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Reader CM reports from the Evergreen State:

As you know, in Washington state we’ve got “the billionaires’” initiative 594 on the ballot this year to implement universal background checks. Well today I found an example of how King Bloomberg is spending his money to push it through. I loaded up the Seattle Times website (the largest paper in the state) today at lunch and had my retinas burned by the above . . .

And this continued down the side of the page:

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Did he buy the whole damn paper? That’s right, every single ad space on the entire front page of the Seattle Times’ website is for Everytown for Gun Safety. I couldn’t have photoshopped more ads in there. Full of lies and misrepresentations of course.

It will be interesting to see if this continues all the way up to the election. The pro-594 TV spots have been on during prime time, on all the local news casts, morning and night and during NFL games. We can only hope it turns into the biggest waste of political donations in the history of initiatives.

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55 COMMENTS

  2. We can only hope Washingtonians are smart enough to see through this extraordinary push to hijack a vote with infusions of outside money and false pretenses.

    • Bellevue is plastered with 591 signs. I haven’t seen a single 594 sign in Bellevue or Seattle. Internet and TV ads just require a few guys with money. Sign placement requires the work and dedication of many people.
      The superior dedication of the 591 side will (hopefully) lead to stronger turnout at the polls.

  4. is not against the law to sell a weapon to a felon in Washington? Evidently its not a big deal since the current administration is picking and choosing what duly enacted laws to enforce.

    • The law states it’s illegal to transfer a weapon to a person if you have reason to believe he’s prohibited.
      That’s why most of us ask to see a CPL before we will sell private party.

    • Well, the Bloomberg Syndicate is an international firm, so he’s getting offshore money. Now try to get Holder & company to do something about it. I’m not holding MY breath.

  8. Here in Idaho my wife said she see’s their i594 commercial on tv 5-10 times every morning of every day.

  9. Good luck on average Joe/Julie voter being “smart enough” to see through anything. I’m not trying to be elitist. Unless one is a regular TTAG reader, they’ll believe any well-designed Bloomie ad as gospel truth. The medicine to that are ads citing the CORRECT data and facts. And some good DGU stories. So WHERE ARE THEY?

    • Yes, I know; low information ‘sheeple’ are easily led, and mis-led.

      Even rich ones who view themselves as so special and smart and benevolent because they made it in the IT world.

    • I bet you there will be low voter turn out and the election results will mimic the results of other elections.

      Unless the people on one or both sides mobilized like they did in CO, you’re going to get the same regular voters that vote left and right. See Exeter, RI recall elections from last year.

  10. As long as King County and the deeply, deeply Blue Puget Sound area have a stranglehold on Washington State politics, don’t bet that this won’t pass. All the advertising is being done by the 594 billionaires and next to nothing by the NRA and 591 advocates.

    • Don’t forget that Little Billie and Melinda kicked in a mil too. He’s getting it by laying off the temps they hired when M$ was still a semi-competitive monopoly.

      • Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, and Nick Hanauer have, also, donated LOTS of money. I sincerely hope this backfires on the rich elite.

  13. I love the one ad that reads, “Criminals are flocking to the vast online marketplace of guns.”

    Let us suppose this is true. Then it concretely demonstrates that criminals always, ALWAYS find ways to obtain firearms. Eliminate one distribution channel and criminals will find another.

    This is a situation where “doing nothing” truly is better than “doing something”. Why? Doing something means government views everyone as guilty until proven innocent — a huge insult to the human dignity of the good people who have never harmed anyone. And doing something wastes a huge amount of resources that could be applied to other solutions which actually produce results! How is insulting everyone and wasting resources a positive outcome? Answer: it isn’t.

  15. I live in Seattle and work in the arts. Most of my friends and colleagues know I’m a gun guy. Anyone want to give me the Cliff’s notes to refute the points from the Yes on 594 camp?

    • Here are two things I posted on previous TTAG articles:

      ————
      This is about two initiatives coming up on the November ballot in Washington. I-591 and I-594.

      Are those the “gun things?” Yes, they are. Even if you don’t own, or don’t like guns, it’s important for you to read this.

      I will spare you any reading about government tyranny, the defenseless little old lady down the street, or the coming “zombie apocalypse.” I will briefly focus on what will be on the Washington ballot this fall.

