When Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that he will propose legislation to ban so-called “assault weapons,” the chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms had a blistering response.
“Unfortunately,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “Washington state has an attorney general that attacks constitutional rights instead of defending them. He is bought and paid for by the gun prohibition lobby.”
Ferguson, a Democrat now running for re-election, told a press conference that he will be getting help from Democrat state Senators David Frockt (46th District) and Kevin Ranker (40th District) to draft the legislation, which will be introduced in December. The proposal would apparently “grandfather” in any semi-auto rifles now owned by Evergreen State gun owners.
But gun rights activists remember that this is how bans got started in California and elsewhere.
Ferguson’s announcement comes less than two months after Washington Ceasefire announced it would push for a ban when the Legislature convenes in Olympia in January. It’s part of a two-state effort that includes Ceasefire Oregon, a gun prohibition lobbying group in the Beaver State.
Ferguson’s statement claims that the ban “will save lives.” But, will it?
According to FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, rifles of any kind are used in a small number of gun-related homicides annually in the United States. In 2014 for example – the most recent year for which final data is available – out of 8,124 homicides involving firearms, only 248 involved rifles of any kind.
In Washington State, according to the FBI report for that year rifles of any kind were used in only six homicides in the entire state. There were 172 slayings in the state that year, of which 94 involved firearms.
Some gun rights activists privately suggest that the legislative effort is simply a political ploy to put the issue in the spotlight, with the expectation that it will not pass. That would lay the groundwork for a citizen initiative campaign to be launched, putting the question to a public vote.
The catalyst for Ferguson’s proposal was a tragic triple homicide in Mukilteo, an upscale community on the east shore of Puget Sound between Seattle and Everett. In late July, three teens were gunned down and fourth wounded seriously in what appears to have been a crime related to jealously. The suspect is a 19-year-old who was the former boyfriend of one of the victims.
“The recent tragedy in Mukilteo drives home the need to act with urgency to end the availability of weapons designed with only one purpose — to kill people,” Ferguson stated. “I have a duty to protect the public, as well as uphold the constitution. My proposal will ban some of the deadliest weapons, while respecting the Second Amendment right to bear arms.”
The proposed ban would also include ammunition magazines designed to hold more than ten cartridges. According to the Seattle Times, the proposed ban would apply to semi-automatic firearms with “military-style features that render them more easily concealable or more deadly.”
It is not explained how a rifle could be rendered “more concealable.”
Ferguson’s announcement comes less than two months after Washington Ceasefire announced it would push for a ban when the Legislature convenes in Olympia in January. It’s part of a two-state effort that includes Ceasefire Oregon, a gun prohibition lobbying group in the Beaver State.
