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Local lawmakers split on open-carry ban at state Capitol gallery

Democrats support it; Republicans who weighed in are opposed

By Lauren Dake, Columbian Political Writer
Published: January 20, 2015, 4:00pm

Lawmakers representing Southwest Washington reacted Tuesday to news that the House and Senate would ban openly carried firearms in the gallery above the floor where they gather.

Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, who often presides over the House, was thrilled with the decision.

“Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!” he wrote in a text.

Later, during an interview, Moeller said the decision was based on a reinterpretation of existing rules that forbid the use of props and demonstrations on the chamber’s floors or galleries.

“It’s not really a rule change,” Moeller said.

The decision by both House leadership and Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, who presides over the Senate, came on the heels of protesters in Olympia who brandished their weapons in the public gallery.

All Democrats representing Clark County said they supported the move. All local Republicans who returned calls seeking clarification of their position said they opposed it.

Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, was walking across the House floor when the dozen or so people in the House gallery brandished their weapons.

It was “unnerving,” he said. “It does make you pause to think.”

The protesters were already acting in a manner that violated the current rules, Harris said. The rules state no demonstrations or protests are allowed in the public viewing gallery.

“Even gun rights people agree (the handful of protestors) stepped over the bounds, and now, they have changed how we are going to enforce the rules. … I think a few bad players changed everything,” Harris said.

Republican freshman lawmaker Rep. Lynda Wilson of Vancouver, who is a gun-rights advocate and a National Rifle Association certified instructor, noted the decision was made by leadership and not voted on by lawmakers.

If she had the chance, she said, she would have voted against the rule change, but she added that she would hope “good and responsible judgment would be adhered to in the galleries as is expected in all areas of firearm use and ownership.”

Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, echoed Wilson’s sentiments and said the new rule is “unnecessary.”

“As is often the case, a few can spoil it for all,” Pike wrote in an email. “What should have happened is those who brandished firearms should have been arrested immediately if they were indeed breaking the law.”

Rep. Brandon Vick, R-Felida, said despite lawmakers being “sitting ducks” when on the House floor, “It’s a protected area of speech.”

It was definitely a “few bad apples” that ruined it, Vick said.

It is still permissible to have a concealed weapon, with the proper permits, in the galleries. Backpacks, signs and umbrellas are also banned in the public viewing galleries.

Rep. Sharon Wylie and Sen. Annette Cleveland, both Vancouver Democrats, said they were pleased with the decision by House and Senate leadership. Cleveland, who noted her grandparents owned a gun shop, wrote in an email that the state Capitol needs to “be a place where all feel safe, welcomed and secure.”

“This pertains to all, including those who work on campus, particularly our young students serving as pages, interns and volunteers. As a mother myself, I am adamant about ensuring that the young people engaging in our legislative process at the Capitol remain in a safe environment at all times,” Cleveland said.

Sens. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, and Don. Benton, R-Vancouver, did not respond to several requests for comment.

Vancouver resident Frank Decker was slated to kick off “Moeller’s Open Carry Challenge” on Monday but changed his mind after the rule change.

Moeller, who as speaker pro tempore of the House often has presiding duties, said in July that he would not conduct the business of the state “as long as ‘open carry’ nuts (are) in the gallery.”

Decker took Moeller’s statement as a challenge and created a Facebook page titled “Moeller’s Open Carry Challenge” to recruit people to openly carry a firearm in the gallery of the House every day during the 2015 legislative session.

After the rule change, Decker wrote on Facebook he was postponing the challenge.

“Given the media’s preponderance to highlight the fringe over the majority in these issues, I find it difficult to imagine a way to avoid being lumped in with this fringe element if we also show up on Monday,” Decker wrote.

He wrote he was unsure what would happen to the Moeller Open Carry Challenge.

“And as for Rep. Moeller, it continues to be my hope that he will take the intellectually honest approach to analyzing the issue of open carry and firearms in general, realizing that we are not ‘nuts’, but concerned citizens with high expectations of our elected officials,” Decker wrote.

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Columbian Political Writer