Home | About Hunter | News & Media | Email Updates | The Ledger | Contact
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Gun rights! – We are debating this bill tonight!
House Bill 1163 would require individuals to obtain a permit to purchase firearms, complete a certified firearm safety training program, and undergo enhanced background checks through the Washington State Patrol before acquiring a firearm.
It also imposes new training requirements for concealed pistol licenses (CPLs), mandates annual eligibility verification for permit and CPL holders, and establishes statewide recordkeeping and reporting requirements for firearm sales and transfers. Additionally, the bill increases security and compliance obligations for firearm dealers, including inventory tracking, surveillance systems, and stricter employee background checks.
This is a BAD bill! – Requiring a permit to purchase a firearm imposes unnecessary government restrictions on law-abiding citizens exercising their constitutional right to bear arms. The extensive recordkeeping requirements and annual verification of firearm permit holders effectively create a de facto gun registry, which is illegal at the federal level.
In addition, many people in rural areas may struggle to access state-certified training programs (How many programs are there now? How many will be required to fulfill ALL gun owners’ needs? Where will these classes be located? How much will they cost?), adding unfair barriers to rural firearms ownership.
As we all know, THE BAD GUYS DON’T FOLLOW LAWS IN THE FIRST PLACE! Adding another layer of bureaucracy (a permit to purchase a gun?), attacking law-abiding gun owners (CPL holders rarely – if ever – commit gun crimes!), creating firearms registries (against federal law), will NOT reduce gun crime. However, holding criminals accountable, not letting them out early and often, and enforcing the laws we already have on the books might be a good start!
If your cable or satellite provider includes TVW, I encourage you to watch the debate and see what House Democrats think of our Second Amendment rights. Or you can watch it online on TVW or check out our livestream on our YouTube channel. You can also check out our Facebook or X pages for updates throughout the evening.
We don’t know what time the debate will start (possibly midnight), but it’s entirely possible that we’ll see the sunrise early tomorrow morning before we’re done. We will fight as hard as we can to amend or kill the bill. And, if you’re reading this AFTER tonight (Friday night), we encourage you to go to our bad bills page and leave comments and/or sign up to testify when it goes through the Senate. Let your voice be heard, folks!
Sincerely,
Hunter Abell
