Nomination for Hero Badge, Liberal Double Talk

You should be seeing this breathless headline in the coming daysWashington-Governor-signs-voluntary-gun-ban-law-video/. Washington State is determined to out California, California and is offering up this gem. I need some help from lawyer types to make sure that I am not missing anything.

Here is the Senate Bill in its natural state: Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/5553-S.PL. It does not do what the headline says that it does. I am not a lawyer, just a broke down old cop. Here is some of the language the signals to me the whole bill is nothing more than a legislative hand job.

(4) Neither a voluntary waiver of firearm rights nor a revocation
23 of a voluntary waiver of firearm rights shall be considered by a
court in any legal proceeding.

Sec 4 Neither a voluntary waiver and or revocation of the waiver SHALL be considered by a court in any legal proceeding. If a person is ineligible to possess a firearm, by virtue of voluntary waiver, how do you prove the offense if the voluntary waiver is not admissible in court?

The law:

Because you have filed this voluntary waiver of firearm rights,
5 effective immediately you may not purchase or receive any firearm.
6 You may revoke this voluntary waiver of firearm rights any time after
7 at least seven calendar days have elapsed since the time of filing.
8 (3) The forms must be made available on the administrator for the
9 courts web site, at all county clerk offices, and must also be made
10 widely available at firearm and ammunition dealers and health care
provider locations.11
12 Sec. 3. RCW 9.41.080 and 1994 sp.s. c 7 s 409 are each amended
to read as follows:13
14 No person may deliver a firearm to any person whom he or she has
15 reasonable cause to believe: (1) Is ineligible under RCW 9.41.040 to
16 possess a firearm or (2) has signed a valid voluntary waiver of
17 firearm rights that has not been revoked under section 1 of this act.
18 Any person violating this section is guilty of a class C felony,
punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW

There are two persons who have no obligations under this section. Other people are faced with a felony, should they violate (14-18) provisions of the law. The person signing the voluntary waiver is waiving his/her right to FUTURE purchase or transfer of a firearm. There is no provision for the surrender of firearms already in (waiver) person’s possession. There is no provision for law enforcement to take possession or dispose of voluntarily surrendered firearms. There is no administrative or criminal procedure available to law enforcement to seize the firearms in an adversarial situation.

I fail to see what good this law does, or societal ills it aims to address.  I guess it is a good companion law for those Massholes in Massachusetts who feel they are being undertaxed and a request that they are taxed at a higher rate.

But how many people actually do this? Data is hard to come by, but in 2013, it was 1,083 people. That’s it.

When a legislative body has to force a law like this on a community, it is an indication that the legislature is bankrupt in the marketplace of ideas.