By Duane Liptak
Lawmakers in Olympia are convinced they’ve found the solution to solving the crime problem. Reducing crime, they seem to agree, is just a matter of reducing the capacity of how many rounds of ammunition can go into a magazine. They just can’t seem to agree what that number should be.
The fallacy is this has been tried and it didn’t help. This proposed legislation doesn’t do anything to punish or deter criminals. Instead, it only affects the law-abiding. We know that public safety isn’t improved by reducing rights.
We’ve been down this path. Five years ago, we proudly called Colorado our home. Our state legislature focused their attention on the wrong issues, blaming our industry and magazine capacity instead of the criminals for their crimes.
We warned the lawmakers that shifting the blame would have dire consequences for the safety of Colorado. Despite overwhelming opposition from law-abiding Colorado citizens, the legislature passed and then-Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a magazine ban into law, very similar to the law being debated in Washington.
Our company left Colorado for Wyoming and Texas, where we knew our business wouldn’t be scapegoated, and where lawmakers are focused on real solutions. Two Colorado state lawmakers were recalled from their seats and another resigned in the aftermath of the bill being passed.
Colorado lost $85 million in annual taxes and hundreds of loyal employees. Those tax dollars, and our rights, are welcomed in Wyoming and Texas. But, the real impact was on the law-abiding who were now living under the new law.
Sadly, we were all too accurate in our predictions on the effect this would have on crime. With both the newly minted background check law and the magazine capacity limits in effect, while the law-abiding were denied their rights, crime grew and criminals grew even bolder. Colorado’s Bureau of Investigation reported last fall that violent crime had grown by 25 percent since 2013.
Citizens of the Evergreen State deserve better. They deserve the facts, straight from the FBI. More violent crimes are committed with clubs, knives and fists than with firearms. When criminals do use guns, they overwhelmingly use illegally obtained handguns—which, by the way, are unaffected by well-meaning but ineffective background check laws.
When they shoot those guns, they fire an average of 3.2-3.7 rounds, far below the arbitrary 10 or 15-round capacity limit being debated. Criminals, you see, can choose the time and place of their acts, and generally act in groups. Law abiding citizens defending their own lives are reacting to the actions of criminals, and potentially numerous attackers.
As another point of fact, the standard capacity magazines that Washington lawmakers want to ban were already banned once by the federal government, from 1994-2004, along with a ban on so-called “assault weapons.” The Centers for Disease Control studied it and found these measures had no impact on reducing crime. In fact, crime across the United States has fallen 17 percent since the ban expired.
Other communities are safer than Colorado because they are focusing on real solutions. Other states are submitting all disqualifying mental health and criminal records to the FBI, to maximize the effect of the existing federal background check laws that are already in place, and have been since 1993. They are partnering with programs like Project Childsafe® to ensure guns are responsibly stored when not in use–voluntarily.
Through effective, FREE programs including the NRA “School Shield” program, they are making schools safe with real security measures instead of pretending that violent criminals are deterred by “gun free zone” signs. They are locking up criminals who would “straw purchase” or buy guns for those who can’t because they’re disqualified.
These states are catching and locking up criminals who smash into gun stores and steal guns that are used in subsequent crimes or traffic in illegal guns stolen or imported from other sources. And, they are prosecuting and sentencing actual violent criminals instead of trying to disarm or disadvantage the law-abiding citizen.
When lawmakers shift the blame and focus on an object they don’t understand instead of the criminals who they must confront, the true victims are the voters. Don’t let the false promises that were sold to Coloradoans be peddled in Washington. Tell your state senator, representative and the governor Washingtonians’ want more than illusion of action. Washington deserves real solutions.
Duane Liptak is Executive Vice President of Magpul Industries Corporation, a manufacturer of firearm accessories.
Crime is the excuse, control of the population is the goal. Gun control = Trojan horse.
Please read the US Constitution and pay special notice to the 2nd amendment. Then lastly, please recite your oath of office, paying attention to ” I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States”!
Now go home and let adults do your job…….
