Let's Change Washington State's Silencer Laws

[carnaby]

That is an interesting letter. I think that if a bill actually came up that we could get more support this time around, especially with all the internet resources available to get the word out.

Write back and tell them YES!

 

[John E Davies]

I made up a flyer and petition to post on my local range bulletin board. You can see THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT here:
http://www.spokanister.net/Docs/WA_Suppressor_Law_Flyer_Petition.doc

Low resolution screen captures:

Please take a look and tell me if you think I should reword any of it. I appreciate any and all constructive comments. I want to finalize it before printing and taking to my range.

Do you think I need to add a short description of the purpose of the petition below the header, or is the title itself self-explanatory?

It's Word 2002 format - you can take the doc and use it however you want - but be SURE to add YOUR local Senator's contact info and also your own name at the bottom as a Local Contact! I don't want folks in Seattle calling me up! I blanked out my phone and email in the above pics to make sure!

The signatures need to be from inside YOUR Senators district boundaries to have any effect!!!

Please remember to pick up Petition pages as they fill up and send in COPIES (keep the originals) to the Senator's local or Olympia office, or find someone to do that for you. You can find their mailing addresses using the link I included at the bottom of Page 1. Print enough extra Petition pages so that they don't run out of space... it depends on the size of your club. Mine has nearly 1000 members so I'm going to start with 10 pages and see how it goes (there are 25 spaces per page).

Thanks - maybe this will work! If this post is inappropriate due to political content.... well, hell, I don't know where else to put it. I do think it's ok here - fixing this screwy law helps us all.

John Davies
Spokane WA

 

[Henry Bowman]

Please take a look and tell me if you think I should reword any of it.

Drop "registered and" from the language of the proposed amendment.

Also, inside the first red box, they are not federal "guidelines," they are laws.

If I still resided in WA, I'd sign.

 

[MrPeter]

"Legalize Supressors in Washington State" Facebook Group

For those of you who use the social networking site FaceBook, I have created a new group to try to move some of the younger folks who may not be as exposed to places like shooting ranges and THR.

I am guessing that I have permission to rip off some letters and thoughts posted on this thread. If I don't then just let me know and I'll take it down.

 

[John E Davies]

"Legalize Supressors in Washington State" Facebook Group

Sounds great to me, but I think you should correct your spelling - two "p"s in suppressor. The more discussions, the better! However, I think it would be smart to link other discussions back to this thread to keep everything centralized. That's what I did with the one at AdvRider.com that I started a while back - I asked everyone to check in here.

I don't allow unauthorized "hot linking" (bandwidth stealing) on my personal website, so any images (like the flyer and petition above) can't be linked to directly off-site, unless I allow it. You can try, but it won't work The actual document IS however downloadable from anywhere if you add a link directly to it. If you want to copy the flyer images, save them, and post them elsewhere, that's OK by me, but IMHO it would be good to get the content finalized first. Let's give it a few days for folks to comment.

John Davies
Spokane WA

 

[give]

good question,in fact i would be interested in finding out what the laws are in pa for suppressors,any ideas from anyone?

 

[MrPeter]

Sounds great to me, but I think you should correct your spelling - two "p"s in suppressor.

Oh man, I did have 2 "p's" in there! one must not have typed is all...

Nowhere else in there do I spell it wrong. GRRRR!!!!! (You can't change titles in facebook groups... :-/

I'll email their tech support and see if they can change it for me. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[MrPeter]

Ok fixed....

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21965771250

 

[Yellowfin]

I've often wondered why discussion on the matter of deregulating suppressors is, well, silent. In lots of countries outside the US there is absolutely no obstacle to owning them there even when owning a firearm itself is horridly expensive and complicated. It is the perfect tool for getting new people to enjoy range time. Hmm...maybe is THAT why the anti gun toads work so hard to keep them out of people's hands?

I joined the Facebook group, but it's very quiet. Is that deliberate to illustrate the point?

 

[Yellowfin]

#242...man, if I could have only been one farther down. #243 would be a lot cooler. A .243 would make a great suppressed gun.

 

[neapoi]

Done. Signed.

What else can I do other than contact my representatives?

 

[FourTeeFive]

Any way to sign and be anonymous?

I really don't like having my name on a website associated with owning a suppressor. Any way to be anonymous? Call me paranoid, or just cautious...

