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OLYMPIA — A proposal to ban certain semi-automatic firearms was praised by the mother of a shooting victim and a city police chief, but roundly panned by gun-rights activists.
The proposal, SB 6396, which would ban weapons commonly called “military style assault weapons” once covered by federal law, generated references to a Halloween slaying of a Seattle police officer and the 1994 shooting spree at Fairchild Air Force Base. It also prompted a debate between a state senator and a police chief over the definition of lethal.
The Puget Sound region saw six officers killed in the last two months of 2009, including Officer Tim Brenton, who was killed with a weapon that would be covered by the bill. Banning assault weapons with clips that fire more than 10 rounds is a way to protect police officers, Bellevue Police Chief Linda Pillo said.
“Which guns are lethal and which are not?” asked Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn.
Guns that fire multiple rounds quickly are more lethal, Pillo said.About a fifth of all officers killed in the line of duty between 1998 and 2001 were killed by assault weapons, she said, and 10 officers in Los Angeles were wounded in a single bank robbery by the weapons.
“How many rounds does it take to kill a person or a deer?” asked Roach.
Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, sponsor of the bill and chairman of the Judiciary Committee that was hearing it, said the bill includes descriptions of features on firearms such as pistol grips on rifles and barrel shrouds that make a gun “more lethal than your average deer rifle.” That prompted laughter in the hearing room which,
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based on a show of hands requested by Roach, was overwhelmingly opposed to the bill. Kline suggested that if opponents had problems with the language, they could suggest their own.
But Brian Judy, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association in Washington, said no language improvements could be suggested byecaus the bill was “unconstitutionally arbitrary” and a ban would have to cover all semi-automatics or none.
“You can’t carve out some,” Judy said. “Pistol grips have nothing to do with lethality.”
Kline disagreed, saying a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling said that states could set reasonable limits on firearms. Reasonable limits, replied Judy, are already exist that ban firearms possession by felons and people with mental problems.
Debra Sullivan of Seattle, whose 17-year-old son Aaron was killed last summer by another teen firing a semi-automatic weapon, said the state currently protects children from alcohol, drugs and tobacco, and limits when they can drive and vote. “I’d love to see us take som action to protect our young people from assault weapons.”
Action on the bill was delayed until a later hearing. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said previously she doesn’t think there’s enough support to pass the bill this session.
Jim Camden is a veteran political reporter for The Spokesman-Review.
Jonathan Brunt covers Spokane City Hall for The Spokesman-Review.
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nutz4utwo on January 26 at 4:48 p.m.
This legislation is both a feel good-do nothing piece of legislation and violates the Washington State constitution. We might as well ban “blue cars” as they tend to be involved in more DUI accidents. Maurice Clemmons was already a convicted felon (both federal and state law prohibited him from possessing a firearm) and on probation, yet we are lead to believe some new firearm law would have stopped him (or people like him). Persons who are willing to break the law regarding assault, rape, and murder are not going to be stopped by any firearms laws. Criminals are the only true capitalists left in this country and they will do whatever they need to survive. Every time there is a tragedy with a firearm, gun control advocates come out and try to pass some garbage. Firearms laws only serve to inconvenience and make criminals out of otherwise law abiding Washington State residents. Sen. Pam Roach needs to read the Washington Constitution and take a lesson in US history from 1750-1789 (she will see there is more to firearms in the hands of the people than deer hunting). Sen. Adam Kline does not understand and misquotes the SCOTUS Heller decision. It specifically states the decision ONLY applies to the federal government and not to states or localities. An upcoming SCOTUS case from Chicago will address the 2nd amendment’s incorporation against the states. Also Heller tells us that all firearms “in common use” are constitutionally protected. If one looks into the issue, it is obvious the authors of the bill are either uneducated or lying (or both). Please email your reps and help me kill this bill ASAP.
Liberty_Bell on January 26 at 5:41 p.m.
Confusing subject matter in Olympia!
Abraham Lincoln, discussing enforcement of the laws that could only confuse Olympia!
July 4, 1861, Special Session
Soon after the first call for militia, it was considered a duty to authorize the Commanding General, in proper cases, according to his discretion, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus; or, in other words, to arrest, and detain, without resort to the ordinary processes and forms of law, such individuals as he might deem dangerous to the public safety. This authority has purposely been exercised but very sparingly. Nevertheless, the legality and propriety of what has been done under it, are questioned; and the attention of the country has been called to the proposition that one who is sworn to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,’’ should not himself violate them. Of course some consideration was given to the questions of power, and propriety, before this matter was acted upon. The whole of the laws which were required to be faithfully executed, were being resisted, and failing of execution, in nearly one-third of the States. Must they be allowed to finally fail of execution, even had it been perfectly clear, that by the use of the means necessary to their execution, some single law, made in such extreme tenderness of the citizen’s liberty, that practically, it relieves more of the guilty, than of the innocent, should, to a very limited extent, be violated? To state the question more directly, are all the laws, but one, to go unexecuted, and the government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated? Even in such a case, would not the official oath be broken, if the government should be overthrown, when it was believed that disregarding the single law, would tend to preserve it? But it was not believed that this question was presented. It was not believed that any law was violated.
threeandfour on January 26 at 6:49 p.m.
An assualt weapons ban? Of course that should also apply to our LEO’s. We should make murder by cop illegal while we are at it.
YouDeserveTheTruth on January 26 at 9:15 p.m.
This so-called Spin Control is a load in the pants. Here are the facts.
1. “A proposal to ban certain semi-automatic firearms was praised by the mother of a shooting victim and a city police chief, but roundly panned by gun-rights activists.”
The hearing was held today in Olympia. The mother referred to in this article is the mother of Aaron Sullivan. Mr. Sullivan was murdered with one round fired from a rifle. The police chief is Linda Pillo, Bellevue police chief.
2. The Puget Sound region saw six officers killed in the last two months of 2009, including Officer Tim Brenton, who was killed with a weapon that would be covered by the bill.
The bill heard today is called the Aaron Sullivan Public Safety and Police Protection Act. It seeks to ban any firearm, pistol, rifle or shotgun with a capacity of more than 10 rounds. Four of the Puget sound region officers were killed by a madman with a 6-shot revolver; officer Brenton was killed by a madman with a semi-auto rifle that does not fit even California’s extreme definition of an assault weapon.
3. Earlier this month a Governor’s panel of law enforcement officials concluded that the assault weapons ban would have not prevented any of these deaths.
4. This morning 313 people crowded into Hearing Room 1 to witness and or testify on behalf of or against the proposed ban. Of the 313 attending, 299 opposed the ban and 14 supported it.
Google ” Assault weapon ban Kline ” and then hit Google news