If or when that is done, Gov. Jay Inslee’s signature is all that is needed to enact the sweeping ban. Only law enforcement and the military would be spared from the restrictions, and an exception is made for inheritance. It would make Washington the tenth state to enact the semiautomatic rifle prohibition.
HB 1240 bans the sale, manufacture and import of “assault weapons” in the state.
The bill would ban over 60 specific firearms, with most of them being semiautomatic long guns including AR-15s and AK-47s. It goes further, targeting semiautomatic pistols and shotguns with certain features for possible prohibition, though the particular guns are not named.
Needless to say, gun rights proponents are up in arms over the unconstitutional measure.
Washington State Rifle and Pistol Association board member Jane Milhans told Fox News that gun rights advocates and gun control proponents want the same thing — “to stop crime.” But she said the other side is “targeting the wrong people.”
Melissa Denny, owner of Pistol Annie’s Jewelry and Pawn Store in Bonney Lake, believes the legislature will not pass the statute. “That would be a big old bleep,” she declared. She is also the founder and president of the Washington State Firearms Coalition, a pro-Second Amendment advocacy group dedicated to fighting government overreach on gun issues.
The ill-advised ban, in her opinion, will only create more problems and simultaneously put several stores out of business. “It’s frustrating because a lot of my friends in the industry are going to be gone by next week,” she said.
Her own operation should survive because of its diverse product base, but as Denny explained, “if we were solid guns, we’d go. We’d leave. We’d have to.”
One of the legislative opponents of HB 1240, Sen. Jeff Wilson (R), believes there will be strong legal challenges to the measure if it ultimately becomes law as expected. “And that step will take it all the way through the local courts. And eventually to the district courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and then eventually up to the United States Supreme Court.”
Most gun rights supporters would be heartened if the potential appeals reach the high court. The current majority previously ruled in favor of expanding — not contracting — gun rights for law-abiding citizens.
Meanwhile, as gun rights advocates brace for the sweeping new restrictions, gun shops across Washington state see more traffic through their doors. One example was given by Wade Gaughran, who owns Wade’s Eastside Guns.
He reported his establishment has seen a 400% explosion in gun sales leading up to the anticipated ban. “There’s no other reason that people are buying these guns right now, they might have bought them three months from now, six months from now or a year from now, but since the doors are being closed, they’re going to buy as many as they can or as many as they want I should say.”
People are even waiting in line before his store opens due to the heightened interest in owning these firearms before the state prohibits them.
And if an anti-gun zealot wants to lay blame on these guns and businesses for violent crime, Gaughran is having none of that argument.
“In all my years of selling military style rifles, again what the other side would call assault weapons,” he reported, “we’ve never had one traced back that was used in a serious crime.”
And that track record includes thousands upon thousands sold over the last 35 years.
