“It’s exactly this sort of thing that drives people into the arms of the NRA.”

This, introduced to the legislature in the state of Washington, is more than simply alarming:

Forget police drones flying over your house. How about police coming inside, once a year, to have a look around?

As Orwellian as that sounds, it isn’t hypothetical. The notion of police home inspections was introduced in a bill last week in Olympia.

That it’s part of one of the major gun-control efforts pains me. It seemed in recent weeks lawmakers might be headed toward somecommon-sense regulation of gun sales. But then last week they went too far. By mistake, they claim. But still too far.

“They always say, we’ll never go house to house to take your guns away. But then you see this, and you have to wonder.”

That’s no gun-rights absolutist talking, but Lance Palmer, a Seattle trial lawyer and self-described liberal who brought the troubling Senate Bill 5737to my attention. It’s the long-awaited assault-weapons ban, introduced last week by three Seattle Democrats.

Responding to the Newtown school massacre, the bill would ban the sale of semi-automatic weapons that use detachable ammunition magazines. Clips that contain more than 10 rounds would be illegal.

But then, with respect to the thousands of weapons like that already owned by Washington residents, the bill says this:

“In order to continue to possess an assault weapon that was legally possessed on the effective date of this section, the person possessing shall ... safely and securely store the assault weapon. The sheriff of the county may, no more than once per year, conduct an inspection to ensure compliance with this subsection.”

In other words, come into homes without a warrant to poke around. Failure to comply could get you up to a year in jail.

“I’m a liberal Democrat — I’ve voted for only one Republican in my life,” Palmer told me. “But now I understand why my right-wing opponents worry about having to fight a government takeover.”

He added: “It’s exactly this sort of thing that drives people into the arms of the NRA.”

I have been blasting the NRA for its paranoia in the gun-control debate. But Palmer is right — you can’t fully blame them, when cops going door-to-door shows up in legislation.

I spoke to two of the sponsors. One, Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, a lawyer who typically is hyper-attuned to civil-liberties issues, said he did not know the bill authorized police searches because he had not read it closely before signing on.

“I made a mistake,” Kline said. “I frankly should have vetted this more closely.”

That lawmakers sponsor bills they haven’t read is common. Still, it’s disappointing on one of this political magnitude. Not counting a long table, it’s only an eight-page bill.

The prime sponsor, Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, also condemned the search provision in his own bill, after I asked him about it. He said Palmer is right that it’s probably unconstitutional.

“I have to admit that shouldn’t be in there,” Murray said.

He said he came to realize that an assault-weapons ban has little chance of passing this year anyway. So he put in this bill more as “a general statement, as a guiding light of where we need to go.” Without sweating all the details.

A guiding light of where we need to go?  Seriously?

I find it incredible that we're reading this sort of thing in America.

Just incredible.

The founding fathers are doing synchronized spinning in their graves.

God help us.

Comments

[Steve Gough]

This is the single most disturbing thing I have heard in 50 years, even out of all the rhetoric and hyperbole surrounding this gun control issue.

You would think that the ACLU would be up in arms with the gun owners but they remain strangely silent, that tells me something about their own agendas.

I'm pretty sure now that the NRA and the other gun rights groups are correct and that we should all be worried.

[Oakenheart]

Oh they've been telegraphing where they are going with this since 1934 - people just don't pay attention, and trust the media too much. Do some digging, look at history, and use your brains.

[Clinton]

I'm not buying the Senators' attempts to walk this back, because
this isn't the first time they've sponsored legislation that included
this provision. Senator Murray included similar language in a
bill he sponsored in 2009, and Senator Kline (along with Fairley,
Kohl-Welles and McDermott) in a bill entered in 2010.

They're going to keep re-introducing this sort of legislation until
the time comes when they can pass it. This was no accident, and
they're liars to say it was.

[proof]

How convenient to do away with the Fourth Amendment and parts of the Fifth, as well as the Second all at the same time! A real time saver!

[chuck aka xtnyoda]

A fun little fact that I've been waiting to see someone post about somewhere. When an 18 year old man in the United States of America goes down and registers with the "selective service" ... which ever 18 year old, able bodied man, is required to do ... he then officially becomes a member of the United States Militia. And, he is a member of that said Militia until he is 45 years old. If he ever actively serves in the US military he is then a member of the Militia until he is 65 years old. That is United States law.

Shouldn't every member of our Militia be required to be armed and prepared to defend our nation when called upon?

[chuck aka xtnyoda]

"Constitution - Article II - The Executive Branch Section 2 - Clause 1:The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States when called into the actual service of the United States. [Article 2,Section 2 of the US Constitution]...

The reserve militia[3] or unorganized militia, also created by the Militia Act of 1903 which presently consist of every able-bodied man of at least 17 and under 45 years of age who are not members of the National Guard or Naval Militia.(that is, anyone who would be eligible for a draft). Former members of the armed forces up to age 65 are also considered part of the "unorganized militia" per Sec 313 Title 32 of the US Code."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_%28United_States%29

[Clinton]

Senator Kline also sponsored a gun-grab bill back in 2005,
Senate Bill #5475, that contained a similar mandate for
warrantless 'home inspections'. So this actually makes it at
least the third time he's sponsored bills containing
this sort of crap.

I'll say it again-- this was in no way an innocent mistake. These
men knew perfectly well what they were trying to do.

[Mark]

It's not about guns. It's about control.

[Kris, in New England]

Funny thing - I thought that over 200 years ago a bunch of rebels dressed in costumes dumped a few millions of dollars (in todays money) worth of tea into a murky harbor to combat just this kind of assault on basic human rights.

Is it coming to the time that we the people will have to do that again?

Molon Labe.