Republic police chief on run for governor and refusal to enforce I-1639

Republic police chief Loren Culp generated headlines earlier this year by refusing to follow new gun law I-1639, which enacted some of the strictest gun control measures in the country.

Culp recently announced his candidacy for governor as a Republican, and joined the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH to discuss I-976, his opposition to I-1639, and what compelled him to run.

Regarding 976, Culp believes that Attorney General Bob Ferguson should recuse himself from defending the initiative.

“It’s kind of strange that the person that opposes most of the things the citizens want is now defending $30 car tabs; it doesn’t seem right to me,” he said. “He’s the attorney general, and there’s been quite a few things where he hasn’t gone along with what the people wanted, like anti-gun initiatives.”

“He pushed that from inside his office. He pushed that and he mislabeled that and fooled a lot of people into voting for that.”

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Culp says he’s motivated to run because of the disconnect between leaders and the will of the people, and hopes to distinguish himself as a candidate precisely because he’s not another seasoned politician.

“I believe there’s corruption at the top of our state … I’m not a politician, I’ve never ran for public office before,” he said. “What started all of this with me running and me standing up for the citizens is because of 1639 last year, when I made the statement that I would not enforce that unconstitutional law.”

“I stood up for the citizens that I work for for no gain, other than it’s the right thing to do to stand up for the citizens.”

Along with his law enforcement background as a police chief and narcotics officer, he also served in the military and was a business owner for 20 years. Jason asked Culp about the idea of not enforcing a law you don’t like. “Because I suppose I could argue that’s exactly what Seattle is trying to do in ignoring the will of the people with 976,” Jason asked.

“Well, there’s a law in this land, and in this state, and it’s called the Constitution, and it says right in there that it is the supreme law of the land. So you cannot change the Constitution with the citizen’s initiative, and Bob Ferguson fooled a lot of people into even voting for that with the title,” Culp responded.

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“A lot of people have told me, ‘Well, we just read the title and we like gun safety and safe schools. So we voted for it. We didn’t even read the 30 pages of garbage in it that restricts citizens’ rights.’ Article one section 24 states that the right of an individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself or the state shall not be impaired. That’s one simple sentence and 1639 completely flew in the face of that. That’s why I stood up, and that’s what started this whole ball rolling on me running for governor.”

To learn more about Culp’s campaign, head to culpforgovernor.com

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.

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