Governor Jay Inslee put pen to paper on three bills meant to limit gun violence in our state, but there’s already a lawsuit planned against one of them.
Those new laws include House Bill 1630, which forbids the open carry of guns in local government buildings, meetings and elections facilities. Supporters say it prevents intimidation for people accessing their government, and opponents say infringes on gun owners’ rights, including the right of self-defense.
House Bill 1705 requires homemade guns to be built with parts with serial numbers so they’re traceable, with the goal of reducing the numbers of so-called “ghost guns”.
Senate Bill 5078 bans high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
State Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, says the bill was important to him and became even more important after he talked to the parent of a survivor of the 2016 shooting in Mukilteo that killed three people. “I moved from caring about this bill in, I don’t want to say abstract way,” Ferguson says, “but in a less concrete way, to thinking ‘you know, damn it, we’re just going to do this, right? And I’m going to put the full weight of my office behind this.’”
In response to the law, which takes effect July 1st, the Firearms Policy Coalition issued the following statement:
“By enacting the unconstitutional S.B. 5078, the State of Washington has further restricted the fundamental human rights of Washington residents and visitors by banning the transfer and other conduct related to so-called “large capacity” magazines. FPC condemns this latest act of state aggression and will not allow this law to go unchallenged. To that end, FPC Law will be taking aggressive action to fight this immoral law and seek to have it enjoined and declared unconstitutional.”
“In S.B. 5078, the State banned the manufacture, import, distribution, sale, or offering for sale any large capacity magazine, which is now defined (with some minor exceptions) as ammunition feeding devices with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition, or any conversion kit, part, or combination of parts, from which such a device can be assembled if those parts are in possession of or under the control of the same person.”
“The bill also makes distributing, selling, offering for sale, or facilitating the sale, distribution, or transfer of a large capacity magazine online an unfair or deceptive act or practice or unfair method of competition in the conduct of trade or commerce for purposes of the State’s consumer protection act.”
“FPC Law is currently looking for potential plaintiffs who are Washington residents that would like to lawfully purchase, receive, sell, or transfer a magazine holding more than 10 rounds, and reside in one of the following counties: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, Thurston, Wahkiakum, and Whatcom. Contact us at 2AHotline.com to be vetted as a potential plaintiff in an action challenging Washington’s restriction on protected arms components.”
You can watch the entire signing ceremony here.