Attention to the Militia act as amended, The SCOTUS DECISION OF Miller v U.S. Should be used as arguments against gun control. The act requires all militia members 17 and above to have a rifle and ammunition so that when called up they are armed. SCOTUS ruled that all people Men and Women were the militia and when called up where to have arms of the type currently in use by the military. The national Guard is not the Militia, they can be called into active service and sent overseas. The Militia cannot be sent out of the country. It can only be used to prevent invaders from entering the United States. The 2d amendment is the basis of the militias. And the last few words state “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED”.
Almost forgot by Constitutional amendment there is no upper age limit to be in the militia.
I have and will continue to buy Magpul products because of the principles you have shown.
The only way to deal with gun grabbers is to show up at these committee meetings with your 2A logo shirts make your statements and then vote them out of office.
That’s how it works in this Republic not a democracy. This fight will never end because the gun grabbers will never stop.
Half the states are going the way of CO, CA, Wa, etc. The other half are fiercely defending our rights. The SCOTUS is far from assuredly pro 2a at this point and even if they defended the 2A we’d see loopholes exploited like in Heller.
This isn’t going to end well at all.
Half of half the states. The urban areas pass these laws, and the rural counties ignore them.
Reduced magazine capacity will do nothing for crime control. They know this, It’s all about control. WA Gov Jay Enslee and WA AG Bob Ferguson could care less what the constitution or their oath of office actually mean. It does not fit into their communist view of how the State should be run. Even though it is still snowing in mid March here in WA, they went full retard on the global warming scam. They even want to impose a Carbon Tax that would hurt business and homeowners in the state. Worst Governor the State has ever had and now he wants to run for President. Total scumbag. The “We will not comply” movement is gaining ground in Washington.
The f-ing pieces of dog excrement in Olympia care not one whit about what is right or wrong, they only care about the Seattle led socialist takeover of the formerly great state of Washington. Gird your loins and keep your powder dry.
When people are determined to do something, anything, when they are willfully insistent that whatever they want is worth the cost, they are unstoppable.
I have no doubt that if you could prove beyond any question that people who want to impose gun controls will, within six months, be killed by a criminal who deliberately ignored gun control laws, the gun grabbers would impose the controls anyway. If you could prove the children of those same determined people would be dead next week because of the control laws, the gun grabbers would proceed in defiance.
Communism in all it’s ugly form.when the lead starts flying and if God allows us to gain the upper hand I pray we drag these commies out and execute them.but I fear were doomed.settle in your hearts now.better to die on our feet than on our knees
Sure, mag capacity is 2nd. Amendment protected. Shooting is about hitting. Hitting is what it’s all about. Spray and pray is risky. You’re mileage may vary. -30-
“Washington Staters Deserve Real Solutions, Not Bans Offering False Promises”
Liberals live upon lies, after lies, after lies…Remember the now infamous, “if you like your doctor, you can keep them”…???
The frustrating part of this is that Seattle spent $1.5 million on investigating gun violence, found out 90% was due to gang violence. And spent 1000’s of words trying to avoid “Mexican drug gangs”. So, yeah, magazine limits that’s the ticket. Insert stream of obscenities here.
They should do such a study in chiraq, they’d find the same thing, EXCEPT, they don’t want to bring attention there…
The magazine bill is dead for the year.
How do you know?
I just want to be sure it’s real before I breathe a sigh of relief (until next year) and raise my middle finger to the Puget Sound progbot caucus.
It is dead for now. It will be reintroduced of course next year. The dems surprisingly needed one more vote on their side. I’m honestly shocked. You can follow these bills at leg.wa.gov.
I love MagPul.
As a bill, it’s dead. But I fully expect to see all that dead legislation reappear this fall as initiatives. That’s what happened with I-1639. And this time the people that write the initiative will have learned from their past mistakes and pretty much write it to be immune from legal challenge by SAF, CCRKBA, and others.
We need to be prepared to picket the paid signature gatherers – every place they set up shop, we need to be right there debating them. Hopefully keep the damned things off the ballot, so the urban leftists can’t vote them in.
Can there be an initiative in 2019? I thought they can only do them every 2 years?
