There will be a high stake game played in Washington State between the NRA and the zillionaires, televised for all to see. The game is Initiative 594 and the stake is personal background checks for all firearms purchased, who wins the game will be decided in Washington State on November 4th at the polls and by the people.
Bill Gates—zillionaire—has backed a Washington state initiative that requires personal background checks for all firearms purchased within its borders. Now supporters of the initiative will have $1 million in Gates' money to fund their effort. Thanks to Washington being home to tech other zillionaires giants Microsoft and Amazon, other funds to support the cause have come from Microsoft co-founder and Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen, who donated $500,000, and Amazon investor Nick Hanauer, who donated $1.4 million. Washington residents will vote on Initiative 594 on November 4.
Initiative 594 could be the NRA’s worst nightmare come true, because if it passes in Washington State on November 4th similar legislation could sweep across the entire United States.
Initiative Measure No. 594 concerns background checks for firearm sales and transfers.
This measure would apply the currently used criminal and public safety background checks by licensed dealers to all firearm sales and transfers, including gun show and online sales, with specific exceptions.
The initiative makes sure anyone buying a gun in Washington State passes the same background check, no matter where they buy the gun and no matter whom they buy it from.
Criminal and public safety background checks dramatically reduce access to guns for criminals, domestic abusers and other dangerous people from buying firearms. But in Washington State, only guns bought from licensed dealers are subject to a background check. This is a loophole in our law that allows criminals to buy guns from strangers – in parking lots, on the Internet, and at gun shows – with no questions asked.
Initiative 594 closes this loophole in Washington State by requiring that private sales and transfers —including those at gun shows or on the internet— go through the same background check process as sales through a licensed gun dealer.
Simple and Accessible Process:
• The initiative is simple: it makes sure that anyone buying a gun in Washington State passes the same background check, no matter where they buy the gun and no matter whom they buy it from.
• When a private seller and buyer arrange to meet in person to conduct the transfer, they would meet at a licensed dealer, instead of in a parking lot or another public place.
• The buyer and the licensed dealer would proceed as if the buyer were trying to purchase from a dealer. The buyer would complete the proper forms, and the dealer would call in the background check—in the exact same way as if the dealer were selling a firearm from its own inventory.
• This initiative simply has private sales go through the same process people have been using successfully for years when purchasing from a licensed dealer.
• This is an accessible process. 98% of Washingtonians live within 10 miles of a dealer. In fact, there are twice as may licensed gun dealers in Washington as there are US post offices.
• Private parties complying with the background check requirement are exempt from sales tax.
Reasonable Exceptions – background checks are not required for:
• Gifts between immediate family members
• Antiques and relics
• Temporary transfers for self-defense
• Loans for lawful hunting or sporting activities
Having Gates' name behind the initiative can cause it to go viral, thanks to a combination of media attention and legitimacy, and may drive more donations their way. If the 594 does pass in Washington, that opens the gate for Gates to put his money behind similar initiatives in other states. Hey, this is the man who has saved more than a million lives in Africa over the last decade, thanks to his work to fight malaria.
The NRA’s worst nightmare will come true, sensible gun legislation.
Bill Gates brings another element into the mix, supporting the initiative. Unlike his other tech cohorts, Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation enjoy media coverage that is unparalleled by others that have supported the initiative so far.
I-594 is nothing about registering guns. It would extend to private gun sales — e.g., gun shows and on-line purchases — the background checks of those who now purchase through licensed firearms dealers.
This will be a high stake poker game, up until now the NRA has been able to bluff, bully and terrorize the American public into voting against their best interests by lobbying against any sensible gun legislation being passed, but some real players have taken a seat at the table and these players cannot be outspent. They have the winning cards in their hands and it is called money and this money is going to allow the voters a chance to vote in their best interests.
The dilemma facing the NRA, if they want a shot at defeating I-594 they’re going to have to substantially outspend a handful of really motivated players who are willing and able to up the stakes dramatically.
Twenty million dollars isn’t going to do it, not even $30 million. Raising the stakes $40 million may not even be enough, and that’s significantly more than the NRA typically spends on all of its political advertising and lobbying nationally in a given year!
If the NRA’s spends $30 to $40 million on defeating I-594, the NRA won’t have a penny to defeat anything else. Spend $30-plus million and lose, and that would be political disaster, sending a clear message to legislators and congressmen that no amount of NRA money is enough to stem the popular tide of support in favor of stricter gun control.
Better to spend nothing, and just write off this initiative as a wacky political outlier from the pot-smoking, gay-marrying, socialist-electing, $15-minimum-wage-paying Soviet of Washington.
I wonder do you think the NRA will stand their ground on this one, me I think they will back down and fade quietly away like any good loser should do.