On the eve of the 9/11 anniversary, Washington State grassroots activists are filling social media with messages opposing gun control Initiative 1639, and there will be workshop Tuesday evening at the Oak Harbor Coachman Inn to add momentum.
That session runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and is being offered by one NRA-affiliated group. Another anti-1639 group is Save Our Security.
Tuesday might be interesting, due to reports that Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-7th District) will be joined by liberal icon and Academy Award-winner Jane Fonda to push Initiative 1631, the so-called “clean air” measure, along with I-1639. Critics of both measures say they are bad for Washington residents.
One activist has put together a website loaded with information about the anti-gun-rights measure that includes this message:
“First, register to vote. It is super easy in WA – online registration is available here: https://weiapplets.sos.wa.gov/MyVoteOLVR/MyVoteOLVR.
“But please don’t delay – online registration deadline is October 8, 2018 (in-person deadline is October 29, 2018). All you need is your driver’s license or state ID.
“If you think you are already registered – it doesn’t hurt to check the currency of your registration. Go here: https://weiapplets.sos.wa.gov/MyVote/, all that’s needed is your full name and date of birth.
“November 6, 2018 is the date. Make sure you do not have any urgent appointments, but better yet – vote by mail. It’s quick, it’s painless, and the state even pays your postage! There really is no excuse for not voting!
“Once your registration is in place, do ask your friends and family to vote as well. Once a civil right is gone, bringing it back would be excruciatingly difficult – maybe impossible. A little bit of legwork upfront will save us massive amounts of trouble in the future.”
In Washington state, there is no excuse for not voting, other than laziness. Evergreen State has adopted mail-in ballots. Fill out the ballot, put it in the mailbox; that’s really all the effort it takes.
Other grassroots gun rights activists have been distributing information, handing out flyers, posting signs and flooding Facebook with messages of opposition. They don’t have millions of dollars like the initiative proponents, but they do have vigor. They are admittedly fighting an uphill battle against odds the measure will pass by votes in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.
If passed, I-1639 will raise the legal minimum age for buying a semiautomatic rifle of any kind to 21. It will require training, licensing, annual background checks, so-called “secure storage” and classify commonly-owned .22-caliber semi-auto rifles as “assault rifles,” say critics.
Proponents say passage of the initiative will make schools and communities safer.
