- Nov 14, 2010
- 20,274
TownHall.com -
The Fight for Your Gun Rights
Washington and Colorado are ground zero … Maryland too, but we're not mentioned in the article. Dave Kopel and Alan Gottlieb are leading the charge in their respective states.
The Fight for Your Gun Rights
Washington and Colorado are ground zero … Maryland too, but we're not mentioned in the article. Dave Kopel and Alan Gottlieb are leading the charge in their respective states.
The battle in the Evergreen State has taken the form of two competing ballot measures. Because enemies of the Second Amendment have failed to win new gun-control laws from the legislature, they are turning to the initiative process.
Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, contends that additional burdens sought by the anti-gun-right side would not only weaken self-defense rights right now but also serve as precedent for further assaults.
I-591 therefore also would {additionally} prohibit any confiscation of firearms without due process. Advocates of victim disarmament “are going with what they can try and get away with right now, but their ultimate goal is to confiscate firearms. We know that; that’s where the anti-gun-rights movement is. So we’re protecting against that.”
However, I-594 backers have big wallets and have already dumped an estimated $1 million into the campaign ... largely bankrolled by wealthy Seattle venture capitalist Nick Hanauer {owner of aQuantive, the online advertising company that sold to Microsoft for $6 billion} with some hefty donations in sums of $50,000, $25,000, $10,000 and $5,000.
The situation is worse in Colorado, where state lawmakers have already passed bills, signed into law by Governor Hickenlooper, to virtually nullify the Second Amendment in the Centennial State.
Coloradans have responded to the legislative onslaught with two major counter-offenses.
First, 55 sheriffs from around Colorado have joined forces with 21 other groups and individuals (including Harrell) in a lawsuit to block the new victim-disarmament laws. The attorney leading the charge is Independence Institute research director Dave Kopel, who expects a years-long judicial struggle but is optimistic.