Washington State AG: Ban ‘Assault’ Weapons, ‘High Capacity’ Magazines

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) is pushing to ban the sale of “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines in his state.

Ferguson said the ban comes is response to a July 30 attack in which a 19-year-old used an AR-15 style rifle to shoot and kill three individuals at a house party at a residence north of Seattle.

According to The Seattle Times, Ferguson made his plea for the ban while “flanked by…dozens of Democrat legislators and officials.” He said, “Military-style weapons are designed for killing people. These weapons have no place in civilian use.”

Ferguson said he expects “the gun lobby” to fight against the ban, which still needs to be sponsored and presented by a legislator in order for lawmakers to take it up.

Also with Ferguson was Dr. Liz Raemont, whose son was injured in the July 30 house party attack. Raemont said, “[AR-15s] are weapons of choice for our country’s mass murderers. These guns are not used in self-defense. They’re called assault rifles.”

In reality, criminals far prefer handguns and other weapons over “assault rifles.” For example, FBI stats for 2014 showed more than two times as many people were beaten to death with feet and fists that year than were killed with rifles of any kind. And FBI stats from 2005 through 2011 showed the number of murders committed with hammers and clubs consistently exceeded the number of murders committed with a rifle of any kind.

It is interesting to note that Ferguson’s “assault weapons” ban–like the federal ban that expired in 2004–would not actually take “assault weapons” away from anyone. Rather, it would outlaw the sale of new ones. This means that the July 30 house party attack would have happened even if Ferguson’s ban had been in place.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.