I’m sure all the criminals will not use these banned weapons, right?
Senate passes ban on assault weapons. Here’s what would be banned under the law
Senate lawmakers voted 27-21 Saturday afternoon for House Bill 1240, which bans the purchase and sale of assault weapons in the state of Washington.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, and co-sponsored by 25 other Democratic lawmakers in the House at the request of Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
“Young people are taking to the streets and will hold us accountable if we don’t do something,” said Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue. “When we’re talking about mass shootings and the killing of people quickly and without warning, we’re talking about assault weapons. And that’s why we’re here today, we’re here to say: enough is enough.”
The bill will need to go back to the House chamber where it originated for concurrence on Senate amendments before it can be signed by Gov. Jay Inslee. The legislation contains an emergency clause that would render it effective immediately upon a signature from the governor.
HB 1240 would prohibit the “manufacture, importation, distribution, sale, or offer for sale of any assault weapon.” Some exceptions for licensed firearm manufacturers and dealers are baked into the legislation, allowing law enforcement agencies to continue to purchase from firearms dealers and manufacturers, for instance.
Exceptions are included for those who inherit an assault weapon, and the bill would not regulate possession for Washingtonians who currently own an assault weapon.
There’s a long list of firearms that will no longer be allowed to purchased in the state. Notice that you, the private citizen, are banned, but, dealers can still sell to Government, like, say, for protection of the members of the general assembly and the governor. It would be fun if all the dealers in the state refused to sell to government. Same with manufacturers.
The legislation further defines assault weapons as “semiautomatic rifles with an overall length of less than 30 inches; conversion kits and parts that can be used to assemble an assault weapon or convert a firearm into an assault weapon, if the parts are in the possession of or under the control of the same person; semiautomatic centerfire rifles that have the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and have one or more additional features listed in the bill; semiautomatic centerfire rifles with a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than ten rounds; semiautomatic pistols that have the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and have one or more additional features listed in the bill; semiautomatic shotguns that have one or more additional features listed in the bill.”
It really won’t interfere with pistols, but, there’s already a lot of laws that make it really difficult for citizens to purchase them, and, hey, the GA will get around to working on bans soon. There’s a list of those rifles banned, and many are never used by nutjobs, such as the Heckler & Koch PSG-1, which is a semi-auto sniper rifle. Which goes for $12k-$15k, and there are only around 400 in the US, mostly in law enforcement hands. And the Springfield Armory M-21 sniper, the newest version of the old M14. Most of these rifles are never used for any crime.
This will all make zero difference in criminals using firearms for crime.