Seattle, WA — Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced a push for more gun control at a press conference on Thursday, December 12th.
Joined by Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the two announced their support of a proposal to ban the sale of “assault weapons” and high capacity magazines.
The pair claimed that their desire was to reduce mass shootings, but of course, didn’t mention that most ‘mass shootings’ by any definition of the term aren’t carried out by people with ‘assault weapons.’
Still, Inslee and Ferguson want to make Washington the seventh state to ban assault weapons. For their purposes, an “assault weapons” is any semi-automatic rifles that has at least one military feature.
A gun painted black is technically a feature of many military rifles. This begs the question: if you own a semiautomatic rifle that’s black, is it an ‘assault weapon’ according to this new proposal? Who knows?
If successful, Washington would become the seventh U.S. state to ban assault weapons. They would be the ninth state to pass a high-capacity magazine ban. The new proposal would limit magazines to ten rounds each.
In his comments, Governor Inslee said, “We should be making it harder for those who want to inflict mass violence and destruction upon innocent people. By limiting magazine capacity and banning assault weapons, we can work toward a day where no one in Washington state loses a friend or family members to senseless gun violence.”
Of course, there is no data provided by Inslee on what percentage of shooting victims in Washington state would have been saved by an assault weapons ban. We do know that nationally speaking, the FBI reports that so-called ‘assault weapons’ accounted for a measly 0.24 percent of all firearm related homicides. If it’s less than one percent nationally, we’re betting it would save less than a handful of lives, period, in the state of Washington. That is assuming that somebody intent on murdering as many people as possible is even going to pay any attention to one more law outlawing their actions.
In This For the Long Haul
As is typical for gun control advocates, they’re playing a long game. The pair said that those who already own assault weapons and high capacity magazines would be allowed to keep them thanks to a grandfather clause. That is, they know they won’t get us to hand over our guns, but they’re willing to wait a decade or two until our kids are left defenseless and without their gun rights.
Ferguson has proposed a similar ban for the last four legislative sessions, but this is the first time that Inslee has joined him in the push for gun control.
Stand While You Can, Because Your Kids Won’t Be Able To
Washington gun owners, now is the time to apply great pressure to your legislators. Remind them that you’re watching and demand that they block any bills that would restrict your gun rights. It’s time to get loud and in their faces. We know the activist on the left have already done a great job making themselves look bigger and stronger than they are. Gun owners need to stop letting others speak for them, and speak up for themselves!