New gun law punitive

The Democrat-dominated state legislature, fully endorsed by a sympathetic Democrat governor, has been “fine-tuning” highly restrictive measures that adversely affect gun ownership in Washington State (House Bill 1280).

When enacted – likely on an "emergency" basis – this law restricts the purchase, sale, trade and importation of a variety of semi-automatic rifles erroneously referred to as "assault weapons” in the language of the bill and by the mainstream media.

This misstatement of fact is done intentionally to influence public perception because the rifles in question "look like" their military cousins and are interpreted by some to be "scary looking!" (Functionally they are not the same rifles the military uses other than appearance; the difference is, military rifles are fully automatic capable, like a machine gun.) Millions of these popular rifles have been sold nationwide over the past couple decades, so any restrictions here in Washington will have nil effect overall.

This new law is punitive to all law-abiding gun owners and enthusiasts in this state, eroding their Second Amendment constitutional rights. It will not deter criminals in the slightest, who will pay no heed to it and are growing in numbers given the current "soft on crime" political climate. By any measure, this is a very bad law!

While it is unfortunate that such rifles have been involved in some mass-shootings in other states, none have been employed for that purpose here in Washington. And it is a fact that most gun crimes (e.g., street shootings, hold-ups, murders, suicides, etc.) involve hand guns, not rifles, and certainly not the type of rifles subject to this restrictive law.

No doubt this law will be challenged in the courts, primarily on the basis of violation of Second Amendment rights. Previous bans and restrictions have not been sustained, and neither will this one.

Bruce Elliot

La Conner