Dear Friends and Allies,

Your voice is needed in Olympia tomorrow!

Democrats will be releasing their budget on Friday, March 27th and allowing only 90 minutes to read the hundreds of pages in the document.

Could you read the entire state budget in 90 minutes?

Of course not!

The budget is the single most complex piece of legislation in the state and includes literally thousands of provisions and totals billions of dollars.

We’re hearing some troubling rumors in the Capitol that the Democrats’ secretive budget will include an increase of over $400,000 on top of the current vast Department of Licensing firearms division budget. They are proposing hiring 7 more full time employees to input firearms sale and “transfer” information as they are over a year behind.

Due to a combination of preexisting law and the passage of I-594, all private gun owner information on any sale or transfer is kept by DOL forever, and creates a de facto centralized government registry or “database” of law abiding gun owners and every single detail about you.

The DOL saves all of your personal information on firearms purchases even though it is already held by Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL’s). Information held by FFL’s is available to law enforcement agencies with a proper warrant or court order. The DOL database on the other hand is available to ANYONE they give access to.

Supporters of this type of needless government overreach are quick to point out that the database was accessed “thousands” or “millions” of times, but don’t have much to point to when asked about actual crime they’ve solved with it. Canada recently wisely got rid of its gun database as it costs ran into the millions and was never used to solve a single major crime.

Needless to say, Washington State’s DOL database of firearms owners is duplicitous and unnecessary. Added in with the endless possibilities for fraud, theft, abuse, and future gun confiscation, approving more or any funding for this increased violation of privacy continues to be a wasteful and shameful endeavor to violate the rights of every gun owner in this state.

Of course, they won’t be expecting citizens like you to attend the hearing.

To counter their secret budget, we have a secret weapon: You and your fellow citizens.

Here’s how you can help.

Come testify, and tell them you won’t allow your taxpayer money to be used to violate the privacy rights of everyone in this state.

For information go to Coming To The Legislature, this link gives good advice on where to go, parking, and other helpful details. (http://leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/Com ... ature.aspx)

The Appropriations Committee is currently scheduled to meet at 1:30 PM, in House Hearing Room A, John L. O’Brien Building on the Capitol Campus.

If you can’t come in person, call your Representative at 1-800-562-6000 or send them a message to let them know you strongly oppose spending your tax dollars to violate the privacy of law-abiding gun owners. Use this link to find your legislators: (http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/)

Sincerely,

The Protect Our Gun Rights Team

P.S. They have also discussed imposing fees and taxes on every law abiding gun owner using their current system. If you don’t stand up to them now, this situation will continue to spiral out of control. We hope to see a room full of citizens who are willing to stand up for their rights tomorrow!