No Compromise Gun Org Sues Washington State for Anti-Gun Ballot Initiative
Jose Nino
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Jordan Stein, Gun Owners of America’s Director of Communication, announced on August 19, 2020 that GOA, its legal arm Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), and plaintiff Kerry Stone are legally challenging Washington State’s civilian disbarment initiative, I-1639.
The ballot initiative in question was mired by a suspicious signature gathering process. It established enhanced background checks, stronger training requirements, age limitations, and waiting periods to purchase firearms, among other anti-gun measures.
This law is a clear Second Amendment infringement, which GOA noted:
The exercise of no other constitutional right (or even so-called constitutional right) is subject to a similar requirement. Women are not required to watch videos of babies being aborted, and be counseled about the benefits of adoption, before obtaining an abortion on demand. Columnists, Twitter posters, and videographers are not educated by the government as to the maleffects of “fake news,” “swatting,” and child pornography, before being permitted to engage in protected speech. And pastors are not indoctrinated as to the detriments of religious extremism and violence before being permitted to preach sermons to their congregations. Yet the annual cost to human life resulting from the misuse of each of these First Amendment activities far exceeds the death toll from the misuse of firearms.
The lawsuit can be read here.
Washington is one of the most anti-gun states in the country. It received a ranking of 38th place according to Guns & Ammo magazine’s Best States for Gun Owner’s rankings.
Second Amendment activists in Washington State will likely have to become creative in their activism as evidenced by some activists turning to sanctuary counties as a means of resisting statewide gun control.
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