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Initiative 594: Washington State Approves Expansion
What a disappointing day . Generally, I try to give society the benefit of the doubt, hoping that we have the collective ability to improve our communities through reason and knowledge. Some day’s though, society is just a god damn disappointment.
Today, Washington State approved Initiative 594, an Expansion on Gun Background Checks. What this does is basically require background checks not only through federally licensed dealers, but for private party transactions, loans, and gifts. Essentially, if I want to buy a firearm through a private party, I can no longer do so legally without the submitting to a background check.
…Where do they come up with this stuff?
I understand how many people come to the conclusion that passing additional laws like Initiative 594 will somehow improve gun control. But they are not using facts or logic to come to this conclusion. Let’s break this down a little, and see just how effective such a measure will truly be. First of all, I am a legal US born citizen, I have never committed a felony or even a misdemeanor. I have not spent one night in a jail cell, have never been convicted of a single crime, and have but a single traffic violation to my name from my teenage years. I will be required to go through the background check, pay the fee, and wait. Fine, great. I did what you wanted, and I will pass your background check with flying colors. This will be the case with everyone like me, the everyday law abiding citizen of the United States of America.
Let’s flip the page and look at Mister Criminal, the guy who Initiative 594 is targeted at. Mister Criminal has multiple felonies, DUI, Possession charges, and Domestic Violence on his record. Mister Criminal also owns several guns, and will own several more, all without submitting to a background check. Why is this? Because he’s a god damn criminal, and that’s the whole point. Do you honestly think, someone with the intention of committing a serious crime, would be bothered with the details of a background check? Yeah, I think not.
A Tired and Dis-proven Argument
One of the many fine points these Gun Control Advocates continue to spew out of their uneducated mouths is that of school shootings. They reason that, if we had more gun control, we would have less school shooting, less violent crimes, and less gun deaths altogether. That’s a nice thought, and one of the propelling points of Initiative 594, but ultimately incorrect. Not only incorrect, they are about as far from correct as you can get. In fact, the majority of all violence with firearms is committed through people who obtained their firearms legally. Every one of those school shooting we hear so much about, you guessed it, were done with firearms that were obtained legally with background checks.
Is Gun Control Really The Issue?
Let’s stop for a minute and consider the idea that maybe Gun Control is not the top issue. How about our countries Mental Health Services? Are these really issues of Gun Control or do we have a mental health care crisis on our hands? There is certainly evidence to support such a theory, and as I stated, facts and statistics will show you that the majority of these gun crimes that prompted Initiative 594 were involving firearms that were obtained legally. The issue was not obtaining a firearm without a background check, but occurred when that person snapped and decided to use that firearm for ill-intent. Could be a spouse caught cheating, a child who has struggled through years of abuse and neglect, or stressed out military personnel who have been pushed beyond their limits. These are all things that within the last few months, have pushed many people to commit such unbelievable crimes. These are people that needed help when it was least accessible to them. These are people, who by all means were probably good hearted at one point, and were pushed to the brink by their circumstances. Does this justify the crimes? Of course not, but unless you are going to require extensive mental health evaluations for every gun purchaser in the United States, Initiative 594 and those like it will do nothing but waste time and tax payer money.
Simply put, when we pass laws like Initiative 594, only the law abiding citizens are effected. The criminals will still continue to be criminals, and they will choose to possess whichever firearms they wish to, and they will not be bothered to let you know.
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14 Comments
How sad that some people really believe that this will have any effect on gun violence. I don’t know how we can get through to those who don’t seem to understand that criminals don’t follow laws, that’s why they’re criminals. This will not stop, or even delay, criminals from obtaining guns and committing crimes. All it will do is cost honest people who are interested in owning guns for a variety of reasons more money, and provide another stumbling block for those who seek to protect themselves.
Oh 594. I was excited. I just knew it wasn’t going to go through.
I mean if anyone just took half a second to realize what that prop will/can do. They would have realized it was a bad thing.
Yes Prop 594 was a bad thing, period. All it did was to further restrict good law abiding citizens who own firearms. Of which I might add makes up about 99% of all gun owners in America.
