As the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show opened Tuesday in Las Vegas, where tens of thousands of firearms industry professionals are gathering — including many from Washington State — the Seattle-based gun prohibition lobby has a complaint.
“We’re less than 72 hours from our next hearing day,” the Alliance for Gun Responsibility lamented in a Monday email, “and we just learned the gun lobby is bombarding state legislators with calls and emails speaking out against the gun safety legislation at the top of our agenda.”
The “gun lobby” they are talking about consists of thousands of Evergreen State gun owners who are not letting the well-financed gun control crowd waltz into Olympia like they own the place, simply because Democrats now control the Legislature. The “gun safety legislation” they are speaking against includes:
HB 2519, concerning concealed pistol license eligibility requirements;
HB 2293, which restricts firearms in “early learning facilities” (day care centers);
HB 1387, aimed at “enhanced background checks” for the purchase of so-called “assault weapons” and “large capacity magazines”;
HB 2422, a bill that would ban so-called “high capacity magazines”;
HB 2666, which is the real prize, because it would unravel the state’s 35-year-old preemption law that has prevented Seattle and other cities from adopting their own gun control laws.
The hearing is scheduled Thursday, Jan. 25 in House Hearing Room “A” beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Anti-gunners argue in their email blast that doing away with state preemption will “save lives across our state” when no evidence exists to support that claim.
In Las Vegas Tuesday morning, the SHOT Show opener is jammed, and that includes hundreds of recognized press. Over the next four days, they will be reporting from what is possibly the largest firearms industry show in the world, with upwards of 60,000 people expected.
A smaller, but no less energetic, crowd will gather in Olympia to oppose legislation they believe is aimed only at eroding their rights.
