Washington state seeks to ban sale of 'assault weapons,' high capacity magazines

[Swordsmyth]

The state of Washington on Thursday proposed bans on the sale of "assault weapons" and high capacity magazines, part of a package of gun laws meant to address a rising wave of U.S. mass shootings.If successful, Washington would become the seventh U.S. state to ban assault weapons, which it defines as semi-automatic rifles with at least one military feature, and the ninth to limit the capacity of ammunition magazines.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/washington-st...004612577.html

[Origanalist]

Representatives for the National Rifle Association, which typically opposes efforts by U.S. states to enact stricter gun control laws, could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

I'm thoroughly ashamed to say this State will not respond like Virginia.

[Swordsmyth]

I'm thoroughly ashamed to say this State will not respond like Virginia.

The eastern counties might.

[TheTexan]

Do they have wild hogs in Washington state ? That's the only reason I can imagine needing a high capacity magazine .

[Swordsmyth]

Do they have wild hogs in Washington state ? That's the only reason I can imagine needing a high capacity magazine .

They have them in Canada and they might invade at any time.

[TheTexan]

They have them in Canada and they might invade at any time.

Gotta be careful when hunting pigs . They tend to run in packs .

[Origanalist]

The eastern counties might.

The eastern counties are champing at the bit to "walk away", but not bad enough to actually do it. I don't see the sheriffs there going down this road. If they prove me wrong I'll gladly eat all the crow you want to serve up.

What we need here is to rebel without the approval of the Sheriffs and I just don't see it. Virginia needs to be a inspiration nation wide.

[Swordsmyth]

The eastern counties are champing at the bit to "walk away", but not bad enough to actually do it. I don't see the sheriffs there going down this road. If they prove me wrong I'll gladly eat all the crow you want to serve up.

I hope that eastern Washington and eastern Oregon will join the State of Jefferson movement.

[Origanalist]

Washington – -(AmmoLand.com)- Flanked by representatives from several Seattle-based gun prohibition lobbying groups along with representatives from the office of Gov. Jay Inslee, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced sweeping gun control proposals Thursday that include magazine capacity limits, a ban on the sale of so-called “assault weapons,” background check requirements for ammunition sales and more.

Ferguson, a Democrat, is famous for having sued the Trump administration nearly 50 times since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.

Also appearing with Ferguson, according to his office, were Democrat state Sens. David Frockt and Patty Kuderer, and state Reps. Strom Peterson and Javier Valdez. They joined representatives from the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, Grandmothers Against Gun Violence and Washington Ceasefire.

Ferguson is portraying his legislative wish list as a strategy to “combat mass shootings in Washington State.” In 2014, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility bankrolled Initiative 594, requiring background checks for all firearms transfers, with a few narrow exceptions. Less than two years later, in 2016, a 19-year-old killer passed a background check when he purchased a semi-auto rifle and subsequently opened fire at a teen party in Mukilteo, killing three former classmates and wounding a fourth. Three months later, another 19-year-old took a semi-auto rimfire rifle from his stepfather without permission and opened fire at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, killing five shoppers. He bypassed a background check by taking the gun from home.

The proposals are already getting criticism, including comments from John McKay at KFLD, NewsTalk 870.

“Not to be cynical,” McKay said in a brief report online, “but given the previous attempts to pile on more gun restrictions, controls and anti-2nd Amendment legislation, we're fully expecting a new round of handcuffs–all while not really addressing the root issues of such problems.”

Last year, again with backing from the Seattle gun control lobby, voters passed Initiative 1639, which included a definition of a so-called “semiautomatic assault rifle” that applies literally to every self-loading rifle ever manufactured, including .22-caliber rimfire sporting rifles that have been around for a century.

Now, the prediction from Evergreen State gun rights activists appears to be coming true: invent a definition and then ban the guns as defined.

Even Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told reporters earlier this year the only reason the definition was included in I-1639 was to make it possible for anti-gunners to later push for a complete ban.

Under Ferguson’s proposed ammunition regulations, violent felons who can’t legally buy guns would also be prohibited from buying or possessing ammunition.

It would be illegal for a retailer to sell ammunition to anyone he knew was prohibited from legally buying or owning firearms.

