Sheriff’s Office Will Not ‘Actively Seek’ Violators Of I-1639

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The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, following an influx of questions from the public regarding the contentious gun control measure Initiative 1639, recently provided a hint to how it will enforce certain elements of the measure when it becomes law partially on Jan. 1 and fully in July 2019.

Through a Facebook post that reached over 32,000 people, the sheriff’s office doubled-down on Sheriff Rob Snaza’s support of the second amendment and “safe gun ownership.”

“We are aware there have been legal challenges to I-1639 and will wait for the courts to rule on their constitutionality. As with previous firearms initiatives, such as I-594, we will address potential criminal violations as they arise through the course of an investigation, but will not actively seek out violations,” reads the tail end of the post, published Nov. 20.

The Second Amendment Foundation and the National Rifle Association recently filed a lawsuit to block I-1639, which would raise the legal age of owning a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 and require safe storage techniques — with possible gross misdemeanor or felony consequences for violators, under certain circumstances.

Supporters have lauded the measure as a means to reduce gun violence and enhance school security.

“Enough is enough,” I-1639 reads. 

“The impact of gun violence by assault weapons fall heavily on children and teenagers. According to one analysis, more than two hundred eight thousand students attended at least two hundred twelve schools have experienced a shooting on campus since the Columbine mass shooting in 1999. Active shooter drills are normal for a generation of American schoolchildren, instilling at a young age the sad and unnecessary realization that a mass shooting can happen in any community, in any school, at any time.”

The sheriff’s office’s statement came shortly after a Seattle Times story out of Republic, Washington, caused a stir. The police chief of the small, northeast Washington town, Loren Culp, commented that he would not enforce the measure. Snaza said the timing of his own statement and the story from Republic were coincidental.

“Now, I will uphold the law. That is my job. That doesn’t mean I have to like it. I have to respect the rule of law. And we will, but the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office is not going to go out and look for violations. We will deal with it as it comes to us, or is brought to our attention,” Snaza said.

Once state voters passed the initiative with just shy of 60 percent of the vote, Snaza said citizens were eager and urging for his office to make some sort of statement on the department’s stance.

It garnered a positive response from Facebook users — perhaps unsurprisingly, considering Lewis County opposed the initiative by just a tick over 70 percent.

Regarding the legal challenges I-1639 now faces, Snaza said his main hope is the section that raises the legal age of semi-automatic rifle owners is struck down. 

“Well here’s my question, we feel very good about sending our young men and women to war at 18, 19 and 20 to defend our nation, and then, yet, they want to say, ‘Well their minds (aren’t) fully developed’ … but we want to send them to war to defend our nation, but we don’t want them purchasing a semi-automatic firearm,” he said.