SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: NRA lawsuit will expose I-1639 as unconstitutional

Nov 16, 2018, 3:00 PM

Guns are at the forefront of the news on Friday for many reasons.

Last week, I talked to Scott Brown, a concealed carry permit holder who used his gun to hold a man who allegedly stabbed his ex-girlfriend at Seattle Center until the police arrived. Thank goodness he was armed. We don’t know what else the killer was capable of, and thankfully we won’t find out, because of a Good Samaritan with a gun.

Early Friday morning, there was a shooting in Federal Way. In this case, a 29-year-old man allegedly jumped into a vehicle to steal it, but the car owner pulled out his gun and wounded the would-be thief. I want to know what’s going to happen to the guy who allegedly shot the would-be thief — I hope he is not criminally charged.

What we’re seeing more and more as Seattle becomes overrun with criminals is that people are using guns to defend themselves, their property, and each other. Ironically, this comes at a time when there is more of an anti-gun mania than ever before.

RELATED: Dori’s listeners react to I-1639 passage

A week ago, the people of this state passed I-1639, which is one of the most restrictive gun laws in the country, and already is facing a challenge in court alleging that it’s unconstitutional.

The initiative raises the age to purchase semiautomatic guns from 18 to 21. Unless you’re going to argue that 18, 19, and 20-year-olds are not citizens of the state, or are somehow not adults, this new law is patently unconstitutional. The law reclassifies some guns as assault weapons. It says that you have to keep your gun locked up, and if someone steals your unlocked gun and uses it to commit a crime, you can be prosecuted.

Here’s the thing I don’t understand — how many times have Tim Eyman initiatives been tossed out for having too many issues within the initiative? Well, how many different issues does I-1639 have?

NRA president Lt. Col. Oliver North was on the show on Thursday and told us that I-1639 is “nuts.” A few hours later, it was announced that the NRA, in partnership with the Second Amendment Foundation is suing the state over I-1639. Thank goodness. The NRA has a good chance at winning this lawsuit, unless our state Supreme Court doesn’t see what’s so obviously wrong with this legislation.

In the meantime, I love what a police chief in this small town of Republic in Eastern Washington is doing. He is recommending that residents ignore I-1639. If you live in a rural area and don’t fall into the far-left Seattle liberal agenda, you’re probably sick and tired of how a tiny part of the state, geographically speaking, is telling the rest of the state how to live. So the police chief of Republic has said that he will simply not enforce this new initiative because it is not constitutional. He wrote the following on Facebook:

The Republic City Council declares that all federal and state acts, laws, orders, rules and regulations past, present or future, in violation of the U.S. and/or State Constitutions are not authorized by the said Constitutions and violate the true meaning and intent as given by the Founders and Ratifiers and are hereby declared to be invalid in the City of Republic, shall not be recognized by the City of Republic, are specifically rejected by the City of Republic and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in the City of Republic.

Our state constitution is one of the strongest when it comes to individual freedoms. But our attorney general uses our state constitution to go on a political crusade against anyone who is politically, socially, and religiously different from him, like he did with the florist in the Tri-Cities who said that she would not participate in a ceremony that violates her fundamental religious principles. Our state constitution must be respected, but we have a lot of people in the highest levels of power who do not respect it at all.

But, I will say, God bless those officials in King County who have decided to put up signs in gun shops warning shoppers that guns can be dangerous, much like the warning notifications on cigarette packs. Hey City of Burien, why not take a lesson from the King County Council? Put up signs saying, “Please don’t shoot.” The gang members will see the signs and will think twice before gunning down innocent officer workers. More signs. That will clean things up. Thank goodness the Democrats in King County have found the solution to societal ills: More signs.

Associated Press

Americans rewire their grocery shopping routines while digesting the biggest price jump in 50 years

What’s for dinner? Lately, at Apral Jack’s house, it’s whatever is on sale. Jack, 50, scouts an app for deals at her local supermarket before she buys groceries. When she reaches the store, she looks in the weekly circular for coupons she might have missed. If shelf prices look too high, she tries to find […]

47 minutes ago

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, welcomes United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres...

Associated Press

U.N. chief urges international community to back Syrians during visit to Damascus

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres appealed to the international community Saturday to support the people in Syria at the start of his first visit to the Arab country as U.N. chief, nearly two years after the fall of Bashar Assad. Guterres ‘ visit is the first by a UN secretary-general to the […]

1 hour ago

Associated Press

Iran reports no new U.S. strikes as tensions remain high

CAIRO (AP) — Iran reported no strikes overnight into Saturday, an apparent break from nearly two weeks of consecutive nights of U.S. attacks, but tensions remain high following a recent escalation over control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour posted on X, saying that “Iran had a peaceful night,” […]

2 hours ago

Elizabeth Martínez pushes a shopping cart through a grocery store aisle on Thursday, July 2, 2026,...

Associated Press

The ‘rockets and feathers’ effect: Inflation eases but grocery bills do not

Economics has a term for what U.S. grocery prices have done in recent years: rockets and feathers. Rockets, because the cost of food eaten at home zoomed up in the aftermath of the pandemic. Feathers, because once prices rise, they’re slow to come down. That’s been frustrating for Americans hit with the sharpest increase in […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

Americans rewire their grocery shopping routines while digesting the biggest price jump in 50 years

What’s for dinner? Lately, at Apral Jack’s house, it’s whatever is on sale. Jack scouts an app for deals at her local supermarket before she buys groceries. When she reaches the store, she grabs the weekly circular to look for coupons she might have missed. If the shelf prices look too high, she scratches items […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

Wildfire leads to evacuations in some suburbs of the French city of Bordeaux

ARCACHON, France (AP) — Authorities in France are evacuating some suburbs of Bordeaux because of a massive and shifting wildfire to the west of the city famous for its wines. The prefect of the Gironde region that includes Bordeaux ordered the evacuation in the early hours of Saturday, covering parts of three of the city’s […]

4 hours ago

Dori: NRA lawsuit will expose I-1639 as unconstitutional