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WA senator’s ‘open season on criminals’ remark misrepresented, but not 'lead enema'

April 10, 1:54 PM

Seattle Gun Rights Examiner

Dave Workman

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Maverick Washington State Sen. Tim Sheldon, a Mason County Democrat with a long history of common sense and substance over flash, has made headlines all over the country with a remark about looming public safety budget cuts in his rural county.

Sheldon told reporters that “It’s always open season on criminals in Mason County, and there’s no bag limit.”

He added in plain English a warning to criminals who might try taking advantage of Sheriff’s Department cutbacks, if they become a reality: “You might expect a lead enema.”

Horrified officials with the Mason County Sheriff’s Department, along with reporters from KIRO, were pretty quick on the draw, suggesting that Sheldon was promoting vigilantism.

It would certainly increase our work load because not only are we investigating the crime the bad guys commit, but we are investigating a shooting and a potential crime there too. -- Chief Deputy Dean Byrd

That’s not true. In an interview with Gun Week, which will be published shortly, Sheldon said that at no time has he suggested that Mason County residents take the law into their own hands, or act outside the law.

But this begs two questions:

Why would anyone accuse Sheldon of promoting vigilantism?

Why would the sheriff’s department associate an act of self-defense as vigilantism?

KING5 News is running a poll, asking whether Mason County residents should arm themselves, which is kind of amusing, since Sheldon estimates at least half of his constituents are already armed.

Sheldon, who also sits on the Mason County Board of Commissioners, explained that his county is facing severe budget cuts due to a decline in sales tax and other revenues, and the Sheriff’s Department is not immune from trimming.

“We’ve added 11 officers in the last five years,” he said, “and three sergeants. And one animal control officer. This commission has worked really hard to beef up law enforcement.”

There are 50 commissioned officers in the department, down from 52 a few months ago, due to one layoff and one retirement. Sheldon said there are “about 46,000 residents” in unincorporated Mason County who depend on the Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement.

Chief Deputy Dean Byrd, however, said the population in the unincorporated area is over 54,000, and he added that the county is mountainous and has a lot of waterways that must be navigated around when a deputy responds to an emergency call that could take him several miles to reach.

It was Byrd who told KIRO “We’re just not a community of vigilantism, and no responsible politician is going to encourage vigilantism.”

To which Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms responded, “Senator Sheldon clearly understands Washington State’s laws on self-defense and the use of force to protect private property, and to suggest that he’s calling for vigilantism is not simply unfair, it is unfounded and irresponsible.”

Self-defense is not vigilantism -- Alan Gottlieb

Well, what about that?

State statute on the use of force (RCW 9A.16.020) is pretty clear and easily understood. Section 4 of that statute clearly provides for the “reasonable” use of force “to detain someone who enters or remains unlawfully in a building or on real property…so long as such detention is reasonable in duration and manner to investigate the reason for the detained person’s presence on the premises…”

Section 3 of that statute allows for physical force in self-defense.

Washington also has one of the clearest, and well-established statutes regarding the use of lethal force in self-defense of any state in the union. This statute, RCW 9A.16.050, is a textbook example of what is commonly called “The Reasonable Man Doctrine” at work. That is, it is legal to use lethal force in self-defense or the defense of another person “when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury” to the citizen who kills in self-defense, or some other innocent party. In short: Taking a life in self-defense is not a crime.

Mason County residents are self-reliant, and they needn’t be treated as though they would be violating the law if they defend themselves against a criminal attack.--Alan Gottlieb

Mason County is not alone in its budget troubles. Neighboring Thurston County has trouble, and in King County, according to Sheriff Sue Rahr, her department is facing cuts of several million dollars. However, when quizzed about how citizens might cope with reduced law enforcement in unincorporated King County, Rahr recalled, “I told people, if I was in that situation, I’d have a gun. If somebody kicks in my front door and is coming at me, I’m not going to take the time to interview them. Someone that would to that is intending to do harm.

“When somebody crosses the threshold of my house,” she said matter-of-factly, “my first priority is to stop them and then we can sort it out later.”

Nobody is going to accuse Rahr of promoting vigilantism.

Columnist Ann Coulter perhaps put this issue in perspective in a WorldNetDaily column published Friday.

Sheldon and Rahr just might be quick friends. Both have a clear understanding that citizens who act in self-defense are not “taking the law into their own hands” but are, instead, acting within the parameters of long-standing state statute.

Visit other Gun Rights Examiners:

And check what Marie Casey, Seattle Democrat Examiner says:

Marie Casey

For more info: Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

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WA senator’s ‘open season on criminals’ remark misrepresented, but not 'lead enema'

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