Substitute House Bill 1978 (requires the State Patrol to auction seized guns) was withdrawn by request of the Patrol, thus leaving current state law in place. RCW 9.41.098 ALREADY REQUIRES the State Patrol to auction seized firearms, although no auction has been held in nearly four years. The Patrol intends to "study" the issue in the interim, but I suspect there may be a demand that the Patrol comply with state law!

The (semi)-bad news is that a major fight in the Senate Law & Justice Committee over juvenile justice reform left 41 other bills (including three pro-gun bills) technically dead at the committee cut-off tonight. Action is already underway to "pull" them to Senate Rules and then to the Senate floor. This SHOULD happen, but a little push on Senate leadership and your own Senator wouldn't hurt. See the "ACTION ALERT" below!

Bill status follows:

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ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT
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TELEPHONE CALLS NEEDED: Call your individual Senators and Senate leadership and give them this message:

BRING HOUSE BILLS 1408, 1541 and 1716 TO THE SENATE FLOOR AND VOTE "YES" ON THESE BILLS

You can reach your 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!!!

Senate Majority Leader Dan McDonald may be reached at (360) 786-7694.

Senate Floor Leader Steve Johnson may be reached at (360) 786-7692.

OUR SUCCESS DEPENDS ON YOU! 1-800-562-6000 TDD 1-800-635-9993
!!!CALL TODAY!!!
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A CALL TO ARMS: We're rapidly approaching the point where "the rubber meets the road." Five pro-gun bills are in the home stretch. With continued pressure from you, the responsible pro-gun public, your legislators will soon have the opportunity to show their true colors on the issue of freedom and our firearm rights (the two can't be separated; take either one away and the other will follow). Call YOUR legislators and let them know where YOU stand on these critical issues.

GUN GRABBERS TO "BUY" INITIATIVE 676: An examination of Public Disclosure Commission records reveals "Citizens for Handgun Safety" has successfully added more than $26,000 to their bank account in their attempt to buy a new gun control law. Two individual donors gave $10,000 EACH, while others gave amounts ranging from $2,000 to $25. More cash will flow as they get closer to their goal.

The downside of the initiative process is the ability of backers to pump money into the effort, paying signature gatherers and buying advertising space to promote the initiative. We saw this last year in Initiative 655, where animal rights extremists poured more than $500,000 into the state to limit lawful methods of hunting. Don't let that happen with your right to own a handgun!

HB 2078: HB 2078 (safe storage of firearms with criminal penalties if a firearm is accessed by a child, even if no discharge or injury occurs) remains bottled up in House Rules. Intense pressure on the Speaker by Rep. Ida Ballasiotes and a bloc of liberal Republicans has kept the bill alive, although equally intense pressure from our side has prevented it from coming to the floor for a vote. Existing reckless endangerment laws ALREADY PENALIZE anyone who places another person at risk of death or serious injury. We DON'T NEED another gun control law. Keep the pressure on YOUR lawmakers to vote NO on HB 2078.

OTHER DATA: Copies of pending legislation (bills), legislative schedules and other information are available through "gopher" at the Washington State Legislative Information stop, or on the legislature's web site at www.leg.wa.gov. You may also obtain hard copy bills, initiatives, etc., in the mail from the Legislative Bill Room FREE OF CHARGE by calling 1-360-786-7573. You may also hear floor and committee hearing action live at www.tvw.org.

GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the Goal Post by e-mail, send a message to Joe Waldron. Please pass Goal Post on to anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights. Better yet, make a couple of copies of this message and leave them with your local gun shop(s). Or have them call me and ask to be placed on the fax distribution list. I can be reached at Jwaldron@halcyon.com or (sometimes) by telephone/voice mail at 1-360-754-9782, Unfortunately, I have neither the time, the staff, nor the stamps to mail Goal Post to individuals. :-(

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Next WAC gun show, ISSAQUAH, Saturday/Sunday, 12-13 April 1997
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"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."

Article 1, Section 24
Constitution of the State of Washington