Washington will soon become the tenth state in the nation to ban military-grade assault weapons, in a watershed, critically important victory for gun safety.
Today, the state House of Representatives and Senate came to an agreement on mutually acceptable final language for House Bill 1240, which prohibits the manufacture, importation, distribution, selling, and offering for sale of assault weapons. The bill now heads to Governor Jay Inslee for signature.
Requested by Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the bill was prime sponsored by Representative Strom Peterson (D‑21st District: Snohomish County). Senator Patty Kuderer (D‑48th District: Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, the Points communities) sponsored the Senate companion, SB 5265.
Twice in the past twelve months, NPI’s research has found a majority strongly supportive of banning assault weapons: 56% last June and 58% this March. We unveiled the first of those findings at a press conference with Ferguson, Kuderer, State Senator Manka Dhingra, State Representative Jamila Taylor, and Emily Cantrell of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility. Weeks later, our research was corroborated by SurveyUSA and its partners in a different statewide survey.
“Weapons designed to be used on a military field shouldn’t have a place on the streets of Washington,” said Zach Elmore, a volunteer with the Washington chapter of Moms Demand Action, which has been lobbying for the bill.
“Assault weapons are frequently used in mass shootings and research shows that limiting access to these firearms could reduce mass shooting deaths. We are proud to stand with our gun sense champions in the Legislature, and thank our leaders for taking swift action and sending this bill to Governor Jay Inslee’s desk.”
“Each round fired from an assault weapon can have up to four times greater muzzle energy than a bullet fired from a handgun,” noted a statement from Everytown For Gun Safety about the necessity of HB 1240. “Each round can inflict greater damage to the human body than a round from a typical handgun — and these guns can fire many of these high-powered rounds extremely fast. Prohibiting the manufacture and sale of assault weapons in the state is an important first step to eliminating the supply of these exceptionally deadly firearms.
At the behest of the gun lobby, Republicans vociferously opposed HB 1240 at every step of the legislative process, offering all sorts of tired and ridiculous arguments. (Our favorite is the absurd claim that criminals won’t follow the law, so it’s not worth passing. Why have any laws at all, then?)
It was up to Democrats to get the job done. They delivered, with majorities in both chambers standing up to the NRA and its local sycophants.
The final vote in the Senate was as follows:
Roll Call
HB 1240
Firearms/assault weapons
3rd Reading & Final Passage as Amended by the Senate
4/18/2023
Yeas: 28; Nays: 21
Voting Yea: Senators Billig, Cleveland, Conway, Dhingra, Frame, Hasegawa, Hunt, Kauffman, Keiser, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Lovick, Mullet, Nguyen, Nobles, Pedersen, Randall, Robinson, Rolfes, Saldaña, Salomon, Shewmake, Stanford, Trudeau, Valdez, Wellman, Wilson (Claire)
Voting Nay: Senators Boehnke, Braun, Dozier, Fortunato, Gildon, Hawkins, Holy, King, MacEwen, McCune, Muzzall, Padden, Rivers, Schoesler, Short, Torres, Van De Wege, Wagoner, Warnick, Wilson (Jeff), Wilson (Lynda)
Senator Kevin Van De Wege was the only “nay” vote on the Democratic side.
The final vote in the House was as follows:
Roll Call
HB 1240
Firearms/assault weapons
Final Passage as Amended by the Senate
4/19/2023
Yeas: 56; Nays: 42
Voting Yea: Representatives Alvarado, Bateman, Berg, Bergquist, Berry, Bronoske, Callan, Chapman, Chopp, Cortes, Davis, Doglio, Donaghy, Duerr, Entenman, Farivar, Fey, Fitzgibbon, Fosse, Goodman, Gregerson, Hackney, Hansen, Kloba, Leavitt, Lekanoff, Macri, Mena, Morgan, Ormsby, Ortiz-Self, Orwall, Paul, Peterson, Pollet, Ramel, Ramos, Reed, Reeves, Riccelli, Ryu, Santos, Senn, Simmons, Slatter, Springer, Stearns, Stonier, Street, Taylor, Thai, Tharinger, Timmons, Walen, Wylie, Jinkins
Voting Nay: Representatives Abbarno, Barkis, Barnard, Caldier, Chambers, Chandler, Cheney, Christian, Connors, Corry, Couture, Dent, Dye, Eslick, Goehner, Graham, Griffey, Harris, Hutchins, Jacobsen, Klicker, Kretz, Low, Maycumber, McClintock, McEntire, Mosbrucker, Orcutt, Robertson, Rude, Rule, Sandlin, Schmick, Schmidt, Shavers, Steele, Stokesbary, Volz, Walsh, Waters, Wilcox, Ybarra
Representatives Clyde Shavers and Alicia Rule, both frontline members facing tough reelection fights, were the only “nay” votes on the Democratic side. Their seatmates Dave Paul and Joe Timmons decided to vote for the legislation.
