Bad Bill Or Bad Matt?

District 4 Representative Matt Shea's latest email newsletter has him asking us to help him "advance The Freedom Agenda of lower taxes, less government, and more freedom." Hmmmm, advancing the freedom agenda of more freedom. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that.

Anyway.

As a part of his red-meat-tossing rant Mr Shea also warns us about the BAD BILL OF THE WEEK!

"Democrats aren’t stopping the assault against our freedom with tax increases. They also want every law abiding citizen who owns a gun to have a background check.... Initiative 594 would require background checks whenever a firearm is sold or transferred between licensed dealers or private parties, with few exceptions. Any sale or transfer of a firearm must be completed through a dealer. If you gave a firearm to your son, a brother or other family member, the proposed law would require them to have a background check or be in violation. It would criminalize law-abiding citizens people, such as Gonzaga University students Erik Fagan and Dan McIntosh, who used a gun last year to scare off a six-time convicted felon when he tried to break into their on-campus house for money.

I have to wonder if the Democrats have been so successful in their assault on our freedoms that they have taken away Matt Shea's freedom to read. (And shouldn't this be the bad initiative of the week?)

Anyway.

Yes, the initiative would require background checks. But there are exceptions, one of them being:

(4) This section does not apply to:
(a) A transfer between immediate family members, which for this subsection shall be limited to spouses, domestic partners, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, first cousins, aunts, and uncles, that is a bona fide gift;

So contrary to what Matt Shea says, you would not be in violation if you gave a gun to your son, brother, same-or-different-sex spouse, your granddaughter, and many other family members. Nor would a background check be required.

As for how this would criminalize law-abiding citizens like Erik Fagan and Dan McIntosh, that remains to be created by Matt Shea's fertile imagination. The incident with Fagan and McIntosh had nothing to do with transferring a gun from one person to another or background checks. It involved displaying a weapon and possessing a weapon on presumptively university-owned property. But there were gun--and freedoms!--involved and that's what matters most.

Besides. You never know when you might be targeted due to your work. All you need is the freedom to use your imagination.I'd also like to point out that Matt Shea was presumably a law abiding citizen up until he was cited and prosecuted.