Washington State Gun Bill is Unconstitutional

The state of Washington is absolutely beautiful. The snow-capped mountains, the lush green forests, the pristine rivers where one can spend the entire day fly fishing for Rainbow Trout and Coho Salmon…

It truly is an amazing place.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I could ever live there.

Because according to a new Senate bill, I would likely be considered a criminal in the Evergreen State.

Wiping their Asses with the Constitution

On February 13, Senator Ed Murray introduced Senate Bill 5737. Under the terms of this bill, it would be illegal for any person in the state of Washington to manufacture, possess, purchase, sell, or otherwise transfer any assault weapon, or any assault weapon conversion kit.

Now here’s where it gets interesting…

The bill defines assault weapons as semi-automatic or pump action rifles and pistols which can accept a detachable magazine with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, and features any of the following:

• A pistol grip

• Folding or thumb hole stock

• Barrel shroud

• Muzzle brake

• A protruding forward grip

The bill also mandates that assault weapons legally owned when the bill is enacted must be safely stored, and may be inspected by the sheriff once a year.

I tell ya, I would love to see the original version of this bill…

Which was likely written on the back of napkin at some random diner where lawmakers got together over club sandwiches and French fries to brainstorm new ways to use the Constitution as toilet paper.

Never Mind the Fourth Amendment

The vagueness of this bill alone should be enough to make anyone cringe.

All assault weapons must be safely stored and may be inspected by the sheriff once a year?

What constitutes “safe and secure?” That’s not even defined in the bill.

I had no idea that Washington State sheriffs had so much time and money on their hands that they could actually conduct these types of yearly searches. And never mind that pesky Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures…

These guys actually managed to bypass two of the ten Amendments in the Bill of Rights with this one piece of legislation.

Unreal!

But what’s really bizarre is that Washington State actually has one of the lowest rates of gun-related homicides in the country — yet has had some of the least restrictive gun laws on the books. (Of course, folks are still victimized by gun-related homicides, and certainly that cannot — and should not — go unnoticed.)

Car Trunks and Street Corners

According to the Washington State Department of Health, 92 residents of Washington State were killed in 2011 as a result of a gun-related homicide. Certainly a far cry from Chicago’s more than 400 gun-related homicides in 2012, but still too many to ignore.

The question, however, is will new restrictive gun laws help the state of Washington reduce its gun-related homicide rate?

Of the 92 people murdered in Washington State in 2011, the majority were killed by those carrying firearms that were not legally obtained.

So, do you think a new law that bans law-abiding gun owners from owning very common firearms is going to affect all those criminals who buy their firearms out of the backs of car trunks or on street corners? Moreover, do you really believe the criminal element will ever be subjected to firearm storage inspections?

Folks, the only thing this bill does is put lawful gun owners at a disadvantage while trampling their Constitutional rights.

The REAL Problem

Last year, I wrote an article that actually became quite controversial. But with the news of this new unconstitutional bill in Washington State, I believe some of what I wrote just a few months ago bears repeating…

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know where the majority of these gun-related deaths occur. Most are not in our suburban schools, movie theaters, and high-rise office suites. No, most are in the streets of our most violent cities and in areas where there are specific commonalities, no matter where you go in this country.

What are those commonalities? The districts and neighborhoods where most of the nation’s murders happen are plagued by broken homes, third- and fourth-generation welfare families, high unemployment, low literacy rates, rampant drug abuse, and limited opportunities for kids to spend their time constructively.

These are the ingredients for a violent society. Yet it’s this part of society that most of us never see or hear about.

All we see are the numbers at the end of the year…

Here’s a list of some of the nation’s most violent cities:

In these ten cities alone, 2,276 Americans were tragically killed last year. These aren’t just numbers, my friend… These are real people with real families. And their lives are no less important than the lives of those lost in mass shootings that the mainstream media rushes to cover — and that gun control advocates use to further their goal of restricting gun rights of responsible gun owners.

But rest assured the majority of those 2,276 people that have been the victims of gun violence in our most dangerous cities were not murdered by those carrying legally-obtained firearms.

Now, I don’t know how this is going to play out in Washington next year. But I do know there are a lot of folks who have now decided that nearly 10,000 gun-related deaths in the United States is not something we can brush under the rug any longer. And I agree.

My hope, however, is that we are honest about what the real problem is… and how we can fix it.

I hope we are honest about where most of these gun-related homicides are happening — and more important, why they continue to happen — and how we can help create environments where continued gun-related violence cannot continue to breed.

And my hope is we can do so without infringing upon the rights of responsible gun owners.

Live honorably, live free…

Jeff Siegel for Freedom Watch