The Washington state legislature has convened for a 60 day session, and the anti gunners are wasting no time introducing bills that supposedly address “gun violence”, in which they sort of admit that their “universal background check” ballot initiative has failed to prevent such “gun violence.”
Rep. Jim Moeller’s HB 2354 would ban so-called “assault weapons”, in which nearly every modern firearm is defined as an “assault weapon”. Parts of Section 1 of the bill read:
(27) “Assault weapon” means:
(a) A semiautomatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has one or more of the following:
(i) A pistol grip or thumbhole stock;
(ii) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the nontrigger hand;
(iii) A folding or telescoping stock;
(iv) A shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel;
(b) A semiautomatic pistol, or a semiautomatic, centerfire, or rimfire rifle with a fixed magazine, that has the capacity to accept more than ten rounds of ammunition;
(c) A semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has one or more of the following:
(i) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the nontrigger hand;
(ii) A folding stock, telescoping stock, or thumbhole stock;
(iii) A shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel; or
(iv) The capacity to accept a detachable magazine at any location outside of the pistol grip;
(d) A semiautomatic shotgun that has one or more of the following:
(i) A pistol grip or thumbhole stock;
(ii) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the nontrigger hand;
(iii) A folding or telescoping stock;
(iv) A fixed magazine capacity in excess of five rounds; or
(v) An ability to accept a detachable magazine;
(e) A shotgun with a revolving cylinder; or
(f) A conversion kit, part, or combination of parts, from which an assault weapon can be assembled if those parts are in the possession or under the control of the same person.
“Assault weapon” does not include antique firearms, any firearm that has been made permanently inoperable, or any firearm that is manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide action.
This bill wouldn’t just ban AR15s and AK47s, it would ban any semi auto rifle, including most .22s, as the 2 most popular ones, the Ruger 10/22 and the Marlin Glenfield 60, are both designed to accept and capable of accepting magazines with over 10 rounds of ammo. This would also ban any pistol that is “capable” of accepting a magazine holding over 10 rounds of ammo. This would include nearly every Glock, Springfield, M&P, Sig Sauer, CZ, FN, or Ruger that is “capable” of using a larger magazine, regardless of if you’re only using “California” compliant 10 round magazines or not. The only pistols that would be legal under this bill would be revolvers, small pocket carry pistols that were originally designed to hold 7 or 8 rounds, and 1911s that cannot accept double stack mags.
Furthermore, Mr. Moeller seems to be ignorant of federal regulations, as he defines an assault pistol as something that has a stock and/or a forward vertical grip, which ATF has determined that such features no longer define it as a pistol, but as a rifle.
Section 2 of the bill, subsection 1, reads “No person in this state may manufacture, possess, purchase, sell, or otherwise transfer any assault weapon or large capacity magazine except as authorized in this section.” There are exceptions for law enforcement and military use, as well as an exception if you are turning the firearm into law enforcement or selling it to an FFL. Other than that, it means that you cannot give or sell any firearm that qualifies as an “assault weapon” to your wife, son, father, grandfather, grandson, or anyone else, regardless of whether or not they are family or a long time friend or acquaintance.
Rep. Moeller is running for Lt. Governor and can be reached by phone at 360 903 5115. You can also tweet him at https://twitter.com/Jimmoeller.
But the hysterics don’t end there. State Rep. Tana Senn has introduced HB 2372 and HB 2374.
HB 2372 would force you to forfeit a firearm if you have not been found guilty of any crime, but have merely arrested for such and/or awaiting trial. With no completion of due process, you can be stripped of your rights.
HB 2374 would create an ammunition tax, charging an extra 5 cents per round.
Rep. Tana Senn can be reached by phone at 206 369 1253 or @TanaSenn on Twitter.
