If you’re a Washington state resident, your Second Amendment rights are in immediate danger. Ballot Initiative I-1639, if passed, would cause owners of any semi-automatic rifle or handgun to be subjected to onerous new restrictions and taxes, with the intent to discourage their possession and use. Some of these new restrictions would be:

A requirement that gun owners lock up their guns to newly imposed standards or face criminal charges.

A requirement that individuals applying to acquire a semi-automatic rifle waive the confidentiality of their medical records. The act of applying to purchase “shall constitute a waiver of confidentiality.”

Required statewide registration for every law-abiding citizen owning a handgun or semi-automatic rifle, necessitating a massive state-level bureaucracy.

I-1639 would turn you into a felon if a criminal steals your gun and uses it to commit a crime.

It robs adults ages 18 to 20 of their constitutional right to self-defense. It forbids law-abiding young adults to purchase or receive semi-auto rifles.

Consider carefully before you participate in voting away any part of our constitutional heritage.

Vote no on I-1639.

Richard Tingelstad

Twisp, Wash.