My daughter is in Colorado for her honeymoon. While not a violent crime, her purse was stolen within 24 hours of arrival in Denver. Then the blizzard. I have a friend that owns a mountain house on a lake in Cashiers, NC and beach house on 30A in South Walton County, FL. I could have gotten her use of either free of charge. But, nooo. Neither she nor Chuck ever want to go to Colorado again. My point is, let your money do your talking. Boycott states like WA, OR, CA, CO, NY, MA, etc. It’s a big continent. Lots to see and do.
Colorado is a frigid cesspool. Nobody should come here, ever. Stay away. Definitely don’t move here — other states have legal pot now, too. You can go back to California now.
“Washington Staters Deserve Real Solutions”
Washington Staters deserve exactly what they voted for. And they deserve it good and hard.
“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”
— Benjamin Franklin
Ralph, I hate to disagree with you, but here goes. Just like kalifornia, Oregon and Neveda, all the commie voters are in just a few of the largest cities. Unfortunately, these cities are where the majority of the lib voters are. DuckDuckgo the last several elections and you’ll see the majority of the rest of the states were definitely in the red. Now, to agree with you, the conservative voters in these states will always be in the minority and they really need to vote with their feet at the soonest possible time. I did when I left kalifornia, where I was born and raised. I can’t tell you how much better I feel living in a very gun friendly state. It was worth every penny I spent getting out of there.
Hey now, I didn’t vote for any of those commie mf’ers or their piece of crap initiatives. But here I am, getting what I “deserve” good and hard anyway…
Speaking of which, Ralph, aren’t you still in Massachusetts or some such godforsaken state, where you’re also getting what other people voted for, good and hard?
“The Party must control the gun, the gun must never control the Party!” – Mao ZeDong
Sound like anybody running their yap these days is REALLY saying?
By the way, for those too young to remember Mao and, of course he isn’t talked about in current history lessons, look him up. He is number 1 on the 20th Century Democide hit parade list! Hitler was just number 3!!
We need to form the new state of Liberty in eastern Washington ASAP. The liberals here are extremist in their views that support abortion at all costs, stop fossil fuel transport through their state to ports, open support for Antifa (who are the actual Nazi/Mussolini Fascists) in Seattle, they plan to eliminate our 2nd Amendment Rights, and overall create greater California from Mexico to Canada! All my passive aggressive backstabbing neighbors are transplants from California and they ruin every place they move. Like the 1930’s Jews in Nazi Germany we must awaken and see the writing on the wall! Their religion is “be nice sheep” and “conform” to what they all believe is common sense for at least themselves the self righteous mentally ill liberals. Wake up and peacefully resist or move. Do not become violent since that is what they want. They want an excuse to attack because they are intolerant, angry, and obsessed with their pseudo liberal-leftist superior Democrat mob rule religion!
No new state will ever occur in Washington. Nice fantasy, however.
“We need to form the new state of Liberty in eastern Washington ASAP.”
It’s not so easy. The existing state of Washington must first agree to give up territory, then the US Congress must agree to accept a new state. Current political landscape? No new non-leftist state will be approved. Beware the leftists don’t get the idea to create new leftist states, with an increase in members of the House and Senate voting left.
People are speeding too much. Let’s mandate five gallon gas tanks.
Where has a gun control or limited magazine quantity ever stopped a criminal???
Governments need to learn they are not our parents, and we are not children. Start treating people like adults, enhance the freedom of the populace, and leave everyone alone. It’s simple, but those Hitler/Stalin wannabes just can’t get it through their heads.
M1lou what they need is bullets through there head.the only way stop vermin is to kill them all.SHALL NOT be infringed
As a resident of Washington state I completely agree with this article. I have a very hard time understanding why lawmakers think making laws like this will some how stop gun violence. Criminals dont follow laws! you are just making it harder for us law abiding citizens to defend ourselves! Fortunately to my knowledge this magazine bill failed to get voted on in time and is not currently dead for the year. But i would be stupid if i said they will not continue to try. They did pass a vote on a law expanding gun free zones. Another stupid law! Can they honestly think a murderer will see a gun free zone sign and think to him/her self, “i better not go in there and kill because its a gun free zone?” come on! wake up. Washington state used to have some of the most nonrestrictive gun laws and as a result had very little gun violence. i dont know why our lawmakers see the need to change that.
Sadly, Washinton state often gets what Seattle deserves … and wants; with apologies to H. L. Mencken.
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