Sue Lani Madsen: Opposition to I-1639 gets personal

On Monday, a meeting set up by a statewide grassroots group called “Washington Strikes Back 1639” drew more than 100 citizens to the Davenport Memorial Hall in Lincoln County.

Not wild-eyed militant radicals, just an ordinary cross section of a rural community. Farmers, teachers, ranchers, nurses, small business owners, elected officials and law enforcement officers all shared concerns about protecting their civil rights.

Similar meetings have been held in Grant, Spokane, Stevens and Yakima counties.

Initiative 1639 was rejected in Lincoln County by over 75 percent of voters, the highest percentage of “No” votes in the state. It passed by less than 60 percent statewide. If it was a bond issue, it would have failed.

Washington Strikes Back 1639 interprets Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s endorsement of I-1639 as official misconduct under RCW 9A.80.010 for seeking to “deprive another person of a lawful right or privilege.”

Attendees were encouraged to fill out criminal complaints describing how they will be affected by Ferguson’s advocacy for more restrictions on the right to bear arms.

The Washington Constitution is plain-spoken compared to the federal 2nd Amendment. No mention of militias, no 18th-century sentence structure to analyze. Article I Section 24 states “The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired.”

Ferguson made the endorsement at the same time his office was tasked with writing a neutral ballot title and summary, stepping across the traditional boundary between executive and legislative branches. He admitted to a conflict of interest when he told Northwest Public Broadcasting in April 2018 that he’d have to “wall himself off” from that process.

If accepted by a court, the criminal complaints will require Ferguson to defend himself at his own expense, no taxpayer resources allowed. Or he’ll be using Bloomberg’s money, as one of the attendees quipped, referring to anti-gun New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

After a third of Washington’s county sheriffs announced their opposition to enforcing I-1639, Ferguson issued a letter suggesting the language was straightforward and merely misunderstood.

He claimed I-1639 “does not require a firearm be stored in a particular place or a particular way.” But the FAQ document on the Attorney General’s website defines secure storage as a “locked box, gun safe, or other secure locked storage space.” A person who fails to meet that standard “could be charged” with a felony or a gross misdemeanor if a prohibited person gets hold of it.

Charging a victim of theft or unauthorized borrowing would be a prosecuting attorney’s call. Elected prosecuting attorneys have been reluctant to comment on I-1639 to protect their prosecutorial discretion.

Unlike the attorney general, they aren’t breaking with tradition. Lincoln County’s prosecuting attorney, Jeff Barkdull, said it was a challenge to balance his duties under oath to defend the Constitution and enforce existing laws.

Former Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney Don Brockett has not been reluctant to wade in. In an open letter, he said the attorney general and the governor should both step down if they are unable to uphold their oaths of office.

The initiative may have passed, but judges are not the only elected officials with a duty to defend the Constitution. After pointing out ways I-1639 is unconstitutional, Brockett points to the ridiculousness of having to “file a lawsuit and wait for a decision (and) in the meantime suffering a loss of our rights.”

Preventing firearms injuries and deaths is common ground, the challenge is how to get there.

Barkdull believes “it would be a better use of time and money to build up our mental health services. We’re dealing with mental health issues on a weekly basis even here, and that’s the crisis – not guns.”

Speaking at Eastern Washington University’s Public Health Grand Rounds lecture series on Friday, Sgt. Jordan Ferguson of the Spokane Police Department Domestic Violence Unit pointed out that firearms by themselves don’t harm anybody, it’s the breakdown in individuals and families that leads to trouble.

Therese Hansen, injury and violence prevention manager for the Washington Department of Health, ran through the public health data and concluded that “firearm suicide is the major issue here.” She declined to comment on pending gun control legislation, citing her boundaries as a state employee.

A boundary the attorney general seems to have ignored.