(Dave Workman photo)
Three Democrat members of the Washington State House have filed a bill to limit state residents to one-gun-per-month purchases.
House Bill 2054 would add a new section to state firearms law which states bluntly in the first sentence: “A dealer may not deliver more than one firearm to a purchaser or transferee within any 30-day period.”
The bill is sponsored by Reps. Joe Fitzgibbon, Darya Farivar, and Timm Ormsby. The measure is one of the things on this year’s legislative wish list published by the billionaire-backed, Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility.
“RESTRICTING BULK FIREARM PURCHASES: Limiting the number of firearms an individual can purchase at a given time is a straightforward approach to prevent gun trafficking. Data shows that multiple firearms sales are a significant indicator of firearms trafficking, and firearms sold in such sales are frequently recovered at crime scenes.”
The Alliance does not reveal the source of this data.
Virginia had such a law, passed in the early 1990s, but it was repealed in 2012. At the time, Virginia Public Media (VPM) reported that WCVE News “could only obtain federal firearm trace data back to 2006 but is seeking that data going back to 1993 when the law went into effect. The data we have shows little difference in the number of Virginia guns that were recovered in other states prior to and after the law was repealed in 2012. However, there was a jump in the number of Virginia guns recovered around 2016.”
The Virginia restriction was reenacted in 2020, after Democrats took control of the Virginia legislature.
Evergreen State Second Amendment activists are already promising to fight passage of the bill, but with Democrats in firm control of the state legislature in Olympia, that may be a tough goal to reach. Democrats are behind every gun control bill in the legislature.
This year there is also a bill that would require a permit-to-purchase a firearm, mandating proof of training to include a live fire exercise. Critics say there are not enough gun ranges or range safety officers in the state to accommodate the kind of demand that might arise.
A similar law in Oregon was recently declared unconstitutional by a district court judge.
After restrictions kicked in Jan. 1 including a new 10-day waiting period on all gun sales plus a requirement to prove buyers have completed a firearm safety course during the past five years, anti-gunners, including Democrats in the state House and Senate, are already demonstrating they have a hunger for more.
House Democrats have already filed legislation which follows the agenda of the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility. Among the proposals:
RESTORE LOCAL AUTHORITY: This would repeal state preemption. The gun control group argues, “Local leaders are best positioned to address their communities’ challenges. They should be empowered to make decisions about gun safety to keep their communities safe and build on the work that happens at the State Legislature by ending local preemption of firearm regulations. More than 40 states have preemption laws, and maybe half of them were patterned after Washington’s law, adopted first in 1983 and reinforced in 1985. Anti-gunners have wanted to erase this since it was adopted. House Bill 1178
REPORT LOST AND STOLEN FIREARMS: “Gun thefts often result in firearms being channeled into an underground market,” the Alliance argues, “where they can easily fall into the hands of those intent on causing harm. Washington State must require gun owners to report guns that have been lost or stolen to law enforcement, helping to prevent illegal gun trafficking.” House Bill 1903
DEALER RESPONSIBILITY: This would hold the gun industry accountable for crimes committed with firearms.
