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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hundreds protest I-594 at Olympia gun-rights rally

OLYMPIA – Hundreds of gun-rights advocates, some dressed in camouflage and a few wearing Santa hats, gathered Saturday on the Capitol grounds to denounce the background-check law Washington voters approved last month.

A crowd estimated between 600 and 800 by the Washington State Patrol – and between 1,000 to 2,000 by organizers – cheered as a string of speakers called Initiative 594 unenforceable and “a constitutional abomination.” Some carried rifles, others shotguns, still others pistols or other handguns. One had a sheathed broadsword.

They gathered in fog on the rain-soaked Capitol lawn for about four hours. A few passed their firearms back and forth in an effort to violate the new law’s provision that requires a background check for a “transfer.” But their attempts at civil disobedience brought no arrests or citations.

“We’re going to let them do that,” said Trooper Guy Gill of the Washington State Patrol. There was a difference of opinion during the recent initiative campaign whether such actions violate the law, with the sponsors of I-594 insisting they do not.

Geoff Potter, of the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, said the rally was a chance for campaign rhetoric to meet reality. “No arrests were made because it was not a crime,” he said. The alliance supported passage of I-594.

One of the first speakers urged anyone handing a gun back and forth to exercise good gun safety practices, and Gill said both organizers and the State Patrol had safety as a primary goal. “These folks are responsible firearms owners,” he added.

They were an eclectic mix.

One protester, who would only identify himself as Dylan from Issaquah, sat at a table in front of a rainbow-striped flag with the coiled rattlesnake and the message “Don’t Tread on Me” of the tea party-favored Gadsden Flag. He had decorated two rifles with rainbow duct tape, and had them available for anyone to pick up and pass back and forth in a “transfer.” Other protesters came and passed their guns to him, including Danny Aguillon, who had a nearby table where he was selling T-shirts that said “Fight I594”.

Dylan said he set up the table to give people who didn’t bring a firearm a chance to break the law, and to represent gun owners who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. “We’re not all camo’d-out rednecks,” he said. “We come from all walks of life.”

One protester in a red and white Santa hat, who gave his name simply as Richard from Clark County, was trying to violate the law by offering a rifle, an Interarms Mark X, for sale for $600 and not performing a background check on the buyer.

Richard bought the rifle from a private seller about 15 years ago and it was just gathering dust, he said. He didn’t go through a background check when he bought it, so “why should I subject anyone else to that?” he asked.

But as the rally was wrapping up in the late afternoon, Richard said he’d had a few inquiries but no buyers, so he hadn’t had a chance to break the law.

I-594 passed with 59 percent approval, but speakers said that was a result of some voters not understanding its provisions, some gun-rights supporters not voting and major gun-rights organizations fighting among themselves.

The crowd Saturday booed wealthy donors like Michael Bloomberg who backed the initiative, as well as gun control advocate Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman shot while meeting with constituents, and Vice President Joe Biden, who once said people who want protection should get a shotgun, not a military-style semi-automatic weapon.

“It’s impossible to enforce this law,” said state Rep. Elizabeth Scott, a Republican from Monroe, Washington. “There are more of us than there are of them.”

She urged protesters to return to Olympia during the upcoming legislative session when more gun-control bills will be introduced, as will efforts to roll back some provisions of I-594 or completely repeal it. A repeal effort “won’t go anywhere, but we’re going to try,” she said.

Scott also read a message from Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, that said he couldn’t attend the rally but was with protesters in spirit and called gun control measures like I-594 a step toward the government “taking our arms.”

Gavin Seim, a former Republican congressional candidate who organized the rally, said the right to bear arms is in the Constitution and can’t be taken away by the Legislature or “by the collective, uninformed majority.” At the end of the rally he burned his concealed weapon permit, insisting the government didn’t have the authority to give him permission to exercise his rights, which extend beyond common firearms.

“If you want a tank in your front yard, then buy one … your house will be the safest on the block,” Seim said. “If you want to own a bazooka, own one.”

Potter, of the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, said the rally featured some “really extreme voices” against gun control, but contended the majority of Washington residents support the background check laws.

“We don’t see any energy either behind efforts to repeal 594 or to weaken gun laws,” Potter said.