all self-loading rifles as so-called “semiautomatic assault rifles.”

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, in an exclusive interview with Liberty Park Press, suggested that the strongest reason anti-gunners had for pushing the initiative was so they could create a legal definition for an “assault rifle,” a weapon that the veteran lawman said really doesn’t exist. But, he theorized, by creating such a definition, at some later date the billionaire-funded gun prohibition lobby could launch another anti-gun initiative to outright ban all guns that fall within that definition.

According to KEPR News, Shea has received “thousands of emails from people opposing 1639.” Sheriff Knezovich said during his interview that he has been deluged by hundreds of callers in his county, many of them Democrats who initially supported the measure because it was advertised as a “school safety” effort. Now that people are discovering what was really in the initiative, they are apparently fuming.

In an attempt to counter the uprising against their initiative, Seattle-based anti-gunners have been claiming in an email blast that the National Rifle Association “is coming at us with a NEW lawsuit” challenging the measure in federal court. In reality, the NRA and Second Amendment Foundation recently only changed their single federal lawsuit, withdrawing the original complaint and filing a new one that changed the defendants from Ferguson to include a municipal police chief, a county sheriff and the director of the state Department of Licensing. There is no additional lawsuit, as a Tuesday email implied by asserting that the NRA (they focus their wrath on that organization) now has a “relentless stream of lawsuits” challenging the measure.

Last year, the SAF and NRA sued to keep the measure off the ballot because, as affirmed by Thurston County Superior Court Judge James Dixon, the initiative petitions did not comply with state law. However, a week later, the liberal state Supreme Court overruled Dixon and put the initiative back on the ballot. It passed in November by just over 59 percent, while being rejected in a majority of the state’s 39 counties.

“We’re committed to protecting this first-of-its-kind blueprint for keeping our children and communities safe from the threat of semi-automatic assault weapons,” says the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility. “But if we lose this new case, we could lose ALL the progress we’ve made together to keep these weapons of war out of dangerous hands.”

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, in 2017—the most recent year for which data is available—Washington state suffered a single homicide that year that definitely involved a rifle. That’s out of 134 gun-related slayings for the year, which was fewer than the number of homicides committed just in the City of Chicago. During a typical year, the state reports less than a half-dozen rifle-related slayings.

Will the NRA and SAF be successful in their lawsuit? How can future misleading legislation such as I-1639 be prevented? Share your answers in the comment section.


Sign up for K-Var’s weekly newsletter and discounts here.

Filed Under: News, Politics, Second Amendment Tagged With: Gun Control, National Rifle Association, Second Amendment, Second Amendment Foundation

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. D says

    February 23, 2019 at 4:54 pm

    I am stunned this is Washington, my home state. I would ask the question what went wrong but, I already know the answer. Glad I’m living where I am now. Such a shame.

    Reply
  2. John says

    March 16, 2019 at 9:10 am

    Under federal law an assault rifle or weapon was defined in 1934 under the NFA law passed by Congress that defined an assault weapon or rifle or for that matter a pistol that has a selector switch that allows a firearm to go from semi auto to full auto with the flip of that switch such as a Thomson machine gun or the M16 used by the military. A black powder rifle is an assault rifle if you assault someone with it or anything that u assault someone with.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to the Muzzle Flash – The K-Var Armory Official Newsletter!








Marketing permission: I give my consent to K-Var to be in touch with me via email using the information I have provided in this form for the purpose of news, updates and marketing.

What to expect: If you wish to withdraw your consent and stop hearing from us, simply click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email we send or contact us at news@k-var.com. We value and respect your personal data and privacy. To view our privacy policy, please visit our website. By submitting this form, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.


Recent Posts

  • ATF’s “New Era of Reform” – What Does it Mean?
  • Exploring the FIME Group FM-VZ61-01 VZ61 Parts Kit: A Gem for Collectors and Enthusiasts
  • The Vitality of Replacing Parts like Springs and Firing Pins
  • Trump’s 50% Tariff Threat: Impact on Imported Firearm Prices
  • Circle 10 “Waffle Pattern” 30-round Magazine: As Good As it Gets
Gun Broker Auctions

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017

Categories

  • 1911
  • Accessories
  • Ammunition
  • Anything AK
  • Anything AR
  • Arex
  • Arsenal
  • Blades
  • Browning
  • Cartridges
  • Charter Arms
  • Colt
  • Comics
  • Conservation
  • Dan Wesson
  • Deer
  • Derringer
  • Gear
  • Glock
  • Hearing Protection
  • Holsters
  • How To
  • How-To
  • Hunting
  • Industry
  • Kahr
  • Kel-Tec
  • Lasers
  • News
  • NFA
  • Night Vision
  • North American Arms
  • Op-ed
  • Optics
  • Optics
  • Pistols
  • Politics
  • Predator
  • Product Recall Notice
  • Red Dot
  • Reloading
  • Reviews
  • Revolvers
  • Rifles
  • Rimfire
  • Rock Island Armory
  • Rossi
  • Ruger
  • Ruger
  • Savage
  • Second Amendment
  • Self Defense
  • Shotguns
  • SIG Sauer
  • Small Game
  • Smith and Wesson
  • Springfield
  • Tactics
  • Taurus
  • Thermal
  • Turkey
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • Walther
  • Waterfowling
  • Comics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • About
  • Newsletter

Copyright © 2025 · K-Var Corp · Log in