Page 8 The Skanner Portland & Seattle February 13, 2019
News
Some Washington Sheriffs Refuse to Enforce New Gun Laws
By Nicholas K. Geranios
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. —
Sheriffs in a dozen Wash-
ington counties say they
won’t enforce the state’s
sweeping new restric-
tions on semi-automatic
rifles until the courts
decide whether they are
constitutional.
A statewide initiative
approved by voters in
November raised the
minimum age for buy-
ing semi-automatic rifles
from 18 to 21, required
buyers to first pass a fire-
arms safety course and
added expanded back-
ground checks and gun
storage
requirements,
among other things. It
was among the most com-
prehensive of a string of
state-level gun-control
measures enacted in
the U.S. after last year’s
shooting at a Florida
high school.
The National Rifle As-
sociation and the Second
Amendment Foundation
have filed a lawsuit in
federal court alleging the
initiative is unconstitu-
tional. They say its pur-
chasing
requirements
violate the right to bear
arms and stray into the
regulation of interstate
commerce, which is the
province of the federal
government.
“
Wahkiakum, Mason and
Klickitat — along with
the police chief of the
small town of Republic,
have said they will not
enforce the new law until
the issues are decided by
the courts.
“I swore an oath to de-
fend our citizens and
their
constitutionally
protected rights,” Grant
County Sheriff Tom
Jones said. “I do not be-
lieve the popular vote
I swore an oath to defend
our citizens and their consti-
tutionally protected rights.
I do not believe the popular
vote overrules that
Sheriffs in 12 most-
ly rural, conservative
counties — Grant, Lin-
coln, Okanogan, Cowlitz,
Douglas, Benton, Pa-
cific, Stevens, Yakima,
overrules that.”
Initiative supporters
say they are disappoint-
ed but noted the sheriffs
have no role in enforc-
ing the new restrictions
AP PHOTO/ELAINE THOMPSON, FILE
Statewide initiative approved last fall raised the minimum age for semi-automatic rifles, required safety
course and expanded background check and storage requirements
In this photo taken Oct. 2, 2018, semi-automatic rifles fill a wall at a gun shop in Lynnwood, Wash. A dozen
county sheriffs in Washington state are refusing to enforce restrictions on semi-automatic rifles that
voters approved in November. They say the new law might be unconstitutional, and they’re waiting for
the courts to weigh in.
until July 1, when the
expanded background
checks take effect. The
provision brings vetting
for semi-automatic rifle
and other gun purchases
in line with the process
for buying pistols.
“The political grand-
standing is dishearten-
ing,” said Renee Hopkins,
chief executive of the Al-
liance for Gun Respon-
sibility, which pushed
the initiative. “If they do
not (run the background
checks), we will have a
huge problem.”
Initiative 1639 was
passed by about 60 per-
cent of Washington vot-
ers nine months after
a gunman opened fire
at Florida’s Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High
School.
The Parkland shoot-
ing, which left 17 dead,
fueled a shift in the coun-
try’s political landscape
regarding gun control.
Other state-level mea-
sures included requiring
waiting periods and ban-
ning high-capacity mag-
azines. Nine states have
approved laws that allow
the temporary confis-
cation of weapons from
people deemed a safety
risk, bringing the total
to 14 nationwide. Several
more are likely to follow
in the coming months.
At the federal level,
for the first time in mod-
ern history, gun-control
groups outspent the NRA
on the 2018 midterm
elections. President Don-
ald Trump directed the
Justice Department to
issue regulations to ban
so-called bump stocks.
And the new Democrat-
ic majority in the House
last week held its first
hearing on gun control
in a decade.
“For far too long, Re-
publicans in Congress
have offered moments of
silence instead of action
in the wake of gun trag-
edies. That era is over,”
Democratic Rep. Jerr-
old Nadler of New York
said as he convened the
House Judiciary Commit-
tee hearing on Wednes-
day.
Washington’s initiative
targeted semi-automat-
ic assault rifles like the
AR-15 used in the Florida
shooting and other re-
cent high-profile attacks.
Such rifles fire only once
for each pull of the trig-
ger but automatically
eject and rechamber a
new round after each
shot.
Grant County’s sher-
iff said many residents
in his part of the state,
known for its vast pota-
to farms, are strong sup-
porters of gun rights.
They “have a right to
have this challenge and
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