Washington: Committee Hearings Scheduled on Anti-Gun Bills

Anti-gun bills will be heard on January 21^st at 10:00AM by the Washington state Senate Committee on Law & Justice and by the House Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary on January 22^nd at 10:00AM.  Please contact committee members and urge them to OPPOSE these gun control bills.  Click the “Take Action” button below to contact committee members.

Those wishing to attend the hearings should plan to arrive early to find parking and to sign in with opposition to the bills.  Testimony on bills at the hearings will be limited to two minutes each, with Senate Bills 5061 and 5062 being heard together at the January 21^st hearings and House Bills 1073 and 1068 being heard together at the January 22^nd hearings. 

After the January 21^st hearings, NRA will be holding a meeting in the Irv Newhouse Building conference room by the Capitol at 12:00PM.  NRA members and Second Amendment supporters are invited to stop by in order to hear updates on the session.

Senate bills will be heard on January 21^st and House bills will be heard on January 22^nd.

The Proposed Substitute to Senate Bill 5062, sponsored by Senator Patty Kuderer (D-48), was filed at the request of Attorney General Bob Ferguson.  It would ban the possession of ammunition magazines with a capacity greater than 10, encompassing most standard capacity magazines commonly used by law-abiding citizens, such as with handguns popular for self-defense.  Those who own non-compliant magazines prior to the ban would only be allowed to possess them on their own property and in other limited instances such as at licensed shooting ranges and nationally sanctioned sport shooting events.  These magazines would have to be transported unloaded and locked separately from firearms and stored at home locked, making them unavailable for self-defense.

The Proposed Substitute to Senate Bill 5174, sponsored by Senator Guy Palumbo (D-1), would increase the government red tape that law-abiding adults must go through in order to obtain a Concealed Pistol License by requiring a mandatory training course developed by the Washington State Patrol. 

The Proposed Substitute to Senate Bill 5061, sponsored by Senator Manka Dhingra (D-45) and House Bill 1073, sponsored by Representative Javier Valdez (D-46), were filed at the request of Attorney General Ferguson.  They would end the centuries old practice of manufacturing firearms for personal use, among other things. 

Senate Bill 5143, sponsored by Senator Dhingra, and House Bill 1225, sponsored by Representative Laurie Jinkins (D-27), would require law-enforcement to seize firearms and ammunition when they are called to the scene of an alleged domestic violence incident and hold them for at least five business days.  This would result in property being confiscated without first going through due process and subjecting citizens to bureaucratic red tape to get their property returned. 

House Bill 1068, sponsored by Representative Javier Valdez (D-46), was filed at the request of Attorney General Bob Ferguson.  It would ban the possession of ammunition magazines with a capacity greater than 10, encompassing most standard capacity magazines commonly used by law-abiding citizens, such as with handguns popular for self-defense. 

House Bill 1203, sponsored by Representative Beth Doglio (D-22), would create a one-size-fits all requirement of how and when lost or stolen firearms must be reported, further victimizing gun owners who suffer a loss or theft of their property.

In addition, one pro-gun bill will be heard on January 22^nd.  House Bill 1024, sponsored by Representative Jim Walsh (R-19), would prohibit the government database of law-abiding gun owners from pistol purchase applications.  A gun owner database is a waste of taxpayer funded resources and does not improve public safety.  Criminals, by definition, do not obey the law.  They do not submit pistol purchase applications when acquiring their firearms illegally such as by theft, on the black market, or by straw purchase.  The only purpose that a gun owner database serves is to facilitate future confiscations of firearms from those who currently own them legally.

Again, please click the “Take Action” button above to contact committee members and urge them to OPPOSE these gun control bills and consider attending the NRA meeting after the hearing.