GOAL Post #6

By March 2, all bills must have passed their original “policy” committee for further consideration. At that point, bills that have not passed out of committee die (although in some cases the language could be amended into other bills at a later date). Action has already been taken on several bills and more will pass out of committee this week. The House Judiciary Committee will hold an evening session on Monday, February 22nd, at 7:00 p.m. where HBs 1196 and 1391 (CPL reciprocity) and HB 1682 (detaining students with guns) will be voted on.

SB 5312 was amended in committee to remove language allowing hospitals to ban firearms. The gun ban language COULD be amended back into the bill on the Senate floor. SB 5448 (public transit gun ban) was heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 15th, with significant testimony against it. SB 5629 (Civil Rights Act—allowing a citizen to sue if state constitutional rights are denied by a public official) was heard on February 17th.

New bills continue to be filed, although time is rapidly running out. SB 5992 would create a new “lifetime CPL,” although the Brady-compliant CPLs (over-the-counter purchase of firearms) would remain available. At this time, no bill has been filed addressing gun shows or controlling private sales of guns. Washington Ceasefire is circulating a draft bill that would gather data identifying “crime guns” (to include accessories and modifications) with an annual report from the Attorney General just prior to the start of the legislative session (i.e. “gun ban target list”).

Bill Status

SB=Senate Bill, HB=House Bill, SSB/SHB=Substitute (amended) Senate or House Bill

Go here to read more about the bills by number.

Please call members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and note your opposition to SB 5448, a knee-jerk reaction to the November incident in which a Seattle bus driver was murdered and the bus crashed. SB 5448 would ban guns in/on all public transit assets, but would no more have stopped the Seattle incident than did the existing laws against carrying a concealed pistol without a license or against murder. Go here to find the Judiciary Committee members and how to contact them.

You may reach your Representatives and Senators by calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Toll free! The hearing impaired may obtain TDD access at 1-800-635-9993. Also toll free! You may obtain hard copy bills, initiatives, etc., in the mail from the Legislative Bill Room FREE OF CHARGE by calling 1-360-786-7573.

This article is edited for space. To receive the entire GOAL Post send a request here. Information is edited and reprinted with written permission from GOAL. All information Copyright (C) 1999 Gun Owners Action League of WA and Olympic Arms, Inc.

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Vote Expected on Olympic Gun Ban
SB 122 in Utah has passed out of committee and could get a floor vote as early as Tuesday, February 23. The version up for a vote is a committee substitute that has been cobbled together in an attempt to buy you off. Don't let that happen! Your pressure has shown the politicians that this "must pass" anti-gun legislation might not be so must-pass after all. And so they have resorted to the old trick of handing you a carrot with one hand while taking a stick to your gun rights with the other.

The second substitute of SB 122 contains "clarification" language which would write into law the manner in which houses of worship and private residences could prohibit concealed carry permit holders from entering while armed. It also makes a small change to state preemption law that could become a nightmare if future anti-gun legislatures appoint numerous bureaucrats to do their dirty work for them. If interested, you can go here for more on these provisions. Scroll down to SB 122.

To find out how to help stop this measure please see the info at GOA.

California Alert!
SB 23, a bill that drastically expands the Assault Weapons Control Act, and SB 15, which seeks to ban affordable self defense handguns, are still awaiting consideration in the Senate Public Safety Committee. Continue making phone calls in opposition to these measures to your lawmakers and Governor Gray Davis! For a list of your state legislators and their telephone numbers, call the NRA-ILA Grassroots Division at (800) 392-8683. When contacting Governor Davis, you may call him at his capital office at (916) 445-2841, or at one of his field offices, Fresno (209) 445-5295, Irvine (714) 553-3566, Los Angeles (213) 897- 0322, and Riverside (909) 680-6860, San Diego (619) 525-4641 or San Francisco (415) 703-2218.

NRA FaxAlert Highlights
This week, the Wall Street Journal (2/15/99) ran a front page story outlining the jury deliberations in the Hamilton v. Accu-Tek case. What the Journal found was a jury that ignored substantive evidence and engaged in behind-the-scenes "horse trading." After four days of intensive debate, the jury still could not reach a unanimous verdict and asked the presiding judge, Jack Weinstein, for more direction. The article reports that Weinstein had no intention of allowing a hung jury in the case and ordered the jury to continue with its deliberations. In the end, the weary jury finally reached its own compromise, utilizing its own formula for assessing damages against a number of companies it found liable for criminal shootings. One juror stated, "I didn't grasp that we had found so many negligent until I read it in the papers the next day." As Stephen L. Sanetti, general counsel of Sturm, Ruger & Co., noted, "A compromise verdict is an illegal verdict." The manufacturers are planning to ask a the judge to throw out the jury's verdict and, if he does not, they will appeal.

In other news on the gun industry suit front, the State of Michigan has joined New York in considering being the first state to launch a suit against the gun industry (up to this point, litigation has been filed by cities and counties.) But, according to a report in The Florida Times-Union (2/16/99), a panel of legal experts convened at the University of Georgia this week concluded these suits face dim future prospects of success. Richard Nagreda, a law professor at the University stated, "We have a process to make those sorts of judgements, and it's called democracy." Nagreda noted further that the aims of these suits are to put political pressure on the firearms industry. Others questioned the legitimacy of using tort law to achieve social goals that are currently (and correctly) reserved for elected legislative bodies, commenting on the "dangerous precedent" set by making such decisions through the "back door of litigation." David Mustard, an economist and panelist, cited the fact that despite an increase in gun ownership in the U.S. over the past 50 years, their is no evidence of a correlating increase in deaths, and in fact, despite the increase in gun ownership, firearms accidents are on the wane. MEDIA ALERT: For more information on the lawsuits against the gun industry, go to MSNBC's "Opinions" section of its website (http://msnbc.com), where NRA-ILA Executive Director James J. Baker has an on-line editorial on this front. Also, MSNBC is conducting an on-line survey on whether gun manufacturers should be sued. At press time, responses to this poll were 88% disagreeing with the suit, and 11% agreeing. Also, this Sunday, at 10:00 a.m. PT, the Pacifica Radio Network will host David Kopel of the Independence Institute and Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center to discuss this issue in-depth. Please tune in and call in with your thoughts on this matter.

Where are the catalogs?
Dealer catalogs are here!!! We have made our main bulk mailing, and if you send an FFL you should receive one shortly. Our Retail catalogs are being worked on at this time and should be ready very soon. Give us a try at the end of March '99 and hopefully we can get you one!

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