Washington State Governor Jay Inslee signed three bills on Tuesday aiming to restrict law-abiding citizens’ access to firearms within the state, including an “assault weapons” ban, making all semi-automatic rifles illegal.

Under HB1240, rifles that fire one bullet each time the trigger is pulled, and automatically reload a subsequent bullet into the chamber, (a semi-automatic rifle) will be illegal to purchase. Firearm owners who already possess a semi-automatic rifle will be grandfathered in, and have the ability to sell their firearm to a licensed retailer only, who may then sell it to an out-of-state buyer.

Washington is now the 10th state to ban firearms like the AR-15 and AK-47.

In addition to banning the widely used AR-15 style rifles, this bill also bans more than 60 firearms, even some semi-automatic pistols.

Today, we're standing on the right side of history by taking action on gun violence to improve the health, safety and lives of Washingtonians. Tune in online @TVWnews at 10:30 a.m. #Waleg https://t.co/GvpLySN4Qw
— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) April 25, 2023

There is an amendment in the bill that would allow local gun dealers to sell any inventory they had on hand prior to January 1st of 2023 to out-of-state buyers, but for only 90 days after the bill becomes law.

Semi-automatic rifles have been given a bad name by activists who claim that they are the most deadly firearm — but the statistics show otherwise. According to FBI data compiled by Pew Research, the majority of gun deaths are perpetrated by hand guns, not rifles. The latest available data reveals that “handguns were involved in 59% of the 13,620 U.S. gun murders and non-negligent manslaughters for which data is available. Rifles – the category that includes guns sometimes referred to as “assault weapons” – were involved in 3% of firearm murders.” These numbers are especially telling when the number of firearms already in circulation is taken into consideration.

The largest survey on firearm ownership to date suggests that Americans own approximately “415 million firearms, including 171 million handguns, 146 million rifles, and 98 million shotguns,” and use firearms for self-defense about “1.7 million times a year.”

Semi-automatic weapons are the primary gun used in all self-defense scenarios, given the ability to quickly ward off threats. Many states however limit not only the ownership of a semi-automatic weapon, but also limit the magazine capacity for these firearms, typically to 10 bullets. The aforementioned survey explains that oftentimes exceptions are made for former law enforcement officers, under the assumption that they may face greater threats to livelihood than the average citizen. Again, that is not what the data shows.

“About half of the defensive gun uses identified by the survey involved more than one assailant,” the survey found.

The Governor of Washington touted the “reduction of gun deaths in Washington state from 2018 to 2021” according to CBS, after he introduced new gun control measures. Of course, that doesn’t mean crime went down, or even that the number of homicides decreased in the state overall following the crack-down on privately owned firearms.

“There were 325 homicides in 2021, up from 307 killings in 2020. That’s an increase of 5.9 percent. Between 2019 and 2020, the increase in homicides was a staggering 47 percent. Violent crime also increased by 12.3 percent last year, which includes murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults.”
The News Tribune — Crime in Washington

This ban on several weapons used for sport, hunting, and for self-defense is an assault on citizens’ Second Amendment rights and will not lead to safer communities. This will only cause citizens living in Washington state to come entirely defenseless.