WA Democrats propose assault weapons ban, permit to buy guns

Washington would ban assault weapons, require a permit to buy a gun and make gun sellers potentially liable for negligent sales under legislative proposals announced Monday by Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

Standing with gun-violence survivors and Democratic legislators at a news conference in Tukwila, Inslee and Ferguson pushed for aggressive action to build on a string of previous Washington laws that have expanded background checks, required safe storage and banned the sale of high-capacity magazines.

Inslee cited the nationwide rate of gun-related deaths, which far exceeds that of other countries around the world.

“Now, other nations have difficulties in mental health. Other nations have people who get into arguments. But we have this scourge of gun violence, because of the wrong kinds of guns in the wrong hands,” Inslee said.

He pointed to last month’s shooting death of a 17-year-old student at Seattle’s Ingraham High School, saying the deadly incident would have been “a fistfight” when he graduated from the school in 1969.

Sofie Blazejova, an Ingraham senior, spoke at the news conference of huddling with classmates as the shooting unfolded and read a text message she sent her sister. “I’m in lockdown right now. Possible gunshots. If anything happens, I love you so much,” she wrote.

“It is hard to put into words the amount of fear that I felt. Fear for my friends, fear for my community and fear for myself. Fear that no child should ever feel,” she said.

KeAnna Rose Pickett, whose husband, D’Vonne Pickett Jr., was shot to death in front of their Central District business, The Postman, urged legislators to “find some solutions around mental health and gun safety.”

She said she and her husbandwere Second Amendment supporters who went to the gun range and spoke with their children about gun safety.

State Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue, said lawmakers owe the public real action on gun violence.

“You’ve heard the stories, and it makes your heart ache,” she said. “But having an aching heart is not enough. We’re done coddling the gun lobby.”

Ferguson’s push for an assault-weapon ban has failed six previous times in the Legislature, but he said he’s optimistic the proposal can pass in the upcoming session, citing polling and the midterm elections, which favored candidates who support more efforts to curtail gun violence.

A July poll co-sponsored by The Seattle Times found a ban on assault-style weapons was favored by a nearly 2-to-1 margin among the 825 adults surveyed.

While the term “assault weapon” is sometimes vague, it generally refers to a high-powered, semi-automatic rifle or carbine capable of accepting a large-capacity magazine. The most identifiable are AR-15 style rifles, which have been used in many of the country’s most notorious mass shootings.

As in the past, the latest gun measures are sure to face opposition from Republicans and gun-rights advocates, as well as lawsuits if the measures are approved and signed into law.

Oregon voters in the midterm election narrowly approved a sweeping gun-control initiative that also includes a gun-permitting system, but the measure was immediately challenged with a lawsuit and temporarily placed on hold by a judge.

Dave Workman, a spokesperson for the Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, questioned the proposals’ constitutionality.

“I don’t think there is any other right protected by the Constitution that you need to get permission from the police department before you can exercise that right,” he said.

Workman said state data on concealed-carry permits show there are 700,000 active licenses and that more than 50,000 have been added this year.

“There is a reason for that,” he said. “People feel unsafe in their communities.”

Inslee and Ferguson did not reveal full details of the proposed legislation Monday. The three proposals will be introduced for the legislative session that convenes in early January.

Inslee said the proposed gun-licensing law would include a safety training requirement to treat guns “with the severity that they deserve.”

Ferguson said the gunmaker liability proposal would allow people whose family members are killed with firearms to file lawsuits if a manufacturer or seller “is irresponsible in how they handle, store or sell those weapons.” The proposal also would allow his office to sue under the state’s consumer-protection act.

The gun-licensing proposal announced Monday would apply only to future gun sales.

However, Kuderer said there’s serious discussion among lawmakers about requiring all current assault weapon owners to register them. She said that’s information that law-enforcement agencies would want to know.