TUKWILA, Wash. (AP) — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced legislative proposals on Monday that may prohibit assault weapons, require a permit to buy a gun and make gun sellers potentially chargeable for negligent sales within the state.
Inslee and Ferguson, together with gun-violence survivors and Democratic lawmakers, at a news conference in Tukwila pushed for aggressive motion to construct on recently-passed Washington laws which have expanded background checks, required secure storage and banned the sale of high-capacity magazines, The Seattle Times reported.
“Now, other nations have difficulties in mental health. Other nations have individuals who get into arguments. But we have now this scourge of gun violence due to the incorrect sorts of guns within the incorrect hands,” Inslee said.
KeAnna Rose Pickett, whose husband, D’Vonne Pickett Jr., was fatally shot outside their business in Seattle’s Central District, urged lawmakers to “find some solutions around mental health and gun safety.”
She said she and her husband were Second Amendment supporters who went to the gun range and spoke about gun safety with their children.
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State Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue, said lawmakers owe the general public real motion on gun violence.
Ferguson’s assault-weapon ban effort has failed six times within the Legislature. But he said he’s optimistic it may possibly pass in 2023, citing polling and the recent elections, which favored candidates who support additional efforts to scale back gun violence.
He also said several states have already banned the sale of assault rifles, and the bills have been upheld as constitutional within the courts.
Assault weapon is an inexact term describing a gaggle of high-powered guns or semi-automatic long rifles, like an AR-15, that may fire 30 rounds quickly without reloading. AR-15s have been utilized in most of the country’s mass shootings.
Inslee said the proposed gun-licensing law would come with a security training requirement. It could only apply to future gun sales.
Ferguson said the gunmaker liability proposal would allow people whose relations are killed with firearms to sue if a manufacturer or seller “is irresponsible in how they handle, store or sell those weapons.” The proposal also would allow his office to file lawsuits under the state’s consumer-protection act.
The newest gun measures will face opposition from Republicans and gun-rights advocates, in addition to lawsuits if approved and signed into law. The 2023 Washington legislative session starts Jan. 9.
Oregon voters within the November election approved a sweeping gun-control initiative that also features a gun-permitting system. However the measure was challenged with a lawsuit and temporarily paused by a judge last week until questions on its constitutionality may be decided.
Dave Workman, a spokesperson for the Bellevue-based Residents Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, questioned the proposals’ constitutionality.
“I don’t think there may be every other right protected by the Structure that you have to get permission from the police department before you’ll be able to exercise that right,” he said.
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