Under the ammunition proposal, background checks for all ammo sales would be required starting “30 days after the U.S. Department of Justice changes its rules and authorizes dealers to use the national instant criminal background check system, known as NICS, to initiate a check for a transfer of ammunition.”

Ammunition dealers would be required to obtain a state firearms license for $125.

In Ferguson’s news release, there were references to mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. The release noted that nine states restrict sales of so-called “high capacity magazines.” Washington is not one of them.

The attorney general also alluded to data from the anti-gun Violence Policy Center that claimed “high-capacity magazines have been involved in at least 74 mass shootings” since 1980, a period of nearly 40 years. When you call normal capacity gun magazines “high-capacity” that is and expected result.

Washington Rep. Amy Walen
Washington Rep. Amy Walen
The ammunition legislation is reportedly sponsored by Rep. Amy Walen, a Kirkland Democrat.

“Ammunition safety is a critical component of firearm safety that we can’t forget about,” Walen said in the Ferguson news release. “We can’t keep our communities safe if dangerous individuals who are prohibited from owning guns can still keep ammunition. It’s past time for Washington to catch up with states like Idaho, Louisiana, and Texas and prevent dangerous individuals from purchasing ammunition.”

Evergreen State gun owners have been in the crosshairs of the gun prohibition lobby for several years. Backed by a handful of wealthy supporters, gun control lobbyists have been successful with three initiative measures over the past five years, outspending grassroots rights activists sometimes 20-to-1, and that includes reported expenditures by the National Rifle Association and local Second Amendment groups. Many in the grassroots gun rights community are currently campaigning to repeal I-1639 with a signature-gathering effort on their own measure, Initiative 1094, an initiative to the legislature. They need to gather 300,000 signatures by Christmas in order to validate their initiative.

The NRA and Second Amendment Foundation are challenging provisions of I-1639 in federal court in Tacoma. That case is currently in the discovery phase.

https://www.ammoland.com/2019/12/wa-...ontrol-agenda/

[Origanalist]

BELLEVUE, WA – -(AmmoLand.com)- The Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging gun control Initiative 1639 in Washington State, on several grounds.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. In addition to SAF and NRA, plaintiffs include gun dealers and young adults in the affected age group.

The lawsuit challenges the measure on the grounds that it violates the commerce clause by banning sales of rifles to non-residents, and that it unconstitutionally impairs the rights guaranteed by the First, Second and Fourteenth Amendments, and Article I Section 24 of the Washington State constitution by preventing the sale to otherwise qualified adults under age 21 of certain rifles.

“We are also considering additional legal challenges,” SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb confirmed. “We are disappointed that too many Evergreen State voters were fooled into supporting this 30-page gun control scheme, despite overwhelming law enforcement opposition. This initiative is an affront to the constitutional rights enshrined in the Second Amendment and the Washington state constitution, especially for young adults.

“We’re determined to fight this egregious measure because constitutionally-protected rights should never be subject to a popularity vote,” he stated. “The wealthy elitists behind I-1639 want to turn a right into a regulated privilege. This measure was only designed to have a chilling effect on the exercise of a constitutional right by honest citizens while having no impact at all on criminals, and we cannot let it go unchallenged.”

“The NRA is committed to restoring the Second Amendment rights of every law-abiding Washingtonian,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “I-1639 violates the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens and puts people at risk. This lawsuit is the first step in the fight to ensure that Washingtonians are free to exercise their fundamental right to self-defense.

“The NRA will fight to overturn this unconstitutional initiative. We will not sit idly by while elitist anti-gun activists attempt to deny everyday Americans their fundamental right to self-defense,” concluded Cox.

“While a handful of billionaires spending millions of dollars were able to buy votes, it is our hope they can’t buy the judges,” Gottlieb said.

Second Amendment FoundationThe Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
https://www.ammoland.com/2018/11/gun...itiative-1639/

[Origanalist]

I hope that eastern Washington and eastern Oregon will join the State of Jefferson movement.

It's a different world, but the people in power there aren't much better. Government isn't very good at representing, it's a plague.

[Origanalist]

GOA seems to be AWOL as of the moment.

[Origanalist]

GOA seems to be AWOL as of the moment.

These guys however, are not. https://www.saf.org/category/legal/

[oyarde]

Banning magazines more than 10 rounds ? They should be caned in public .