I thought it had jammed.
"Some states may turn to ballot for gun control; Voter initiatives readied if bills fail" by Mike Baker | Associated Press, April 29, 2013
OLYMPIA, Wash. — After struggling to sway both state and federal lawmakers, proponents of expanding background checks for gun sales are now exploring whether they will have more success by taking the issue directly to voters.
While advocates generally prefer that new gun laws be passed through the legislative process, especially at the national level, they are also concerned about how much sway the National Rifle Association has with lawmakers.
Washington state Representative Jamie Pedersen, a Democrat who had sponsored unsuccessful legislation on background checks at the state level, said a winning ballot initiative would make a statement with broad implications.
‘‘It’s more powerful if the voters do it — as opposed to our doing it,’’ Pedersen said. ‘‘And it would make it easier for the Legislature to do even more.’’
On Monday, proponents of universal background checks in Washington state will announce their plan to launch a statewide initiative campaign that would require collecting some 300,000 signatures, according to a person involved in the initiative planning who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to preempt the official announcement.
The Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility has scheduled a fund-raiser in Seattle at the end of next month and hopes to have a campaign budget in the millions of dollars.
Ballot measures may be an option elsewhere, too. Hildy Saizow, president of Arizonans for Gun Safety, said an initiative is one of the things the group will consider.
An organizer in Oregon was focused on the Legislature for now but would not rule out a ballot measure in the future if lawmakers fail to pass a proposed bill there.
While advocates have had recent success on background checks in places like Connecticut and Colorado, they have been thwarted in some other states and in Congress. The US Senate rejected a plan to expand background checks earlier this month, although lawmakers in the chamber are still working to gather more votes.
One of the architects of national gun-control legislation that failed said Sunday he will bring it back.
Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, said on “Fox News Sunday’’ that he will reintroduce a measure that would require criminal and mental health background checks for gun buyers at shows and online.
What was it about NO that you didn't understand?
Manchin sponsored a previous version of the measure with Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. He said there was confusion over what was in the bill, and that if lawmakers read the legislation they will support it.
So they vote on stuff they don't read?
Brian Malte, director of mobilization at the national nonprofit lobbying group Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said passage through Congress is the ideal in order to have a national solution and so that states with strong gun laws are not undermined by nearby states with weaker standards.
Still, Malte said, the ballot measures are an option.
Brian Judy, a lobbyist who represents the NRA in Washington state, did not return calls seeking comment about the new initiative. He has previously said the NRA would likely oppose such an effort, arguing that the recently proposed laws on background checks would largely affect law-abiding citizens instead of the intended targets such as criminals and the mentally ill.
Gun measures have had mixed results at the ballot. More than 70 percent of Washington state voters rejected a 1997 initiative campaign that would have required handgun owners to pass a safety course. After the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, voters in Colorado and Oregon approved ballot measures the next year to require background checks for buying weapons at gun shows.
Gun buyers currently must undergo a background check when they purchase a weapon from a federally licensed firearms dealer but can avoid checks through private purchases or at some gun shows.
Washington state advocates believe polls show the public is sufficiently on the side of expanding background checks further. An independent Elway Poll conducted two months ago found that 79 percent of registered voters in Washington state supported background checks on all gun sales, including private transactions.
I was told the nation was at 90%, and yet in Democrat Washington it's only 79. Nationally it must be a lot lower, and are you sick of the agenda-pushing lies yet? Enough to make you want to grab a gun.
That was not enough to shepherd the bill through the Legislature. Even in the state House, which is controlled by Democrats, backers fell short after an NRA campaign put pressure on some lawmakers.
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"N.Y. inquiry turns to 30-round clips" Associated Press, April 29, 2013
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Federal agents are trying to determine the source of 30-round magazines used by William Spengler Jr., a felon accused of killing two western New York firefighters and wounding two others after luring them to his house by setting it ablaze.
Agents are investigating whether the magazines were bought in Pennsylvania, said Scott Heagney of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. New York state bans the sale of magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, while Pennsylvania has no capacity limit.
‘‘We’re following up on where he got the magazines,’’ Heagney said.
Spengler’s former neighbor, 24-year-old Dawn Nguyen, was charged with buying the convicted felon a semiautomatic rifle and 12-gauge shotgun at an upstate New York Gander Mountain store and lying on the paperwork by saying they were for her. She was not charged with buying 30-round magazines. She has pleaded not guilty.
Spengler, 62, set his home in the town of Webster on fire on Christmas Eve morning, then opened fire on the first firefighters to arrive, authorities said. He killed two firefighters, wounded two others and a police officer, and then fatally shot himself, police said. Beside his body were the rifle, shotgun, a .38-caliber revolver, and a large quantity of ammunition.
A body found in the ashes of the gutted house is believed to be that of his 67-year-old sister, who also lived there. The fire destroyed six other houses in the town on Lake Ontario near Rochester.
Spengler spent 17 years in prison for killing his grandmother with a hammer in 1980.
A rambling three-page letter found beside Spengler’s body detailed how he prepared to destroy his neighborhood and ‘‘do what I like doing best, killing people,’’ State Police have said. But it gave no motive.
High-capacity magazines have been a focus of gun-control debates this year. New York laws enacted this year limited magazine size to seven rounds, later amended to 10 rounds with no more than seven bullets in them.
And that's the key because a gun ain't worth a whole hell of a lot without bullets.
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Related: Putting Out This Sniper Post
"Newtown rejects extra security plan" April 25, 2013
NEWTOWN, Conn. — Residents rejected a budget that included money for extra school security in the wake of the December school shootings, with town leaders suggesting the spending and tax increases were a hard sell.
Voters turned down the $72 million school budget Tuesday by 482 votes and rejected the $39 million town government budget by 62 votes. Nearly 4,500 residents voted on the plan with more than a 5 percent increase next fiscal year.
First Selectwoman Patricia Llodra said the killings of 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School had an impact on the vote, the first since the Dec. 14 massacre.
“We’re very fragile as a community,” she said. “We’ve lost some of our confidence.”
Officials had put an extra $770,000 in the school and town budgets to hire police officers and unarmed security guards in each of Newtown’s public and private schools.
Llodra called the spending increases substantial.
“It’s just beyond the ability of our community to grapple with,” she said.
In contrast, the current budget is up by a fraction of 1 percent over the previous year.
Newtown’s budget troubles are relatively recent and due to the recession, the weak recovery that followed, and an aging population on a fixed income.
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Related: Sandy Hook Actors' Sour Grapes