      First I-591:
      It’s a one page document, calling for universal background checks in Washington only if based on a national standard, and requiring due process to confiscate guns. Short, reasonable, understandable, written and supported locally, endorsed by many law enforcement groups, and protects your rights.
      I highly recommend you vote YES on I-591.

      Second is I-594:
      It’s an 18 page document that is hard to decode from its legalese, which is either badly written and not fully thought through, or is completely evil. It sounds good on the surface, but is ugly underneath.

      I HIGHLY recommend you vote NO on I-594. The choice is yours, but here’s why:

      – It’s not so much about gun control as it is about CONTROL.

      – It’s funded primarily by uber-extremely-hyper rich people (Paul Allen, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg), who incidentally are surrounded 24/7 by well trained and well armed security forces. I-594 will affect your life, not theirs. The HUGE amount of money they are pouring into this is not even a blip on their radar, but is more money than you will likely make in your lifetime. They can’t manage a change to the Constitution, but may be able to buy an end-run around it.

      – I-594 is an unfunded mandate. Where will the new bureaucratic needs and enforcement money come from? The above mentioned extremely rich people are buying the initiative, YOU the taxpayer will shoulder the financial responsibility of running it. Increased taxes? Decreases in other services? I-594 doesn’t address that at all.

      – I-594 will hurt or destroy otherwise successful local businesses that pay taxes, create jobs, and thus support people and the economy.

      – I-594 will not prevent crime, criminal behavior, or stop single or mass shootings. The current 18,000+ gun laws haven’t managed that. Is this the “magic” law that will cure all ills? Shooters are evil. I-594 will not stop evil. I-594 will not stop crime. Criminals are basically businessmen. Crime is their business. Criminals will not stop their business model because of one more law. They have proven they don’t care, and will continue with their business. Prison means nothing to them, but it will to you.

      – Law enforcement is strongly AGAINST I-594.

      – I-594 will very likely make criminals out of otherwise honest, productive people. Here’s a scenario which may sound exaggerated/hyperbolic, but it’s not:

      Have a friend over to your home. Hand them a new book you’re reading. Have them hand it back. Congratulations, you’re now both felons…IF the book were a completely safe condition, unloaded firearm.

      Seriously. If I-594 passes the above example could make two productive, law-abiding people class 3 felons, punishable at the same level as a rapist. They will incur massive legal costs, might go to prison, will very likely lose their jobs, may never get a “good” job again, PERMANENTLY LOSE THE RIGHT TO VOTE (but still pay taxes), and firearms cannot be in a house where a felon lives. Every family member or roommate loses their Constitutional rights because, under I-594, someone else innocently showed/handed their grandfather’s shotgun to a friend.

      Do some research for yourself. Please choose more than one source, and not just the major media outlets.

      The money behind I-594 is looking to push this through in 16 other states. Please don’t let it pass in Washington. This time it’s about guns. If this strategy works, they will do it again…and again. They have plenty of money.

      Pass this along to everyone you know (even outside of WA state).

      Please vote:

      YES on I-591
      NO on I-594

      ==================

      ” I love it when they waste their money.”

      But is it a waste? The potential payoff is HUGE. Also, I-594 is currently projected to pass with 73%. I-591? I don’t know. The MSM is gushingly giving column inches to I-594, and calling I-591 a “blocking measure” to I-594. They get free air time, we have to pay…that is IF they accept the ads.

      I did some math this morning. Bloomberg has committed $50m to eliminate your 2A rights. Here’s how little $50m means to him: I currently make an obscenely low % interest at my bank. .75%

      Bloomberg did not get rich with investments earning .75% BUT…$33b x 0.0075 = $247,500,000 would be the annual interest in my checking account. Bloomberg has committed .4% (0.004%) of the INTEREST he would make in one year at .0075%.

      I have sent $200 to the Second Amendment Foundation to help with I-591. That’s what I could afford.

      The amount of money Bloomberg has is effectively infinite. If I-594 passes here, its clone will pass elsewhere. And then they will spend their “pennies” on something else they want.

      This is HUGE. This is truly important, not just from a gun POV, and not just in WA state. If you can afford it, please donate to the cause. Send the cost of a box of bullets, or a day at the range.

      http://wagunrights.org/donate/

  17. Unless you have ad blocking software, the ads pop up all over the homepage for the Times. The first day they ran, I counted eight just on the homepage.