I would say that it is just a whiny liberal heart victory, but no it was a major blow to freedom loving Americans. At lest those of us here that live in WA.
It’s the sad truth of it. Criminals will keep being criminals and owning guns illegally, and the rest of us will be slowly disarmed one useless constitution breaking law at a time until no one can defend themselves except for the government and the criminals.
I think it was made specifically for kids who like to gun down others at school, this stops them from quickly going to purchase a gun, however statistics show that not may of them actually purchased a weapon and as it is so easily available to get one illegally, it is a good idea to catch the criminals rather than to stop the legals from having them.
Ditto to the comment above and I also agree with what the post says. What I don’t understand is how come no one else gets it! As clearly described in the post, it will not keep guns away from criminals who have had access to them whether or not the law was there. Instead they need to focus on cracking down the actual criminals instead of banning it for everyone else.
It’s a pretty sad state of affairs here lately. It seems no one wants to focus on the real problems, and only wishes to dream up these schemes that ultimately just fail in the end and cost everyone a lot of time, money, and headaches. Guns are an issue in a lot of the world, and always will be. What we need to focus on is societal stability, sufficient mental health care, and proper education. Throw this in with some responsible parenting and some mentoring and we might get somewhere.
This is a good idea. Education, parenting and mental health care that can be helpful to create a more peaceful environment. What I don’t get is why the law is different in each State, where in one you can carry a weapon and live after you have used it and in others its a death penalty. Should the law not be the same everywhere, to clamp down on criminology.
While I agree with this blog, there have been studies done showing that all the serial killers or those involved in mass murder were all mentally ill in the fact that they had brain damage to the frontal lobe(The part of the brain that concerns emotions). The people should be checked for any problems that they have experienced or recently experienced to see if they are wanting to use the firearm to get back at someone for some reason. Their mental health status should also be checked to see if they have the ability to make responsible choices and know what their doing. It’s not the gun doing the killing, its the person behind the gun who is to afraid to confront the problem they are experiencing.
Gun violence have always been high in the US over the decades. I mean people were able to purchase something like a uzi really easy before the Class 3 weapons pact. Some states seem restrictive with guns while other states are more free spirited. I think even with the state of Nevada having things to where you can have fully auto guns with a valid Class 3 license seem like they are less strict. Criminals could work around the system no matter what laws you put out on paper.
Agreed. It’s like putting a gate in the middle of an open field. They will just walk around it every time. There has to be a better solution than wasting time and taxpayer dollars on these Initiative’s that fail before they are even put into effect.
I could remember years ago when California had the assault rifle ban and look how long that lasted. State lawmakers thought that banning a weapon group was going to make people stop buying guns. It did not work and the criminals proved how vulnerable the people were when it came to the assault rifle ban.
I think it is a good idea and gun violence is really high in U.S and the wrong people are able to purchase a weapon. I think the criminal will get a weapon without a background check because he can buy it anywhere illegally. For the poor people who are innocent and will pass the checks, it is a pain but at least it makes it difficult for those who have anger issues and problems they need to solve by quickly getting a weapon. This will stall them and by the time they are allowed to own the weapon, they might have cooled down.
So, the gun law is for those who have anger issues and need a cool down period, not for the legal an law abiding citizen who shouldn’t mind going through the process. I would mind when they start charging for each weapon that is owned.
Criminals seem to get away more with stealing and even manufacturing illegal firearms by not having serial numbers on the guns. Its a bad trend for the government when guns with no serial numbers come into play. I feel even with further background checks there would still be gun violence all around.
What? That is your big contribution. “its good because it will make it harder to get weapons”
You clearly do not know this, but already there is a 3 day waiting period for just that reason. To keep people from getting angry and running out to buy a gun. Prop 594 merely makes it harder for LAW abiding citizens to purchase a firearm. And makes the penalties for lending or giving a weapon to someone ridiculously severe. Hell now if someone STEALS your firearm, YOU are held responsible, even if the weapon is not used in a crime. YOU get in trouble. Hand your weapon over to your buddy at the range so he can shoot it..Guess what? that is illegal now. It was a liberal victory and they dont even know whos side they are on.