In breaking news, the Second Amendment Foundation today – together with several co-plaintiffs – filed a long-expected lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of much of I-594, the stealth gun control measure masquerading as a “universal background check” measure hidden behind a smoke screen made from burning dollars eagerly provided by monied Seattle elitists and their carpet-bagging fellow-travelers. After a campaign filled with smoke and mirrors, I-594 survived the election in November of 2014, taking effect December 4th of this year.
A sponsor of WAFLAG and long recognized as the cutting edge organization in firearms rights law, SAF took the unexpected step of filing suit in federal – rather than state – court in its attempt to quash the ill-writtten (if one is kind) and dangerously vague I-594.
Joining the Second Amendment Foundation in the suit are the Northwest School of Safety, Puget Sound Security, Inc., Pacific Northwest Association of Investigators, Inc., the Firearms Academy of Seattle, Inc., Darryl Lee, Xee Del Real, Joe Waldron, Gene Hoffman, Andrew Gottlieb, Alan Gottlieb, and the Gottlieb Family Revocable Living Trust. Individuals, educators, professionals and legal pioneers have joined together to defend the rights of Washingtonians against irrational fears fostered by well-monied fanatics and elitists.
The plaintiffs are represented by Seattle attorneys Steven Fogg and David Edwards, together with Bellevue attorney Miko Tempski. For those following firearms law in Washington, Fogg was lead attorney in SAF’s successful case opposing the Seattle Parks gun ban a few years ago.
Waldron, Hoffman, and Andrew Gottlieb all reside outside the state of Washington and routinely travel to Washington in the course of personal or professional business and exercise their right to carry a firearm for self-defense under the provisions of valid Washington CPL’s. I-594 prevents this licensed and lawful exercise of their fundamental right to carry a firearm for self-defense as they cannot determine whether the simple act of checking a firearm in their luggage to or from an airline employee would be a transfer (and subject them to criminal penalties if it is), cannot borrow a firearm from a trusted friend without a background check by a federally licensed dealer forbidden by law from delivering a firearm to a non-resident of Washington.
Andrew and Alan Gottlieb are both trustees of the Gottlieb Family Revocable Living Trust. They, in turn, cannot determine how or to whom firearms held by the trust can lawfully be given or under what conditions.
The suit also states that I-594 is unconstitutionally vague in many of its provisions, offering numerous examples while pointing out the refusal of any state agency to provide any kind of guidance on I-594 related matters – with the exception of the unusually creative interpretation by the Department of Fish and Wildlife claiming its volunteer Hunter Safety Instructors were somehow law enforcement officers (and thus exempt) and instruction on how best to conduct straw man purchases.
They are represented by Seattle attorneys Steven Fogg and David Edwards, and Bellevue attorney Miko Tempski.
“We’re not trying to stop background checks,” Gottlieb insisted in a quote from TheGunMag.com “We’re taking action against a poorly-written and unconstitutionally vague measure that criminalizes activities that are perfectly legal anywhere else in the country, thus striking at the very heart of a constitutionally-protected, fundamental civil right.”
Watch this case closely as it has implications for “wannabe” I-594 type measures in Oregon, Nevada and other places where carbon copy initiatives driven by astroturf and a fog of elitist dollars burning conspire to deceive the average voter into throwing away their rights and their privacy in a desperate grab at the illusion of safety.
http://www.waflag.org/2014/12/safs-big-reveal-594-lawsuit-filed/