The election of Democrat Manka Dhingra to the Washington State Senate has put total control of the Legislature into the hands of Democrats, and they’re wasting no time pushing new gun control measures. (Screen capture, YouTube)
Senior Editor
Evergreen State Democrats, with full control of the State Legislature, have dropped all pretenses and have announced legislation to strictly regulate so-called “assault rifles” and full capacity magazines, and set their sights on the biggest prize of all: State preemption.
A Democrat lawmaker whose district is in Seattle announced her push to overturn the State’s long standing preemption law that prevents cities, towns and counties from adopting their own gun laws.
State Rep. Nicole Macri wants to knock down the 30-year-old law that placed sole authority for firearms regulation in the hands of the Legislature. No jurisdiction can adopt tougher or contradictory gun laws, such as bans in city or county parks, and other public venues. The law has served as a model for similar laws in other states.
In a revealing statement, Macri left no misunderstanding as to her intention.
“It’s the Restoration of Local Authority,” Macri explained, “and it returns control to our local cities and towns and counties from taking their own action to prevent gun violence by overturning the statewide preemption law that was enacted 30 years ago. It will allow cities and towns to limit firearm access in the ways that they think will best protect their communities in public places like parks and libraries where we know kids play and learn.”
Prior to enacting the preemption law in 1983, Washington had a checkerboard of local gun regulations. Seattle-based anti-gunners have wanted to destroy preemption almost from the day it became law because it prevents them from adopting whatever restrictions they want. Now with full legislative control, party leaders seem convinced they have a “window of opportunity” to pass a new wave of gun control legislation.
The election of liberal Democrat Manka Dhingra to the Washington State Senate in the state’s 45th District in a special election has given Democrats a slim majority. It has emboldened them.
However, some rural Democrats may see things much differently, as will their gun-toting constituents. People living in rural districts, and in the suburbs of Puget Sound, do not necessarily care for the lifestyle and liberal politics found in Seattle.
The state preemption law prevented Seattle from adopting a gun ban in city park facilities several years ago. A lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation, National Rifle Association, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Washington Arms Collectors and several private citizens derailed that attempt in court. When the city appealed, the state court of appeals decided unanimously against the city. The State Supreme Court rejected the case.
Here is what Washington’s law says:
“The state of Washington hereby fully occupies and preempts the entire field of firearms regulation within the boundaries of the state, including the registration, licensing, possession, purchase, sale, acquisition, transfer, discharge, and transportation of firearms, or any other element relating to firearms or parts thereof, including ammunition and reloader components. Cities, towns, and counties or other municipalities may enact only those laws and ordinances relating to firearms that are specifically authorized by state law, as in RCW 9.41.300, and are consistent with this chapter. Such local ordinances shall have the same penalty as provided for by state law. Local laws and ordinances that are inconsistent with, more restrictive than, or exceed the requirements of state law shall not be enacted and are preempted and repealed, regardless of the nature of the code, charter, or home rule status of such city, town, county, or municipality.”
The issue in Washington is the same as it is in any of the other dozens of states that have adopted preemption statutes: Uniformity. What is legal in Spokane is legal in Seattle. People driving through multiple jurisdictions needn’t worry about being ensnared by local gun laws.
Gun prohibition groups across the country will be watching this, because knocking down a “model” law could be more than a symbolic victory. It might launch similar efforts in other states.
There is also a proposal to require a minimum age of 21 years to purchase a so-called “assault rifle.” Actually, these semi-autos are modern sporting rifles, and they happen to be the most popular long gun in America today.
Senate Bill 5444 would require an annually-renewed permit to own ammunition magazines that hold more than ten cartridges. There are penalties for non-compliance.
Amid this anti-gun hysteria, the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility, a billionaire-supported gun prohibition lobbying group, sent an email blast Monday complaining about the proposed Hearing Protection Act, backed by the NRA and other gun rights organizations. It would remove certain paperwork requirements for people who want to legally own suppressors (“silencers”) for firearms.
Their message declares, “For the first time in decades, convicted felons and domestic abusers could be allowed to purchase gun silencers without a background check.” Since felons and domestic abusers can’t legally own firearms, it’s a rather shallow, alarmist message that is misleading at best.
This sort of thing is hardly isolated to the Evergreen State. The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Lawrence Keane, vice president and general counsel, took anti-gunners to task over the recently-passed concealed carry reciprocity legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Anti-gunners have claimed that the reciprocity bill will “remove local governments’ ability to maintain sensible gun standards, and keep a proper vetting process in place …” According to Keane, that argument is “just plain wrong.”
There’s more, Keane wrote in a blog post. Noting that anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety has claimed that the reciprocity act would “make our communities less safe,” Keane fired back. He called this rhetoric “chicken-little sky-is-falling hyperbole.”
