1. TO STATE REPRESENTATIVE — HB2241

John Doe-Roe

187 Any Street

Suburbia, WA 98XXX

206.555.1212

myemail@someserver.com

Re: House Bill 2241

Friday, 10 January 2020

Dear Representative XXXXXX:

​I am writing to respectfully urge you to oppose House Bill 2241. I have several concerns regarding this bill.

1.I do not believe that it will be effective in improving public safety. The Assault Weapon Ban enacted as part of the 1994 Crime Bill did not provide a measurable reduction in crimes committed with weapons of this type, nor did these crimes jump when it was allowed to sunset in 2004. In 2018 in the United States, rifles of all types were used in 297 out of 14,123 total murders (2.1%) 1. This rate, while vanishingly small nationwide, is even lower in Washington. 232 murders were committed in the State of Washington in 2018. Only two (0.9%) were committed with rifles of any kind. By comparison, 45 murders were committed with knives (19%) and 14 with hands, fists and feet (6%) 2. Less than one percent of all murders in our state were committed with all rifles, not just ‘assault rifles’.These weapons are attention-grabbing to be sure, but they are the smallest portion of our violent crime problem both nationally and locally.

2. I am deeply opposed to the registration component of this bill. Registration efforts have a long history of being promoted as a harmless tool for crime-fighting and ultimately repurposed as a tool for confiscation. This has happened in New York and in California just in the last decade. Washington State and in fact the XXth District has many, many left-leaning gun owners, including life-long Democrats like me. It’s not hard to take a registration list and cross reference it with social media, party registrations and other commonly available data to figure out who is on what side of the political divide and what kinds of guns they own. In 2016 we elected a federal government unlike any in living memory; I do not believe that they can be trusted with access to this information. The Trump administration has established a proven track record of using all available information against groups that it considers politically or societally undesirable — a record so odious that they have been sued by Attorney General Ferguson no less than 53 times.

3. I am concerned that this bill will serve to deepen the already considerable urban-rural divide in our state. I believe that the impact of this bill will be principally born by law-abiding gun owners with negligible compliance on the part of criminals and prospective criminals. Many constituents will be alienated by this including moderates and gun-owning Democrats. It is likely to have serious consequences with respect to what remains of rural support for the Democratic Party in Washington State.

I appreciate your service to the XXth District and I am proud to be your constituent. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Respectfully Submitted,

John Doe-Roe

1. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/topic-pages/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-11.xl

2. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/topic-pages/tables/table-20

2. TO STATE SENATOR — SB6077

John Doe

187 Any Street

Suburbia, WA 98XXX

206.555.1212

myemail@someserver.com

Re: Senate Bill 6049

Friday, 10 January 2020

Dear Senator XXXXXX:

​I am writing to respectfully urge you to oppose Senate Bill 6077. I have two concerns regarding this bill.

1. I do not believe that ‘large capacity magazines’ present a significant problem in Washington State. In 2019 there were four ‘mass shootings’ in Washington State 1. Of these, none featured rifles with ‘large capacity magazines’. These events, while tragic and high-profile, illustrate that incidents of violence that rely upon the use of these magazines are vanishingly rare. Far more Washingtonians are killed with handguns, knives and fists each year. Crime reduction should be everybody’s goal, but this bill is looking in the wrong place. I believe that it will only serve to unduly burden law-abiding gun owners, and to alienate voters including life-long pro-gun Democrats like myself.

2.I am concerned that this bill will serve to deepen the already considerable urban-rural divide in our state. I believe that the impact of this bill will be principally born by law-abiding gun owners with negligible compliance on the part of criminals and prospective criminals. Many constituents will be alienated by this including moderates and gun-owning Democrats. It is likely to have serious consequences with respect to what remains of rural support for the Democratic Party in Washington State.

I appreciate your service to the XXth District and I am proud to be your constituent. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Respectfully Submitted,

John Doe

1. https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting?page=16&year=2019&sort=asc&order=State

3. STATE SENATOR — HB6161

John Doe-Roe

187 Any Street

Suburbia, WA 98XXX

206.555.1212

myemail@someserver.com

Re: Senate Bill 6161

Friday, 10 January 2020

Dear Senator XXXXXX:

​I am writing to respectfully urge you to oppose Senate Bill 6161. I have two concerns regarding this bill.

1. I do not believe that this bill will have a measurable impact on crime. In fact, I don’t believe that it will have any impact at all. What does a murderer care for the price of ammunition? Even a mass shooter won’t be deterred by a price increase — that cost will simply sit on a credit card that he will never have to pay, either from prison or posthumously. The people who will be most impacted by this bill are lawful sport shooters, especially competition shooters who may consume a thousand rounds per month or more. This bill will not deter violence. It will serve only to suppress the shooting sports by increasing the cost and complexity of purchasing ammunition. It will fall principally on the shoulders of Washingtonians who practice regularly with their firearms. The government should be supportive of sporting activities and if it cannot be supportive then it should be neutral toward them. The legislature has no legitimate interest in opposing unimpeachably civil pursuits like marksmanship competition and lawful target shooting.

2. I believe that the proposed fiscal purpose of this bill is unfair. Revenues from this proposed excise tax on ammunition will be contributed to the Crime Victims’ Compensation Account. Washington is a progressive state where we strive to uphold a strong social contract. Taking care of the victims of violent crime is an important component of this social contract. The first resort for compensating crime victims must be restitution from the criminals themselves. When we choose as a society to backstop the often-limited resources of the perpetrators of violent crimes for the purposes of victim compensation, it is a social burden that we are opting to collectively bear. SB 6161 seeks to shift the cost burden of crime from the general public to lawful gun owners who have themselves committed no crimes. This changes the compensation of crime victims from a social burden of clear moral purpose shared by all Washingtonians into a penalty imposed on a sub-set of law-abiding Washingtonians (the shooting public). I do not believe that this is fair or moral.

I appreciate your service to the XXth District and I am proud to be your constituent. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Respectfully Submitted,

John Doe-Roe