Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2019)
A3 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2019 Washington bans anyone under 21 from buying assault rifl es By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press SEATTLE — Washing- ton on Tuesday joined a handful of other states that ban anyone under 21 from buying a semi-automatic assault rifl e after voters passed a sweeping fi rearms measure in November that has drawn a court challenge from gun-rights advocates. The ballot initiative seeks to curb gun violence by toughening background checks for people buying assault rifl es, increasing the age limit to buy those fi re- arms and requiring the safe storage of all guns. Only the age-limit portion of the mea- sure went into effect Tues- day; the rest becomes law on July 1. Kristen Ellingboe, a spokeswoman for the Wash- ington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, said the ini- tiative was one of the most comprehensive gun-violence prevention measures to pass in the United States. It spe- cifi cally targeted semi-au- tomatic assault rifl es in response to mass shootings across the country, she said. “We’ve seen that assault rifl es are the weapon of choice for mass shootings, and when they’re used, more people are killed and injured,” Ellingboe said. Fifty-nine percent of Washington voters approved Initiative 1639 in November. “We’ve seen time and again that Washington voters want action to prevent gun violence in our state,” Elling- boe said. “They showed that again by supporting 1639 by a wide margin.” Opponents have sued to block it. “Starting today, young adults between the ages of 18 to 20 will have their rights to purchase semi-automatic rifl es stripped away,” said Dave Workman, a spokes- man for the Bellevue, Washington-based Second AP Photo/Elaine Thompson Semi-automatic rifl es at a gun shop in Lynnwood, Wash. Amendment Foundation. The federal lawsuit says the measure violates the Second and 14th amend- ments of the Constitu- tion as well as gun sellers’ rights under the Commerce Clause. Plaintiffs in the law- suit are fi rearms dealers in Spokane and Vancouver, a 19-year-old competitive shooter, a 19-year-old in the Army Reserves, a 20-year- old recreational shooter, the Second Amendment Foun- dation and the National Rifl e Association. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said he “looks forward to rep- resenting the people of the state of Washington in court against the NRA.” “The gun lobby is trying to thwart the will of nearly 60 percent of Washingtonian voters who supported com- mon sense gun reform in our state,” he said in an email. The full measure, when it goes into effect later this year, will expand the back- ground check process to ensure that vetting for rifl e purchases is the same as for buying pistols. Now, people in Wash- ington who buy long guns are run through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check Sys- tem, or NICS. Background checks for handgun sales are done by local law enforce- ment agencies that can access NICS as well as more detailed records that might expose mental health issues or harder-to-fi nd criminal records. And you must be 21 to purchase a pistol. “This will update Wash- ington state law so the requirements to purchase semi-automatic assault rifl es will match handguns,” Ellingboe said. In most states, includ- ing over the border in Idaho and Oregon, you must be 18 to buy an assault rifl e. But Republican-dominant Florida passed a law after a school shooting to increase the age limit to 21. Nikolas Cruz was 18 when he legally bought the assault rifl e he used to kill 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last February. Four other states — Hawaii, Illinois, Vermont and New York — also pro- hibit anyone under 21 from buying all fi rearms. Workman, of the Second Amendment Foundation, says Washington’s mea- sure will take away fi rearms from law-abiding residents who can easily pass multi- ple background checks. It will impair public safety and embolden criminals while placing restrictions on peo- ple who already legally own semi-automatic rifl es, he said. 1/9/19 1/9/19 1/9/19 1/9/19 ‘Leopard of the Kootenai’ makes rebound Burbot are fi nally back on the menu 1/9/19 By NATHANAEL MASSEY The Spokesman-Review SPOKANE, Wash. — In the early 2000s, the world’s only freshwater cod was all but gone from the waters of the Kootenai River in north Idaho and British Colum- bia. Once counted in the thousands, regional popula- tions of burbot — sometimes known as ling cod — had dropped to a mere 50. Today, that number is closer to 50,000. The fi sh’s spectacular rebound stems from a col- laborative restoration effort by fi sheries, communities, academics and state offi - cials, along with the Koo- tenai Tribe of Idaho and the Bonneville Power Adminis- tration. As a result, a decade and a half after facing extinc- tion, “The Leopards of the Kootenai” are back on the menu. With regional populations hovering between 40,000 and 50,000 in the Kootenai, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission announced in December that a bur- bot fi shing season had been approved as part of its fi sh- ing rules for 2019-2021. It’s the fi rst time since 1992 that fi shing for burbot has been greenlighted by state offi cials. In appearance, burbots look a bit like a catfi sh, a bit like an eel, with a wide mouth and specked hide — the last accounting for their “Leop- ard” nickname. They’re predatory, swallowing fi sh nearly half their size and, when food is scarce, each other. “They’re a pit bull of a fi sh,” a former hatchery tech- nician told a Spokesman-Re- view reporter in 2014. Adults typically reach lengths of 16 to 20 inches. The fi shing ban was put in place in the early 1990s to protect declining popu- Idaho Fish and Game Burbot have made a remarkable recovery. lations, but it was environ- mental factors — many of them resulting from the con- struction of the Libby Dam in the 1970s — that put the burbot’s long-term success in jeopardy, according to an Idaho Fish and Game news release from 2004. The dam trapped nutri- ents and drastically increased river fl ow, and warmer waters hindered the species’ spawning, which takes place in freezing winter waters. Other iconic Koote- nai River species, includ- ing white sturgeon, saw their populations drop during the same period as cas- cade effects from the dam spread throughout the river’s ecosystem. The effect of the dam was shattering. Previously, the burbot fi shery at the junction of the Kootenai River and the west arm of Kootenay Lake, Brit- ish Columbia, had been one of the most robust in the world, rivaling even that of the famed Moosehead Lake of Maine. A decade in, and populations were declining precipitously; 30 years on, the Kootenai burbot was all but gone. In 2014, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho dedicated a new, $15 million hatchery devoted to the restoration of both burbot and white sturgeon. Drawing from geneti- cally-related burbot stock from Moyie Lake in Brit- ish Columbia and employing hatchery practices developed with the aid of University of Idaho researchers, the 35,000-square-foot hatchery aimed to introduce 125,000 burbots into the Kootenai each year. Annual population mon- itoring was conducted by Idaho Fish and Game biol- ogists, along with British Columbia and Montana. Funding for the hatchery was provided in large part by the Bonneville Power Administration — which manages Libby Dam along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — as part of its effort to mitigate the dams impacts. Sometimes derided as “poor man’s lobster,” bur- bot meat — light, white and somewhat sweet — is never- theless appreciated by many anglers and historically has been an important food source for tribes that fi shed the Kootenai River. Speaking to The Spokes- man-Review in 2014, Koo- tenai Tribe of Idaho Fish and Wildlife Director Sue Ire- land pointed to its lasting signifi cance. “The sturgeon and the burbot both are so unique,” she said. “They’re important cul- turally to the tribe. They’re important socially to the community. And they’re important to the river.” Miracle-Ear Center Youngs Bay Plaza 173 S. Hwy 101 Warrenton, OR 97146 (503) 836-7921 Miracle- Ear Center 2505 Main Ave N, Suite C Tillamook, OR 97141 (503) 836-7926 MENTION CODE: 19JANSINK