Democratic Washington gubernatorial candidate Bob Ferguson has erased any doubt where his loyalties will be if elected in November, having just announced on social media his pride in receiving the endorsement of the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility, the Northwest’s wealthiest gun prohibition lobbying group.
It happened at the organization’s annual fundraising luncheon Wednesday.
Ferguson, currently serving his third term as attorney general, has been an outspoken advocate of increasingly restrictive gun control laws, including a ban on so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines.” Both measures are being challenged in court, and the magazine ban was recently declared unconstitutional by a Cowlitz County Superior Court judge. That ruling has been stayed by a Supreme Court commissioner, pending a hearing by the state Supreme Court.
The gun ban is being challenged in federal court.
Earlier this year, following his announced campaign, Ferguson went on social media to insist, “I strongly support the Second Amendment, including the individual right to bear arms. But I will not let the gun lobby gut our public safety laws.”
Today, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility endorsed my campaign for Governor. I was proud to join advocates for responsible gun policy at the Alliance’s annual lunch.
I led efforts for common sense gun reforms, and made our schools and communities safer. In contrast, Dave… pic.twitter.com/qTcU3SWeKU
— Bob Ferguson (@BobFergusonAG) May 9, 2024
This comes as a new Rasmussen poll shows a majority of likely voters believe crime will be a major campaign issue this year across the country, and that 53 percent trust Republicans more to handle crime and law enforcement issues, while only 35 percent trust Democrats.
Breaking things down along party lines, 62 percent of Republicans and 44 percent of Independents say crime will an important issue in the presidential race, while only 30 percent of Democrats believe so, which makes sense. Democrats do not want to acknowledge their efforts to deal with crime have failed, although this is how the public sees it.
Into this scenario comes Republican Dave Reichert, a former King County, Wash., sheriff and seven-term member of Congress. Reichert is best known as the sheriff who brought the notorious “Green River Killer” to justice, and he is popular with Evergreen State moderates whose votes will likely determine the outcome of the election. Even some Democrats have voted for him.
Ferguson, meanwhile, is viewed by many as soft on criminals, but hard on law-abiding gun owners’ rights, and he will perpetuate the anti-gun agenda established by the man he hopes to succeed, Gov. Jay Inslee, the “climate change” alarmist.
Reichert has just announced his ten-point “Blueprint for Public Safety,” emphasizing ways to combat violent criminals, gangs and juvenile offenders, without a single reference to pushing more gun control if he is elected.
Former King County Sheriff and GOP frontrunner for governor, Dave Reichert, unveiled his 9-1-1 Blueprint: 10-Point Public Safety Priorities to address the public safety crisis that has affected cities and towns across the state.
Reichert’s priorities include directing the State… pic.twitter.com/HyEiKY8L8M
— Dave Reichert For Governor (@reichert4gov) May 9, 2024
As the Washington gubernatorial race is shaping up, the contrast between Ferguson and Reichert could not be clearer.
Also running for governor on the Democrat side is state Sen. Mark Mullet, a moderate on some issues but with an anti-gun voting record. Republican Semi Bird is also in the running, though he is trailing in the polls even after getting support from the state Republican Party at its convention last month in Spokane.
But the smart money is on a Ferguson-Reichert confrontation in November, and recent polling suggests the former sheriff has the strongest chance in decades of carrying the GOP banner into the governor’s office.
In his announcement on “X” (formerly Twitter), Ferguson declared, “Today, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility endorsed my campaign for Governor. I was proud to join advocates for responsible gun policy at the Alliance’s annual lunch. I led efforts for common sense gun reforms, and made our schools and communities safer. In contrast, Dave Reichert did not stand up to the gun lobby in Congress. Instead, he repeatedly voted with them against measures to combat gun violence – including background checks. I will stand up to gun violence and the gun lobby. Dave Reichert will not.”
There could be no more blatant message to Washington gun owners and Second Amendment activists. The Alliance for Gun Responsibility is a billionaire-backed Seattle-centric group which bankrolled two anti-gun initiatives in the state, I-594 in 2014 and I-1639 in 2018. As Ammoland News has previously reported, since I-594—requiring so-called “universal background checks”—was passed, the number of homicides in Washington has increased to more than doubled. I-1639 placed restrictions on semiautomatic firearms and prohibits young adults in the 18-20-year age group from buying one, and its adoption did not slow down the mayhem. As noted by TheGunMag.com, Washington posted 172 slayings in 2014, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report for that year, and in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, there were 394 murders.
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, has called Washington’s gun control effort an “abject failure.” Notably, anti-gunners have declined to respond, perhaps because the data is on Gottlieb’s side.
Many believe this year’s race for the Washington governor’s office will be close, and GOP activists contend Reichert is the only Republican who can beat Ferguson, thus ending decades of Democrat control of the state.
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About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
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