Washington currently ranks tenth in terms of the strength of its gun safety laws, according to Everytown For Gun Safety, behind Oregon, Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Hawaii, New York, and California — all Democratic-run states. The success of HB 1240 and other gun safety bills adopted this session could propel Washington up in the rankings.
Washington and Oregon’s neighbor Idaho is considered a “national failure” and ranked forty-eighth out of fifty, with only Arkansas and Mississippi faring worse.
President Joe Biden usually offers a statement of congratulations through his communications office when a state acts to ban assault weapons — we’ll see if the White House offers a comment on the passage of HB 1240.
We thank the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, Everytown, Moms Demand Action, Brady, and everyone who worked to get HB 1240 across the finish line. Republicans and gun worshippers can threaten and file all the lawsuits they want. Attorney General Bob Ferguson is ready for them. It’s not possible to know what the future holds, but we do at least know that HB 1240 will be well defended.
Gun violence is preventable, and we must have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby. Our leadership on gun safety can save lives and protect communities.
Wednesday, April 19th, 2023
VICTORY! Assault weapons ban clears Legislature, heads to Governor Inslee’s desk
Washington will soon become the tenth state in the nation to ban military-grade assault weapons, in a watershed, critically important victory for gun safety.
Today, the state House of Representatives and Senate came to an agreement on mutually acceptable final language for House Bill 1240, which prohibits the manufacture, importation, distribution, selling, and offering for sale of assault weapons. The bill now heads to Governor Jay Inslee for signature.
Requested by Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the bill was prime sponsored by Representative Strom Peterson (D‑21st District: Snohomish County). Senator Patty Kuderer (D‑48th District: Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, the Points communities) sponsored the Senate companion, SB 5265.
Twice in the past twelve months, NPI’s research has found a majority strongly supportive of banning assault weapons: 56% last June and 58% this March. We unveiled the first of those findings at a press conference with Ferguson, Kuderer, State Senator Manka Dhingra, State Representative Jamila Taylor, and Emily Cantrell of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility. Weeks later, our research was corroborated by SurveyUSA and its partners in a different statewide survey.
“Weapons designed to be used on a military field shouldn’t have a place on the streets of Washington,” said Zach Elmore, a volunteer with the Washington chapter of Moms Demand Action, which has been lobbying for the bill.
“Assault weapons are frequently used in mass shootings and research shows that limiting access to these firearms could reduce mass shooting deaths. We are proud to stand with our gun sense champions in the Legislature, and thank our leaders for taking swift action and sending this bill to Governor Jay Inslee’s desk.”
“Each round fired from an assault weapon can have up to four times greater muzzle energy than a bullet fired from a handgun,” noted a statement from Everytown For Gun Safety about the necessity of HB 1240. “Each round can inflict greater damage to the human body than a round from a typical handgun — and these guns can fire many of these high-powered rounds extremely fast. Prohibiting the manufacture and sale of assault weapons in the state is an important first step to eliminating the supply of these exceptionally deadly firearms.
At the behest of the gun lobby, Republicans vociferously opposed HB 1240 at every step of the legislative process, offering all sorts of tired and ridiculous arguments. (Our favorite is the absurd claim that criminals won’t follow the law, so it’s not worth passing. Why have any laws at all, then?)
It was up to Democrats to get the job done. They delivered, with majorities in both chambers standing up to the NRA and its local sycophants.
The final vote in the Senate was as follows:
Senator Kevin Van De Wege was the only “nay” vote on the Democratic side.
The final vote in the House was as follows:
Representatives Clyde Shavers and Alicia Rule, both frontline members facing tough reelection fights, were the only “nay” votes on the Democratic side. Their seatmates Dave Paul and Joe Timmons decided to vote for the legislation.
Washington currently ranks tenth in terms of the strength of its gun safety laws, according to Everytown For Gun Safety, behind Oregon, Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Hawaii, New York, and California — all Democratic-run states. The success of HB 1240 and other gun safety bills adopted this session could propel Washington up in the rankings.
Washington and Oregon’s neighbor Idaho is considered a “national failure” and ranked forty-eighth out of fifty, with only Arkansas and Mississippi faring worse.
President Joe Biden usually offers a statement of congratulations through his communications office when a state acts to ban assault weapons — we’ll see if the White House offers a comment on the passage of HB 1240.
We thank the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, Everytown, Moms Demand Action, Brady, and everyone who worked to get HB 1240 across the finish line. Republicans and gun worshippers can threaten and file all the lawsuits they want. Attorney General Bob Ferguson is ready for them. It’s not possible to know what the future holds, but we do at least know that HB 1240 will be well defended.
Gun violence is preventable, and we must have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby. Our leadership on gun safety can save lives and protect communities.
# Written by Andrew Villeneuve :: 6:22 PM
Categories: Civil Liberties, Policy Topics
Tags: Secure Firearms Ownership
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