(RepublicanNews.org) – Washington is the latest state to ban what it calls “assault weapons” after a new law passed by the legislature banning state residents from buying a number of semiautomatic rifles.
There is no agreed-on consensus on what “assault weapons” mean among the left. Technically speaking, an “assault weapon” is a fully automatic rifle, a class of gun that has been banned in the U.S. since 1986. To gun control campaigners, it seems to mean any weapon featured in recent news cycles. The Washington law bans more than 60 specific guns. Most are AR-15s and AK-47s.
Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee tweeted on April 20th, “WA does not and will not accept gun violence as normal,” indicating he will certainly sign House Bill 1240.
Not only will residents not be allowed to buy this type of gun in Washington, but they also won’t be allowed to be sold. The bill bans the manufacture and importation of any guns on the list.
House Bill 1240 passed in the House, its final action before the governor’s signature, by 56-42 in the hard-left state. When the governor signs it, the law will take immediate effect.
The bill’s language sets out what WA legislators believe makes a gun an “assault” weapon: “Assault weapons are civilian versions of weapons created for the military and are designed to kill humans quickly and efficiently.”
A state gun instructor told Fox News that people are working off “misinformation” about firearms. Jane Milhans said many assume that civilian rifles are military guns, but they’re not. For example, she said, civilian semiautomatic rifles require a trigger pull for each bullet. That’s not the case for rifles used by the military, which are fully automatic, firing a burst of bullets each time the trigger is pulled. Semiautomatic weapons would handicap soldiers on the battlefield.
Washington state politicians have been aggressively targeting gun ownership with a package of legislation this term. Gov. Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson are promoting the suite of bills. Lawmakers recently instituted a 10-day mandatory wait for buying a gun, among other measures.
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