HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOCC_Resolution_I1639BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
COUNTY OF KITTITAS
STATE OF WASHINGTON
RESOLUTION REGARDING INITIATIVE 1639
RESOLUTION No. 2019-______
WHEREAS, Purported popular sentiment may not infringe on Constitutional Rights 1,2;
and
WHEREAS, Initiative 1639 imposes restrictions on commonly owned and used
semiautomatic rifles without factual basis 3,4; and
WHEREAS, Initiatives do not receive judicial deference in the Federal Courts 5; and
WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has recognized that the Second
Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees an individual right to possess and carry
weapons 6 and that self-defense is the central component of that right 7; and
WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has also recognized that the Second
Amendment to the United States Constitution applies to “all instruments that constitute bearable
arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding”8; and
WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled that this individual right is
among those fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty9; and
WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has thus ruled that this right applies to
the States through the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution10; and
WHEREAS, The Washington Supreme Court has concluded the same with regard to the
similar provision of the State Constitution and predicted the application of the Second
Amendment to the States in the same manner and for the same reasons as the United States
Supreme Court 11; and
1 Duncan v. Becerra, 366 F. Supp. 3d 1131, 1136-7 (2019). 2 McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 791 (2010).
3 https://crimeresearch.org/2018/11/new-cprc-research-mass-public-shootings-are-much-higher-in-the-rest-of-the-
world-and-increasing-much-more-quickly/, last visited June 10, 2019. 4 Duncan v. Becerra, 366 F. Supp. 3d 1131, 1137 (2019). 5 Duncan v. Becerra, 366 F. Supp. 3d 1131, 1167 (2019). 6 District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 592 (2008). 7 Id., at 599. 8 District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 582 (2008). 9 McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 778 (2010). 10 McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 791 (2010). 11 State v. Sieyes, 168 Wn. 2d 276, 287 (2010).
WHEREAS, All public officers have the duty to uphold the Constitutions of the United
States and the State of Washington; and
WHEREAS, Initiative 1639 cannot be reconciled with the Constitutional Rights of the
law-abiding;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the Board of County
Commissioners of Kittitas County, Washington concludes that Initiative 1639 cannot withstand
judicial scrutiny and the efforts to do so appear to be frivolous and a waste of public funds.
ADOPTED this day o f 2019.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
KITTITAS COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Chair
Vice-Chair
Commissioner
ATTEST: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_______________________ _________________________________
☐ Clerk of the Board- Julie Kjorsvik Gregory L. Zempel, Prosecuting Attorney
☐ Deputy Clerk of the Board- Mandy Buchholz