After hovering for the past four years just below the mark, the number of Washington state concealed pistol licenses has surpassed the 700,000 mark, just as public safety could emerge as the top issue in the race for governor.
The state primary found anti-gun-rights Attorney General Bob Ferguson emerge with an early 46 percent of the vote, followed by former King County Sheriff and seven-term Congressman Dave Reichert come in with 28 percent, and those numbers may change. Democrat Ferguson has a comfortable early lead, but with voter turnout down, the general election in November might be tight.
The rise in CPL numbers suggests more Washingtonians are so alarmed at the rise in crime on Ferguson’s watch that they have decided to go armed, at least some of the time. It translates to roughly 9-10 percent of the adult population being licensed to carry, and shores up the notion that crime and public safety are key issues in this year’s race.
The state Department of Licensing (DOL) advised Ammoland News that the number of active CPLs has hit 701,020, indicating a growing concern about public safety. It translates to a 3,418 bounce from the 697,602 CPLs reported on July 1.
DOL data shows a significant spike in Pierce County, and a rise also in Spokane County, while King Conty actually lost active CPLs. The county-by-county numbers may seem insignificant, but the numbers overall are the key.
Republican Reichert could pick up momentum now that his primary opponent Semi Bird has been eliminated, pulling in a fairly dismal 9 percent of the vote, which reflects his low statewide appeal despite fervent energy from his supporters. When he was King County sheriff, Reichert would hold a “Shoot with the Sheriff” event at a Bellevue gun range which resulted in a good turnout.
Ferguson, on the other hand, has done his best to align with the gun ban crowd.
But now comes the test of whether Reichert can pull in Bird’s supporters, along with those who voted for other far-trailing Republicans, and perhaps even some moderates and Democrats who voted for State Sen. Mark Mullett, another Democrat, who pulled 6 percent of the primary vote. It shows some Democrats do not support Ferguson, considered to be farther to the left than outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee.
Ferguson’s record as an anti-gunner is well-known. He lobbied for bans on semi-auto rifles and original capacity magazines. He publicly supported an anti-gun initiative in 2018, and he has appeared at events sponsored by the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, a billionaire-backed, Seattle-based gun prohibition lobbying group behind the initiative.
One other factor not to be dismissed: There will be four popular-among-conservatives initiatives on the November ballot, which may pull a far heavier election participation. If those voters return ballots, and hold a conservative line in their candidate support, Reichert might break an Evergreen State pattern of Democrat control of the governor’s office for the first time in 40 years.
One more interesting factor is the support for Republican Pete Serrano for the office of attorney general. According to KOMO News, early returns put him in the lead with 42 percent of the vote, well ahead of Democrat Nick Brown’s 36 percent.
Many Washington voters are weary of Ferguson’s weaponization of his office over the past several years, filing more than 50 lawsuits against the Trump administration, and launching investigations against non-profit entities, including the Second Amendment Foundation, which filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against him last year.
Reichert, best known as the lawman who pursued the notorious Green River Killer in the 1990s, entered the race because he was alarmed about law enforcement in the state. Washington, according to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) “is ranked 51st out of the 50 states and District of Columbia for the number of officers per thousand residents.”
More bad news for Ferguson, as the state’s top law enforcement official, in 2022—the most recent year for which data is available—the FBI crime report showed a decline of violent crime by 1.7 percent. However, in Washington, murder increased by 16.6 percent over 2021, according to the WASPC report for 2022. Crimes against persons, property and society all increased in 2022 in the state, and violent crimes showed an increase of 8.9 percent. This was all on Ferguson’s watch.
Ferguson’s claims he is determined to hire more police and improve public safety, but he’s got a big anchor around his neck on that issue. His office unsuccessfully prosecuted Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer for a civil rights violation.
His office also unsuccessfully prosecuted three Tacoma police officers in the death of a man named Manuel Ellis, who died in a struggle with the cops. One of those officers, Timothy Rankine, filed a tort claim against the city and Ferguson’s office, as reported by MyNorthwest.com.
That’s not the kind of record a gubernatorial candidate wants when he claims to be interested in hiring more lawmen and women.
Reichert, on the other hand, has a good record on law enforcement and Second Amendment issues.
How does all of this coalesce? Reichert was a top cop and when it comes to public safety issues, Ferguson can’t beat him. So, Democrats have fallen back on the abortion issue, which is actually a non-issue in the Evergreen State. A law has been on the books for years protecting reproductive rights, and a change in governors won’t change that. But it’s all the Democrats have, since they cannot run on the economy. Inflation is bad in Washington, gas prices are the second highest in the nation, and the “green energy” movement is unpopular with many voters.
The task now for Reichert’s campaign is to bring more voters to his side. This is the best opportunity conservatives and mainstream Republicans, and Independents, have had in four decades to put a Republican in the Washington governor’s office.
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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