At least two lawsuits have been filed against the state since Democratic Governor Jay Inslee signed an assault weapons ban into law on Tuesday.
Inslee signed into law three measures to restrict access to firearms. House Bill 1240 was one such measure that was immediately implemented. It outlawed the production and sale of several types of semiautomatic firearms.
This new law is obviously unconstitutional. Aoibheann Cline, the NRA’s Washington state lobbyist, told Fox News that, according to a long-standing Supreme Court ruling, it is illegal for the states to outright ban regularly owned firearms.
Repealing the rights to “almost every modern semiautomatic rifle,” H.B. 1240 has been called by Cline the “worst plan of its kind in the country.”
In the United States, firearms that resemble the AR-15 are quite widespread. According to Cline, there are more AR-15s in private hands than there are daily newspaper readers in the whole country. AR-15s outsell America’s most popular truck, the Ford F-150.
It’s insane that state legislatures continue to pass laws that run counter to the Constitution. Cline said that the NRA will never give up its fight against these measures. The citizens of Washington “deserve better.”
On Tuesday, Inslee signed H.B. 1143 and SB 5078, in addition to the sweeping prohibition on semiautomatic firearms. New gun owners in Washington state are required under H.B. 1143 to complete a training and safety course that covers topics such as proper weapons storage and the laws surrounding self-defense in the state of Washington. The state’s attorney general will now have the authority to seek criminal penalties against firearms manufacturers under Senate Bill 5078.
The bill’s passage, according to Inslee, marked a “monumental day” of victories over “weapons of war” and gun manufacturers.
Keeping dangerous weapons out of public places and away from kids is a victory in the battle on terror. This is a victory over the type of person who would go out and acquire a gun with the sole intention of using it to cause harm to another human being. “”This is a victory against the irresponsible gun manufacturers who have fueled the gun violence epidemic,” Inslee declared.
More of Inslee’s legislation are being challenged in court by the Second Amendment Foundation, which also sued the state on Tuesday.
In a statement, Second Amendment Foundation founder and executive vice president Alan Gottlieb said, “The state has made it illegal to make, sell, import, or distribute many types of firearms that are wrongly called ‘assault weapons’ and are owned by millions of ordinary people across the country.” Therefore, the state has made it unlawful to own a contemporary semiautomatic firearm, a common and vital means of self-defense. The state is penalizing law-abiding persons while doing little to detect and prosecute criminals who violate all gun control regulations by abusing weapons, all because politics came before constitutional rights. I mean, come on!