In last month’s election in Washington State, voters approved ballot initiative I-594, which restricts the rights of gun owners, requiring background checks in most instances a gun changes hands. The passage of I-594 inspired Gavin Seim to found a resistance movement called “We Will NOT Comply”.

Last Saturday the movement’s first action took place at the state capitol in Olympia, a rally at which Second Amendment supporters openly defied the new law by exchanging guns. The occasion was a great success, the largest gun-rights demonstration in Washington State history.

Below are excerpts from a report in The Examiner:

Olympia rally draws defiant gun owners to protest new edict A crowd of gun rights activists, many armed, estimated at 1,000 by the Washington State Patrol and at up to 3,000 per a photo gallery caption accompanying The Seattle Times’ report, gathered at the State Capitol in Olympia Saturday to collectively declare “I will not comply” with the recently passed Initiative 594. The “background check” ballot measure was developed by Everytown’s Michael Bloomberg and financed in large part by a cadre of the ex-mayor and fellow billionaires, including Microsoft’s Bill Gates. The rally was put on “illegally” by organizer, Washington State activist and congressional candidate Gavin Seim and colleagues, who refused to apply for a required permit for the event, citing instead the right of people to peaceably assemble on their own authority. The noncompliance with gun laws pledge was backed up with acts of civil disobedience throughout the afternoon, as various activists “transferred” firearms to one another without going through any government oversight checks… At the end of the rally, organizer Seim and others burned their concealed carry permits, noting rights are not bestowed by government officials and thus do not require their permission. In spite of uncounted acts of civil disobedience and a crowd armed with long guns and side arms, rally attendees, while exuberant and defiant, remained peaceful.

Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars was one of the featured speakers at Saturday’s event. In his report today he had this to say:

We Will Not Comply Olympia Was Bundy Ranch II Mark the date down in your memories — 13 December 2014. Remember it. Savor it. The victory won in the cold, dreary Northwest on Saturday was every bit as significant a moment in the modern fight for American liberty against encroaching tyranny as the uprising in the Nevada desert back in April. Perhaps more so. For if Bundy Ranch was a spontaneous, almost reflexive, slap in the face to the arrogant tyrants of this country, Olympia was a carefully thought out, brilliantly conceived, flawlessly executed, DELIBERATE backhand to the same ginning bunch of constitutional thieves. Olympia provides a textbook case for other states to resist their own petty dictators. I hope that Gavin Seim and his brave band of brothers and sisters take a moment this next week to write down in detail — from each of their individual perspectives — an accounting of what they did and how they overcame every obstacle to pull off this singular demonstration of the power of the armed citizenry. We will need these narratives both for posterity and for immediate planning of other fights in other states. Consider. In a little over a month, these Washingtonians formulated a plan and executed it against all odds — against the threats of the authorities, against the denunciations and name-calling of so-called “mainstream 2nd Amendment groups” who claim to be their allies, against the deliberate refusal of the press to publicize their efforts, against the howling lies told by Media Matters and the Southern Poverty Law Center — they executed a plan that absolutely negated and nullified the elite’s “victory” of I-594 and wiped the leering, smugly satisfied grins from the billionaire faces of Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Michael Bloomberg.

Consider. They did all this without a without a permit, without bowing and scraping to their “betters” in the bureaucracy, without being trapped in the web of arcane rules and deliberate deceit designed to control the citizenry and limit their ability to make trouble for the political bosses. And they did it in the bluest of blue states. They did it by means of the courage in their hearts, intelligent determination in their heads and FIREARMS IN THEIR HANDS. They thought — and acted — outside the box. They created a new paradigm. And at the end of it they were praised by the state police for their competence and their flawless execution of a brilliant plan. As I said, I hope they take the opportunity to document for the rest of us how they carried off this feat of armed civil disobedience. The authorities will coming back at them with all the malice that these evil people are capable of. They will also need to guard against the sin of pride. They need to remain humble. They need to remain vigilant. They need to be wary of all the many ways a tyranny with unlimited resources can attack them, including using their own human weaknesses against them. But for now, they should be proud in their accomplishment. I know I am proud to have been here and helped. This hill, a very important one, has been taken. There are many more such hills ahead. Join us in this fight. There are many more battles to be won and we will need every man and every woman if liberty is to triumph and the Founders’ Republic is to be saved.

Mike Vanderboegh’s speech in Olympia: video, text.