Three of America's most prominent firearms advocacy groups have already announced moves to fight back against Washington State's latest anti-gun bills.
As noted by the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), Governor Jay Inslee signed a number of egregious bills into law this week.
“House Bill 1240, a comprehensive ban on most commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms and firearm parts, Senate Bill 5078, to allow anti-gun zealots to bankrupt the firearm industry with frivolous lawsuits, and House Bill 1143, to impose a waiting period and training mandate for acquiring firearms.”
As previously noted, the passage and signing of this legislation has spurred action from a number of groups supportive of Second Amendment rights.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) – a trade association that represents firearms manufacturers – filed a lawsuit against House Bill 1240 which “bans the sale and transfer of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) and many other firearms.”
NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane noted in a media release issued by the organization that “NSSF will not stand idly by as politicians cleave away fundamental Constitutional rights from Americans … The right to keep and bear arms that are commonly owned belongs to law-abiding citizens. Politicians in Washington exceed their authority when they usurp those rights to mollify radical special-interest groups. These politicians violate their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution and the rights of the citizens they represent.”
The group also shared data measured by a recent Monmouth University poll that “showed national support for “assault weapons” bans continues to drop. More Americans oppose banning MSRs than those supporting a ban. Just 46 percent of Americans support such a ban, while 49 percent said they would oppose a ban. That is a nine-point drop in less than a year when the same poll was conducted in June 2022, following the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas.”
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is also supporting NSSF's lawsuit. Fox News first reported on the NRA's support of the suit Wednesday.
NRA-ILA Washington state director Aoibheann Cline told Fox News Digital that “this new law is blatantly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court long-ago ruled that states cannot ban firearms that are in common use.”
Alan Gottlieb – Chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right To Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) also recently blasted a provision contained in House Bill 1143 which mandates that a firearm purchaser “provides proof of completion of a recognized firearm safety training program within the last five years that complies with the requirements set down in the second section of the bill.”
Gottlieb liked the testing requirement to a “‘literacy test' that was used to discourage voting by minorities in the South” and also shared the following sentiments in a media release issued by his organization Tuesday:
“This requirement, along with the 10-day waiting period, seem like impairments to us. When the governor earlier this year compared this requirement to getting training before being issued a license to drive, he ignored one very important point, and he knows it. Driving is a privilege, but keeping and bearing arms is a right protected by both the state and federal constitutions, and there is nothing in either of those provisions about training, or waiting.”
“Inslee and the Democrats can couch this any way they want, but it adds up to the same thing. These requirements are designed to discourage Evergreen State citizens from exercising their constitutionally-protected and enumerated rights.
“Democrats in the Legislature are not only at war with Washington gun owners, they have also declared war on the state and federal constitutions, and the built-in protections for law-abiding firearms owners. As we've said many times, this isn't about guns, it's about rights.”
Unlike law enforcement agencies in states such as Oregon and Illinois where officers have promised to not comply with unconstitutional laws, Washington State Patrol seems intent on complying with laws now on the books.
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