BELLEVUE, Wash., Jan. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today is announcing its support for House Bill 1245, introduced by State Rep. Matt Shea (R-4^th District) that would repeal Initiative 594, the 18-page gun control measure passed in November.

"With each passing day," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, "it becomes more apparent that a lot of people who voted for the initiative did not realize the full scope of what they were voting for. This scheme is far more than just an expansion of the background check, which is why our sister organization, the Second Amendment Foundation, has filed a lawsuit in federal court, challenging its constitutionality."

Gottlieb was a chief opponent of I-594 last year, and even offered an alternative measure that was far simpler and would have maintained the integrity of the system that was already in place.

"The provisions of I-594 are unnecessarily invasive and burdensome," Gottlieb explained. "The Department of Licensing's state pistol registry was already more than a year behind, even before the measure passed. Now that agency is seeking additional funds for more personnel to help bring record-keeping up to date. As I said during the campaign, I-594 creates an unfunded mandate, and that's not the only problem."

"It's well known that we tried to promote a bill in 2013 that would have addressed some of the concerns about background checks," he continued, "while also abolishing the pistol registry. But I-594 expands that registry to include temporary handgun transfers and loans, making it a massive handgun registration law that also criminalizes common behavior."

"We know there are other efforts to provide legislative fixes to I-594," Gottlieb added, "and we're also hopeful that if Shea's bill fails, law-abiding gun owners will find some relief with those bills. It's unfortunate that I-594 is one of those measures that people had to pass in order to find out what was in it. Since that happened, a lot of people are wishing they had voted the other way."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.

SOURCE Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

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http://www.ccrkba.org