Rep. Jim Walsh opposes anti-gun bill that targets business operations of licensed firearms dealers

the good member from the 19th legislative district representative Walsh thank you Mr Speaker again a refining Amendment to the underlying proposal uh there is language in The Proposal about keeping video records of activity and transactions in in a gun shop or legal FFL or that environment uh what this uh Amendment does and and it's a Well worked Amendment uh is it would refine the time required for certain of these video recordings to be kept archived available and uh it it strikes I think a good balance that both assures there will be good video records yet also limits them to a timeline that is practicable for uh for lawful gun retailers and gun shops uh it's a good compromise Mr Speaker asking for a yes vote a good member from the 19th legislative district representative Walsh thank you Mr Speaker uh again a a refining Amendment there's quite a lot of language in the underlying proposal about the storage of firearms inventory the storage of guns uh both during uh business hours and and after business hours and what this amendment does is it uh removes some of that language in a hope what is a clarifying way so that the question of how a gun retailer must store uh the inventory the stock the guns uh is again more practical and uh and I would hope able to be implemented in a reasonable way again I hope it's a clarifying Amendment asking for a yes vote the good member from the 19th legislative district representative Walsh thank you Mr Speaker sadly I have to recommend a no vote uh on this proposal appreciate the intent appreciate that it is it is meant to prevent gun violence and gun crimes uh Mr Speaker I just am not able to get to the place where this where I believe that the underlying policy will actually achieve that worthy goal um Mr Speaker as you know our our state constitution in Article 1 Section 24 is even clearer and stronger than the Federal Constitution on the matter of firearms ownership of the right to keep and bear arms for the people of Washington State Article 1 Section 24 aside from describing that right in clear and strong terms also States and this is so important to me Mr Speaker that a general good of Public Safety and Security comes out of the individuals exercise of the right to keep and bear arms Mr Speaker this is an important idea it's an important idea that we all defend each other when we defend ourselves and this proposal well- intended as it may be restricts the ability of you and me and an individual washingtonians to keep and bear arms the Article 1 Section 24 talks about not allowing any act to impair that right impair even a a stronger term of protection of the right than the federal Constitution's use of the word infringe and the the spirit of that Mr Speaker the spirit of our constitutional law on the ability of individuals to keep and bear arms is that General good that an armed populace has for Public Safety I know Mr Speaker for some people it may be counterintuitive but it is essential to understanding our constitutional law and what this well-intended proposal does is it restricts it limits the ability of an individual a lawful person to purchase lawfully a firearm and by restricting that lawful legal transaction we are the pro the policy does impair the right of an individual to keep and bear arms Mr Speaker I believe that an armed lawful popul is a civil population and a safe population for that reason I have to ask for a no vote on this bill