Comment

Comment by Burbia on September 24, 2016 at 6:30pm

Washington: VOTE NO ON 1491! Ballot Initiative will Selectively Target Gun Owners

BY NRA-ILA STAFF | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

"On the 2016 General Election ballot, Washingtonians will find Ballot Initiative 1491, an initiative purported to prevent violent acts by creating so-called “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” (ERPO).  This legislation was introduced in the Washington Legislature during the 2015 Legislative Session as House Bill 1857.  HB 1857 died in committee without ever seeing a floor vote.  Your NRA-ILA has seen similar legislation pop up in multiple states in recent years and the proponents are always the same, anti-gun legislators and gun control groups who are intent on targeting gun owners instead of preventing crime.


I-1491 allows persons who have no specific expertise, and who may be mistaken, to seek an ERPO.  Under the initiative language, “family and household members” are considered valid petitioners for an ERPO.  “Household member” is vaguely defined as to even allow roommates from a year ago to petition to remove your Second Amendment rights when they don’t even live with you anymore.  Emergency ex parte orders can be issued with no input from the respondent whatsoever.  In that context, a person's rights disappear merely on the say-so of someone else.  Even the standards for the "permanent" orders issued after hearing tend to stack the deck in favor of the petitioner.  I-1491 would require the surrender of concealed pistol licenses as well as the seizure of all firearms by law enforcement.  The evidentiary standards are insufficient for theabridgement of a fundamental right, the findings the court is required to make are vague and subjective, and the basis on which findings can be made often include lawful behavior (e.g., consuming alcohol,buying guns, etc.), hearsay, or prior incidents in which the state did not sustain its own  burden of proof (e.g., prior arrests not leading to prosecution or conviction, prior allegations of violence not leading to arrest or official action, etc.). 

This law would be ripe for abuse by individuals that disagree with the Second Amendment, and the mere insinuation that gun ownership makes you a danger to yourself or others is offensive and insulting." - Quote from NRA-ILA website:

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20160906/washington-vote-no-on-1491...


https://www.nraila.org/articles/20160906/washington-vote-no-on-1491...