KOMO NEWS 4 Hours Ago State Senate panel flexes muscle, blocks gun control bills OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A Senate committee led by firearm-friendly lawmakers blocked five gun control bills Friday, suggesting that this year's momentum related to weapons laws may not be enough to win passage. Members of the Law and Justice Committee voted to reject a variety of proposals, including one that would have created a task force to study weapon violence and another that would have created a specific crime for people who leave out loaded guns for children to access. Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, expressed frustration after the hearing, saying the majority on the committee was stuck in "mindless, rigid refusal" that rejects even common sense ideas. "They are in such rigid refusal, they just can't see it," Kline said. Kline said he suspected that if the Connecticut school massacre hadn't happened recently, his proposal related to child access to guns would have...

EXAMINER.COM 51 Minutes Ago Oregon Democrats propose gun confiscation bill requiring warrantless inspections by Joe Newby Democrats in Oregon have introduced a massive gun control bill that if passed, would give owners of rifles, shotguns and pistols deemed "assault weapons" 120 days to either remove the weapon from Oregon, sell it to a licensed firearms dealer, render it inoperable or surrender it to authorities, the Oregon Firearms Association reported Friday. Those who wish to maintain ownership of those weapons or so-called "large-capacity magazines" must register the weapons and magazines. Registration requires the gun owner to submit to a criminal background check, secure the weapon and "[a]llow an inspector from the department to inspect the storage of assault weapons and large capacity magazines to ensure compliance" with regulations that have yet to be written. According to the Oregon Firearms Association, the bill comes just days after s...

Friday, February 22nd Obama: Protecting Wealthy Binds Republicans President Obama apparently has the Republican Party all figured out. He told Al Sharpton in a radio interview yesterday: "Well, my sense is that their basic view is that nothing is important enough to raise taxes on wealthy individuals or corporations. And they would prefer to see these kinds of cuts that could slow down our recovery over closing tax loopholes. And that's the thing that binds their party together at this point. This is a major argument, obviously, we've been having for the last three years." Adding to this ...