He said he is ready to sign the bill into law. There have been multiple failed attempts to pass such legislation before this successfully cleared the House and Senate.
House Bill 1240 bans so-called “assault weapons,” mainly semiautomatic rifles, with a carveout for law enforcement and the military. The measure cleared the state Senate earlier in April but had to return to the House due to being amended.
It will take effect immediately upon the governor signing due to an “emergency clause.”
Inslee said the bill is a signal that the state of Washington “will not accept gun violence as usual.” This legislative session already passed two gun control measures. One instituted a 10-day waiting period and the other permitted gun manufacturers to be held liable for “negligent sales.”
That second law allows family members of persons who are killed by gun violence to file lawsuits if the seller or manufacturer “is irresponsible in how they handle, store, or sell those weapons. The Washington attorney general may use the state’s consumer protection act to file suit against sellers or manufacturers if it is believed they negligently allowed their firearms to be sold to minors or to people making “straw purchases.”
Sen. Lynda Wilson (R) of Vancouver opposed the latest restrictions, saying “HB 1240 clearly violates our state and federal constitutions, which is why it will end up in court immediately.”
This development led to a predictable result as a rush to purchase soon-to-be-banned firearms ensued. Several prominent dealers now have bare shelves and whole sections of walls empty that recently held a wide variety of rifles.
Tacoma’s Surplus Ammo & Arms reported customers hurrying in to buy what little stock remains ahead of the new law. Store manager Bruce Smith declared “we are running out of almost everything.”
Smith added that the new law will “ban all AR-style guns and anything that attaches to those guns. People are focusing on what they won’t be able to get.” He said his sales doubled in the last month, and customers are searching for rifles like the AR-15 along with kits and replacement parts he has for sale.
The soon-to-be law targets over 50 specific “assault weapons,” with the vast majority being popular semiautomatic rifles. These models will be prohibited to be sold, distributed, manufactured, and imported into Washington.
Ownership by people who already possess them is not banned.
There are pistols and shotguns with specific features described in the bill, though exact models were not listed by lawmakers.
Industry insiders believe this new law will put many gun shop operators out of business. Smith said it is next to impossible for these stores to shift into a completely different line of products.
“Trying to transition to a completely different thing that you’re selling, that you’re not known for, and then competing with the big box companies that have 60,000 square feet of retail space, that this is just a piece of it. You know, that’s going to be very difficult.”
A similar measure to Washington’s was debated on Wednesday by lawmakers in Colorado, though its future is far more uncertain there.
As many noted, there will be multiple legal challenges to Washington’s latest attempt at overreaching gun control. As more states line up to protect Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms, a few stubbornly persist in attempting to strip away constitutional freedoms from law-abiding citizens.
