Gun control opponents pack meeting

OLYMPIA – Dozens of gun control opponents packed a Senate hearing Tuesday to oppose several bills affecting gun ownership.

In the largest committee meeting since the legislative session began Jan. 10, about 200 people filled the Senate judiciary hearing room and an overflow room. Citizen opponents appeared to far outnumber the proponents, who were mostly lawmakers, public officials and members of antigun groups.

“Where does it stop?” asked Anton Rehling, a business owner and National Rifle Association member who lives in Olympia. “This isn’t about the pros and cons of guns, it’s about the freedom of our right to own and bear arms.”

Bills that have been filed or drafted on the issue include the banning of assault weapons and .50-caliber guns, regulating the sale of firearms at guns shows and events, and banning guns from the Capitol building.

Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park, sponsored the bill regulating firearms at the Capitol (it’s Senate Bill 5344). She said those with permits can put their weapons in a lockbox and retrieve them when they leave.

“It’s just simple common sense,” said Fairley, who worries about violence in the case of “somebody getting very upset at us or at the staff or at the governor. We just don’t need that kind of pressure.”

However, Sen. Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley, said the bill is unnecessary.

“I’ve worked here for 25 years and never felt threatened,” said McCaslin, the only committee member from east of the Cascades.

Dozens of people testified for about three hours.

A bill that has failed in past sessions but has surfaced again this year as SB 5343 would close a loophole that allows the unregulated sale of handguns at gun shows, such as the popular events held at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center.

Federally licensed firearms dealers – including those who operate at gun shows – must perform background checks on anyone who purchases a firearm and keep records of buyers’ names and addresses. For handgun buyers, state law also requires a five-day waiting period.

But people who only make occasional sales at gun shows – such as collectors – aren’t considered dealers, and can sell handguns without a background check or waiting period.

Gun control advocates call that exemption a dangerous opportunity for criminals to evade the background checks required for commercial sales.

“Right now in Washington state it would be easier to track a carton of milk bought at Safeway with a Safeway card than a gun bought at a gun show,” said Jon Scholes, a board member with Washington CeaseFire, the state’s largest gun control group.

Again, McCaslin was unimpressed.

“If you can guarantee me no criminal will get a gun then it will get my vote,” he said. “But until then it doesn’t show me it will be an effective law.”

Joe Waldron, of Washington Arms Collectors, which promotes about a third of the gun shows held in Washington each year, said one of the biggest problems was the “myths surrounding the issue” and that “very few” guns from gun shows make it into the hands of felons.

Opponents said a bill to ban .50-caliber weapons is arbitrary, and warned that it could lead to a banning of smaller-caliber guns. By comparison, the rifles most commonly used for hunting deer and elk are chambered for calibers ranging from .24 to .30.

Lt. Randy Black, of the Seattle Police Department, said he has seen evidence of .50-caliber ammunition disintegrating body parts. The bullets can be used to pierce low-level armor and stop vehicles, he said.

“There are so many situations where people who are not fit to own weapons handle them, and the .50-caliber is one of those weapons we need to keep out of the hands of those types of people,” said Black, a 22-year police veteran.