King County 2015 election season was supposed to be a sleepy affair. Held in an off year for national politics, with no big money, big media attention, and your typical red meat issues, this was supposed to be very boring.
Then, suddenly, Tim Burgess came up with his ill-conceived gun tax law proposal, and, at least for the gun owners, everything changed.
This is not just Seattle's internal business, of course. The proposed tax law would double the price of the most popular sporting ammunition, dramatically increase the prices on guns, and run the very few Seattle gun stores out of town. This is the most radical gun regulation in the country and, if enacted, would serve as a blueprint for other places in the state and in the country.
We cannot let this pass.
But what can we, the gun owners, do? It has been demonstrated time and again that the general public - especially in big cities, where people are generally very ignorant of guns - can be sold almost anything based on the age-old "won't someone please think of the children" tactic.
Well, as it happens, YOU can do quite a bit.
Rule number one: don't despair. The probability of this actually becoming a law is very, very low. WA state has a preemption law (you can read about it here) which prohibits municipalities from enacting additional restrictions on guns beyond what exists at the state level. Though Burgess is trying to frame it as a tax issue, given the realities of the money stream, it is extremely easy to show that the city will lose money, not make it, because of this tax. And given that it's not about the money, it HAS to be about the gun regulation - which is illegal.
But thought it is a clear-cut legal case, we should still make this legislation dead on arrival. The politicians need to be shown very clearly that the electorate will not tolerate this behavior. Seattle has a long history of engineering accomplishment - be it Boeing planes, Microsoft desktop software, or Amazon cloud - and we will have political leaders who manage the city based on data, not bullshit!
...which brings me to my main point - yes, we can! As I mentioned before, municipal elections are a boring affair, and electorate turnout is typically very, very low. Burgess, for example, was reelected by 80% of the vote last time around - but that's by just 25% of the people who showed up! Jean Golden won by 1% of the vote - from the same tiny pool.
On the other hand, roughly 30% of Americans own guns, and even if Seattle is far behind, it is quite likely that the number of gun owners in the city is at least comparable to the number of people who show up for the elections.
So - (a) show up, and (b) get your friends, family, and your social network to show up. We will show the bastards!
Here is the Election Calendar
The primaries are on August 4th, 2015. If you are not registered to vote - this week is the last opportunity to do it, and you have to do it in person - by July 27th. Here is how you do it.
You should also get your friends to register as well. Have a lunch time trip to the office, and get your work mates to tag along!
Here are the current races involving current council members who are listed as sponsors of the proposal. You may want to call the incumbent and ask them about their position on this law. Then call the challengers and ask them - and offer assistance (yard signs, volunteering) to the ones that do not support this horrible law. If you let me know (sergey - at - precisehooter - dot - com) what you found out about candidate's positions, I will update the page with the positions of various candidates.
Candidates will also benefit from knowing that there is a sizable number of people who care about this issue.
Incumbent: Tim Burgess
Position on the gun tax proposal: Author.
Challengers:
Incumbent: Sally Bagshaw
Position: listed as a co-sponsor.
Challengers:
Incumbent: Mike O'Brien
Position: listed as a co-sponsor.
Challengers:
Incumbent: Tom Rasmussen (not running for reelection)
Position: listed as a co-sponsor.
Challengers:
Incumbent: Jean Godden
Position: listed as a co-sponsor.
This council member is 83 years old, and won by a tiniest margin the last time. This should be a slam dunk.
Challengers:
Incumbent: Kshama Sawant
Position: listed as a co-sponsor.
Challengers:
Incumbent: Bruce Harrell
Position: listed as a co-sponsor.
Challengers:
(Some information about who raised how much).
It is telling, by the way, that no one - NO ONE - except Sandy Brown mentions firearms in their submissions for the voter's pamphlet. For most people firearms regulation in Seattle is not a priority. But for us it is - and we will have our voice heard.
Help needed: call candidates to clarify their positions and let me know (sergey - at - preciseshooter - dot - com) what they are. Donate to the most likely challengers who are either against or undecided. $20 per candidate times 10000 gun owners will upset all of these races.
You can help us organize friends and family who do! You can call to learn about the candidate's positions on the law. You can contribute - there is not a requirement that a candidate be a resident of Seattle to contribute to a candidate for Seattle City Council. State of Washington has over a million of gun owners. Tim Burgess has $225000 in campaign money. A $20 contribution from just 1% (!) of Washington State gun owners will blow him out of the water!
So - nothing is lost - but winning requires action. Don't complain about losing your gun rights on the Internet - talk to your friends, politicians, and contribute, contribute, contribute! A very large number of very small donations will make a huge difference.
Winning gun enthusiasts is easy - but not enough. Many people do not care about guns one way or the other - most do, however, care about good governance, and they should be on our side.
To win them over, point out that...
(Seattle crime stats, 7/8/2015)
In other words - regardless of what someone thinks about guns, we have a governance crisis in Seattle. Our representatives make decision based on emotions, not data. We need to fix this.