 

[John E Davies]

neapoi: you can put your name on the online petition and print out a flyer and petition form, and take them to your local range(s). Talk to the range master or owner and see if they will let you post them. Send in copies of the signature pages as they fill up, to your local state representative with a short letter of explanation. Keep the originals in a file folder in case they need to be used for anything later.

FourTeeFive: I don't see why you can't use a handle instead of your real name - why don't you see if it will go through that way?

I was going to wait a while longer to see if anyone else has comments on the flyer before I print it out, but there is no reason you guys can't go ahead and use it as is. Please remember to change the Representative info and local contact info!

John Davies
Spokane WA

 

[abates226]

just a note...if using a suppressor is a misdemeanor or gross misemeanor, it will not make you a 'FELON' if convicted of it. Only a FELONY will do that. Other than that, looks great!

 

[Aristodemus]

if it hasn't already been suggested for a slogan

How about:

HELL YES! I WANT TO SUPPRESS!

 

[gun_guy]

This thread is the reason I joined this forum.

Stupid law, needs to go away.

 

[est_1980]

Signed the petition... emailed Sen. Hargrove

 

[dave_pro2a]

Saw an interesting comment on opencarry

Agent 47 wrote:
Now we have, only a couple months ago, Sheriff Luvic taking office, the first time I met him he guardedly expressed his dislike of peoples gun rights and expressly said he would absolutely refuse to sign a form 4 for a silencer transfer.

In fact he has since signed a couple of them but it took a lawyer threatening to sue the department if he didn't. Luvic is a former Washington state patrol officer who's law enforcement career is centered in the time when RCW 9.41.270 was used to ban open carry.

Effectively he has been out of the loop and has missed all the progress the open carry movement has had in this state and in Snohomish county. He is imparting both his misunderstanding of the law as well as his personal dislike of RTKABA onto his deputies and in turn the deputies who share his dislike of citizens who legally carry are breaking the law with little fear of disciplinary actions coming from higher up.

 

[Albatross]

Want to get a law changed?

Author John Ross did it with a pal and 20,000 dollars.

He got his law passed by hiring a lobbyist. Do that in WA and I bet you'll have silencers double quick.

 

[struckzb]

Great. That means since about 260 people signed the petition, each of us would need to donate about 77 dollars, and then we would have 20K.

 

[FourTeeFive]

Want to get a law changed?

Author John Ross did it with a pal and 20,000 dollars.

He got his law passed by hiring a lobbyist. Do that in WA and I bet you'll have silencers double quick.

Considering the $200 tax stamp per suppressor I would gladly kick some money into the fund. If anyone is serious about this please let me know.

 

[yugorpk]

Yes. Silly law. Ive heard they will confiscate your silencer, gun and car you used to drive where you are shooting if you are caught using a silencer in WA.

I own 4 silencers in WA state. Three on Form 4 and one on a Form 1. Didnt get LEO signoffs on any of them. Went the trust route and I'll never do any other method.

Sure would like to have an SBR but I don't think that will ever happen.

 

[carnaby]

Yugorpk, what's involved in going that route? Is it expensive? I already tried the LEO route without success.

 

[yugorpk]

It doesnt cost anything. More or less. You do need to buy a copy of Quicken Willmaker at Office Max . Then you shuffle through the program and create yourself a revocable living trust and assign yourself as the trustee. Trusts are like corporations in that they can own property such as couches or silencers except that you do not need to register the trust with ANYONE or pay fees like a corporation. You assign a few items to it to create a trust schedule A. Then you have the entire trust notarized at kinko's. Thats it. You are now the trustee of your revocable trust and you can add or remove items from the schedule A at will . You fill out your Form 1 or Form 4 and include a copy of ALL of the trust ie the certificate of trust, the trust documents and the schedule A. Then you send copies into the ATF with your citizenship form and they approve it. Easy as that. No LEO signoff, no fingerprints, no pictures, no background check ...none of that. Trusts dont have backgrounds or fingerprints. The silencers are just a aide benefit. The real purpose of the trust is to assign property to your heirs to avoid probate when you die. Two birds with one stone.


Yeah. You'll never, ever get a signoff by the King County sheriff. Trust or corporation are your only way. When you get ready to buy try Chip Miller in Snohomish. His pricing is pretty good without the attitude like Wades.

 

[carnaby]

Thanks Yugorpk! I was planning to make my own this summer. Hopefully I can get the ball rolling in time. What's the time-frame for the Form 1 to come back from the ATF?

I also suppose I need to ask the ATF for new forms, as I doubt I'll ever see the ones from King Co. Sheriff again.