WA assault weapons ban bill heads to Gov. Inslee after House OKs it

House lawmakers voted 56-42 to pass a final version of an assault weapons ban in Washington state on Wednesday, just days before the adjournment of the 2023 legislative session.

House Bill 1240 will now head for Gov. Jay Inslee’s desk, where he is all but certain to sign it. It will become law when signed, due to an emergency clause written into the legislation.

The measure will ban the manufacture, importation, distribution, sale, or offer for sale of any assault weapon in the state of Washington.

Sponsored by Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, the proposal is also co-sponsored by 25 other Democratic lawmakers in the House at the request of Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

Because changes were made to the legislation in the Senate during the floor debate on April 8, it was sent back to the House for concurrence where one amendment was ruled beyond the scope and object of the bill.

That amendment was introduced by Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro Wooley, and would have provided exceptions to the ban for military retirees moving to the state and active duty military members on orders to Washington.

House lawmakers instead asked the Senate to withdraw the amendment. Senate lawmakers on Tuesday receded the amendments, the bill was placed back on second reading, and the amendments were re-debated.

The bill passed the Senate again on Tuesday with a 28-21 vote.

An amendment was adopted by Senate lawmakers that clarified the definition of importation. That clarification said that individuals who live in Washington but travel back and forth from other states with the assault weapons they currently own would not be “importing” the weapons.

Additionally, the amendment clarifies that dealers in the state can still sell or transfer stock that was acquired prior to Jan. 1 of this year for up to 90 days after the bill goes into effect, but that stock can only be sold or transferred out of state.

Votes to concur on the bill crossed some party lines, with House Democratic lawmakers Rep. Alicia Rule, D-Blaine, and Rep. Clyde Shavers, D-Oak Harbor, voting against the bill.

Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, spoke against the legislation on the floor Wednesday.

He said that every time lawmakers are re-elected they must give an oath of office to uphold the state constitution, and that the Washington constitution is more clear than the federal one about rights of the individual to bear arms in defense of themselves from the state.

“That’s pretty clear, yet we keep chipping away at what our firearm rights really are,” Dent said.

He said the legislation bothered him because it came forward without any input from his party, and that both parties should be working together on issues such as behavioral health and substance abuse instead.

In House debates last month, the bill’s prime sponsor said he first introduced the legislation after a 2016 shooting in Mukilteo that killed three and wounded another. The shooter used an AR-15.

“This has been happening in our communities and happening around the state and around the country for far too long,” Peterson said.

He noted mass shooting statistics in the U.S.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, 693 mass shootings occurred in 2021. In 2022, there were 647 mass shootings. As of Wednesday April 19, 163 mass shootings had been recorded in the U.S. for the 2023 year. According to ABC News, there have been more mass shootings than days this year.

“We’ve seen the kids walking out of school, we’ve seen the kids amassed on the mall in Washington, D.C.,” Peterson said. “We see them, we hear them, we have to pass this legislation.”

Lawmakers included several specific types of assault weapons in the bill that would be banned, “regardless of which company produced and manufactured the firearm”:

AK-47 in all forms

AK-74 in all forms

Algimec AGM-1 type semiautomatic

American Arms Spectre da semiautomatic carbine

AR15, M16, or M4 in all forms

AR 180 type semiautomatic

Argentine L.S.R. semiautomatic

Australian Automatic

Auto-Ordnance Thompson M1 and 1927 semiautomatics

Barrett .50 cal light semiautomatic

Barrett .50 cal M87

Barrett .50 cal M107A1

Barrett REC7

Beretta AR70/S70 type semiautomatic

Bushmaster Carbon 15

Bushmaster ACR

Bushmaster XM-15

Bushmaster MOE

Calico models M100 and M900

CETME Sporter 4CIS SR 88 type semiautomatic

Colt CAR 15

Daewoo K-1

Daewoo K-2

Dragunov semiautomatic

Fabrique Nationale FAL in all forms

Fabrique Nationale F2000

Fabrique Nationale L1A1 Sporter

Fabrique Nationale M249S

Fabrique Nationale PS90

Fabrique Nationale SCAR

FAMAS .223 semiautomatic

Galil Heckler & Koch G3 in all forms

Heckler & Koch HK-41/91

Heckler & Koch HK-43/93

Heckler & Koch HK94A2/3

Heckler & Koch MP-5 in all forms

Heckler & Koch PSG-1 Heckler & Koch SL8

Heckler & Koch UMP

Manchester Arms Commando MK-45

Manchester Arms MK-9

SAR-4800

SIG AMT SG510 in all forms

SIG SG550 in all forms

SKS Spectre M4

Springfield Armory BM-59

Springfield Armory G3

Springfield Armory SAR-8

Springfield Armory SAR-48

Springfield Armory SAR-3

Springfield Armory M-21 sniper

Springfield Armory M1A 7Smith & Wesson M&P 15

Sterling Mk 1

Sterling Mk 6/7

Steyr AUG

TNW M230

FAMAS F11

Uzi 9mm carbine/rifle

The legislation further defines assault weapons as “semiautomatic rifles with an overall length of less than 30 inches; conversion kits and parts that can be used to assemble an assault weapon or convert a firearm into an assault weapon, if the parts are in the possession of or under the control of the same person; semiautomatic centerfire rifles that have the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and have one or more additional features listed in the bill; semiautomatic centerfire rifles with a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds; semiautomatic pistols that have the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and have one or more additional features listed in the bill; semiautomatic shotguns that have one or more additional features listed in the bill.”

Some of those additional features listed in the legislation include folding or telescoping stocks, flash suppressors, muzzle brakes and thumbhole stocks.

According to Giffords Law Center, nine other states including Hawaii, California and New York, as well as the District of Columbia, have passed general assault weapons bans.

The last day of the legislative session is Sunday, April 23.