(TheRedAlertNews.com) – BREAKING NOW: Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed three gun control bills on Tuesday, one of which immediately bans AR-15s and many other semiautomatic rifles.
The new gun control measures also include a ten-day waiting period for all gun purchases and a provision that allows the state attorney general or private citizens to sue gun manufacturers and dealers if they negligently allow their guns to be sold to minors or straw purchasers, as reported by the Seattle Times.
Governor Inslee said at the signing ceremony, “These weapons of war, assault weapons, have no reason other than mass murder. Their only purpose is to kill humans as rapidly as possible in large numbers.”
House Bill 1240 outlaws the sale, transfer, distribution, manufacture, and importation of 62 gun models classified as “assault weapons.” This ban applies only to gun sales, not guns people already own.
According to the bill, “The legislature finds and declares that gun violence is a threat to the public health and safety of Washingtonians. Assault weapons are civilian versions of weapons created for the military and are designed to kill humans quickly and efficiently.”
Washington is the 10th state to enforce such a ban, following New York, New Jersey, California, and Illinois, which already have similar laws.
However, opponents of the gun-control measures quickly filed a legal challenge against the assault weapons ban, including the Second Amendment Foundation based in Bellevue, Washington.
The legal filing states, “The State of Washington has criminalized one of the most common and important means by which its citizens can exercise their fundamental right to self-defense. By banning manufacturing, importation, distribution, and sale of common semiautomatic rifles, the State has barred law-abiding residents from legally acquiring common rifles and has deprived them of an effective means of self-defense and their fundamental individual right to keep and bear arms.”
House Bill 1143 not only establishes a waiting period but also requires a permit to purchase firearms, prohibits firearm transfers before the completion of a background check, and mandates proof that gun purchasers have completed gun-safety training.
Senate Bill 5078, the third measure, sets rules for firearm industry members to prevent sales to minors or straw purchasers. This bill enables public-nuisance lawsuits, which some consumer protection groups argue are being used to achieve liberal policy objectives.
The three bills were passed in the Washington legislature mostly along party lines.
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