  18. If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.

    Attributed to Joseph Goebbels and re-imagined by Michael Bloomberg.

  19. If those reading this are WA state residents, or know ANYONE in WA state, PLEASE email/call/have coffee with them and explain that is is waaaaay more than just guns. In addition to buying their their way around the Constitution on 2A, this is clearly a beta test for more to come. The HUGE amount of money being spent by the billionaires (huge to me anyway) isn’t even a blip on their personal radar.

    Even if you live outside of WA, please send some much needed funds to the CCRKBA. They are an arm of the Second Amendment Foundation. They have nowhere near the money that the anti’s do. Send what you can. Anything will help. There are 16 states where initiative like I-594 will likely appear in soon. They’ll come for you next.

    http://wagunrights.org/donate/

  21. This might have some negative impacts for him too.
    Looking from a neutral view, it looks like propaganda. We all know his statistics are BS, but how many people will now research them and come to the same conclusion?

  22. My prediction is that both initiatives are going to pass sending this entire tarball into the court system. It’s the best option since pro-gun advocates usually have the upper hand in the legal arena.

  23. Well, it wont be the first time some rich out of town guy from NY bought something in WA.

    But it will certainly be the biggest example, I594 loses, to the WA citizen voters everlasting credit, or
    it wins, to their sad shame…

    And the Seattle Times “press-titutes” will be notorious, for decades to come, either way.

  24. Seattle Times is 100% in the bag for 594, and I’m sure they ask no questions taking Bloomberg bux.

    They have openly endorsed 594 several times, downplayed 591, and have brought up the “fact” that several RETIRED LEOs and chiefs have endorsed it – completely failing to mention that numerous police unions and chiefs of WACOPS oppose 594.

    Why just around the time these ads showed up, ST letters coordinator wrote this piece of crap:

    http://blogs.seattletimes.com/northwestvoices/2014/09/16/i-594-clearing-up-misperceptions-about-the-gun-initiative/

  25. These freedom snatchers only just recently and quietly phased out their carping about the mythical “gun show loophole.” Now, a couple of decades late after the advent of the Internet, they’re just now getting around to updating their propaganda with this “Internet loophole” myth? Geez, even had they pulled this lame stunt six years ago, it still would have been two-thousand-and-late.

  27. It’s a flat lie. Online sales cannot be made without a background check, because the gun has to be transferred through FFLs, who have to give a background check. Only private sales of guns do not require a background check, which isn’t a loophole and which have nothing to do with the Internet except for advertising purposes. It would be like saying, “Newspaper sales of guns do not require background checks!”

  28. You folks are mission a critical point. Seattle Times is a Symphysis Syphiliphic whore, providing a soap box against Washingtonian’s right of lawful self protection. Selling the Constitution Castle for coin. Should change their name to Judas Times.

  30. Couple of points here, I have convinced two people to vote no on 594, and invited them for 591 on FB, and educated them on the differences (I told them that if we went out shooting, that we would be felons, to which she replied, “That’s kinda stupid). Also, they had a town hall meeting here on one of the TV channels, and towards the end, very few people were clapping for 591 (only one or two people actually asked pro-594 questions).

  31. This sucks. I really wish that this idiot Bloomberg would lose.

    I mean, I really really really want to move out of the People’s Republik of Kalifornia and Washington state is one of my first choices in finding a new state to live in.

  32. I’m voting early and voting often No on I-594 and Yes on I-591. Bloomberg, Gates and friends can suck my smokewagon.

  33. Paul Allen, a 1/2 million buck backer of I-594, is currently in a legal battle to acquire his own 1944 WWII Panzer IV tank. For reals, Google it.

  35. That headline is proof that today’s journalists are blithering idiots. Criminals aren’t buying guns online, they get them the same way they get drugs. A vast and corrupt underground supply chain that certainly involved officials and law enforcement being paid off to allow illegal products to move. I’m not suggesting that there are ablot of corrupt LEOs, but there are a few and that’s enough for the black market to work.

    • 70% for 594, but I don’t believe it for a couple of reasons 1)It’s the same as it was in April, and there is a poll that the Seattle times that said 86% that were pro-591 last year 2)They only had a sample size of 564 people which isn’t a lot of people.

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