There’s an exodus underway from West Coast states largely due to left-drifting politics, according to Fox News, and among those heading to “free America” are Washington State gun owners jumping the border to neighboring Idaho.
At least, that seems to be one of the reasons Bryan Zielinski took his family and his professional background in firearms retail to Post Falls, Idaho, about 20 minutes east of Spokane via I-90. As the Fox story revealed—and as Zielinski explained to Ammoland via telephone—Washington became just too political, and the gun laws became increasingly restrictive.
A Washington native, Zielinski worked as the general manager at the popular Wade’s Guns in Bellevue, within walking distance of the national headquarters of the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
In his remarks to Fox News, Zielinski explained, “Everything is political. Whether it’s the car you drive, where you work. You’re wearing a mask, you’re not wearing a mask.”
In a video posted online, Zielinski lamented about how the recent ruling by a Cowlitz County Superior Court judge declaring the state’s two-year-old ban on so-called “large-capacity magazines” unconstitutional was swiftly stayed by a State Supreme Court commissioner. He took particular aim at Democrat state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who rushed to get the stay just 88 minutes after Judge Gary Bashor issued his 55-page opinion in mid-April.
“We saw an attorney general who wants to be your governor that is willing to violate all of the trust that the public has for that position,” Zielinski says in his video. “And I know there’s not much trust left with the attorney general.”
In 2022, Washington banned magazines capable of holding more than 10 cartridges, and since then Ferguson has sued at least two gun shops for violating the law. The second lawsuit resulted in the case before the Cowlitz County court.
Last year, the state banned so-called “assault weapons” with legislation Ferguson had been pursuing for the past few years. That law is presently being challenged in federal court.
In the same video, Zielinski encourages viewers to throw their support behind Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert. He is the former seven-term congressman and King County Sheriff on whose watch the notorious Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, was finally captured and convicted.
Zielinski believes Reichert is the only candidate who can defeat Ferguson in November, and recent polling by Echelon Insights showed the former lawman slightly ahead. However, the election is still months away.
Gun laws may be a shadow issue in the Washington election. Crime is up in the state, and a former sheriff once caught on camera chasing a rioter down a Seattle street may have an edge against an attorney general whose policies are seen by many as soft on crime. Ferguson is supported by anti-gunners, while Reichert is getting support from law enforcement.
Last week, the state Department of Licensing reported active concealed pistol licenses have gone upwards again, with 695,321 active CPL’s at the end of April, a spike of 4,214 from the March 31 figure of 691,107 licenses, according to TheGunMag.com. Despite its “blue” politics in recent years, Washington has always had a high percentage of adults licensed to carry, regardless of their politics.
Four months ago, Zielinski opened North Idaho Arms in a small strip mall on the west side of Post Falls. The store is just far enough across the Idaho line to allow him to thumb his nose at Washington.
He told Ammoland the move was “the single best thing I’ve ever done” and the hardest decision he’s ever made. But he is now in a state where modern semiautomatic rifles and original-capacity magazines are still legal, and the state is not using a consumer protection law to drive him out of business. He is registered to vote, is shopping for a home—he is currently renting—he pays about 70 cents less for a gallon of gasoline and his family is much happier.
“Washington has used the consumer protection law against the interests of the Second Amendment,” he observed.
He will eventually encourage Gem State politicians in Boise, and lawmakers in other states, to adopt laws prohibiting the use of consumer protection laws against the Second Amendment.
Next month will mark the one-year anniversary of his move to Idaho, and he said he talks to dozens of people a week who are considering a similar move, so it is not as though Zielinski is a maverick. He simply got tired of living in a state where government is ratcheting down on every aspect of life.
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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.
