Photo credit LA Times
December’s tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School has prompted lawmakers across the country to propose stringent gun laws. Washington state legislators now say maybe they’ve gone too far.
Washington’s SB 5737 – 2013-14, introduced Feb.13 by three Seattle Democrats, like many similar bills, includes an outright assault weapons ban. Individuals already possessing an assault weapon are “allowed” to retain them, but with the proviso that the owners submit themselves to annual police home inspections.
“They always say, we’ll never go house to house to take your guns away,” Lance Palmer, a Seattle trial lawyer and self-described liberal, told The Seattle Times. “But then you see this, and you have to wonder.”
The pertinent language reads:
“In order to continue to possess an assault weapon that was legally possessed on the effective date of this section, the person possessing shall … safely and securely store the assault weapon. The sheriff of the county may, no more than once per year, conduct an inspection to ensure compliance with this subsection.”
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches, and the Supreme Court has long held that warrantless searches are per se unreasonable absent exigent circumstances giving probable cause. Apparently, whoever drafted the bill believes that possession of a firearm is, in and of itself, probable cause to conduct such a search.
“I’m a liberal Democrat — I’ve voted for only one Republican in my life,” Palmer told The Times. “But now I understand why my right-wing opponents worry about having to fight a government takeover.”
He added: “It’s exactly this sort of thing that drives people into the arms of the NRA.”
As it turns out, two of the bill’s sponsors — Sens. Ed Murray and Adam Kline — took a cue from their congressional brethren and didn’t bother reading the bill before signing on to it.
“I made a mistake,” Kline told The Times. “I frankly should have vetted this more closely.”
“I have to admit that shouldn’t be in there,” Murray said, agreeing that it’s more than likely unconstitutional. Astonishingly, Murray is the bill’s prime sponsor.
The last time government authorities routinely conducted warrantless home searches on this continent, the people responded with a revolution.
Read more at The Seattle Times.
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You think they have gone to far? Really? OMG ,do any of these people EVER read history? Please,please folks pay attention to who you vote for. At least ask them if they know what the Constitution is,and perhaps it would be good to inquire if they believe in it.
Don’t expect your neighbor to be intelligent enough to grasp anything more than how to shove food in their face. That’s the extent of comprehension of the liberal voter.
Lets not confuse true Liberals with these tree-hugging, granola-crunching hippy Liberals. A TRUE Libertarian supports the right to have rights. A TRUE Libertarian supports your right to whatever. If gays want to marry, let them. If women want to abort a fetus, let them. If people want to own modernized semi-automatic firearms, let them.
These hippy Liberals give true Libertarians a bad name because they start picking and choosing (like everyone else feels obligated to) which rights are acceptable and which are not. Not only that, Hippy Liberals tend to pick anything they can that allows them to feel justified when butting heads with the stereotype that is “Redneck Republicans”.
d[n_n]b
What 4th or 5th amendment? Liberals are such dirt bags. Not that this bill has a chance to pass, but if it should, were I a Sheriff, I would demand the state legislators that are responsible for it, be the ones knocking on doors first…stupid fools.
First off, who is, “Sens. Ed Murray and Adam Kline”. I am on this page, “http://www.contactingthecongress.org/” and it does not recognize them so, I can not call them. I was in Olympia when they tried to pass this through. It did not work. Then I find out they went and passed this other crap through. No, not happening. We need to address this. Someone comes to my house trying to force there way in my home for some crap like this, I am not letting it go down without a fight.
Perhaps you should look a bit harder. The two Senators can be found by going to the government website by clicking the link to the bill at the beginning of the article.
http://www.leg.wa.gov/senate/senators/pages/Murray.aspx
http://www.leg.wa.gov/senate/senators/pages/Kline.aspx
Yea good luck trying that in S.C.
So the sponsors of the Bill do not know what is in the Bill? Again??? So who is ACTUALLY writing these bills? Apparently, someone else must be writing these Bills and giving them to the Senators to introduce and sponsor.
Perhaps we should change their titles from Senators to Puppets…Puppet Ed Murray and Puppet Adam Kline.
Let it be known: If you are liberal, democrat or have recently voted for the aforementioned; whether you be friend, stranger or even family, I no longer wish to have conversation or any kind of contact with you. You are a direct threat to the future of me, my children, my grand-children, my country and the freedom that we have fought for and become accustomed to. HAVE A BLESSED DAY.
That has been my policy for 10 years and going strong. If you voted Obama, liberal, democrat or just plane ignorant, don’t expect to ever be invited to my BBQs or Christmas parties.
GONE TO FAR.
These demoRATS keep pushing the envelope. It is time to ignore them, cut them off, castigate them, ostracize them. The lines are drawn.
Hey, demonRATS: What do you think will happen to you during a revolution? Here’s a hint: “I was just following orders” won’t save you.
I can NOT beleive these 2 signed on a bill without READING it first. I am SO glad they are not from my state. They BOTH need to be FIRED, plain and simple.The people of Washington elected and pay them to do a job and they are not dong it, PERIOD. Fire them, strip them of benifits and elect HONEst replacements that will do the job they are paid to do. PROTECT the Constitution and the rights of the citizens that elected them.