Bills propose to add liability to firearms manufacturers, create a license to purchase a firearm (separate from a concealed carry license), restricting the sale of semi-automatic rifle

Leah Anaya
For Clark County Today

Out of the close to 200 bills that have been pre-filed in Olympia as of Friday (Jan. 6), several of them relate to gun rights. Thursday evening, Rep. Jim Walsh and Bill Kirk of Washington Gun Law spoke on a panel over Zoom to discuss these pieces of proposed legislation – House Bills 1130, 1143, and 1144. Respectively, those bills propose to add liability to firearms manufacturers, create a license to purchase a firearm (separate from a concealed carry license), restricting the sale of semi-automatic rifles.  

HB 1130 is reminiscent of a nation-wide debate on whether gun manufacturers should carry liability when their product is used during the commission of a crime. Rep. Walsh argued that this bill would adversely affect small business gun manufacturers. HB 1143 was specifically requested by Gov. Jay Inslee, as the bill indicates. Walsh said that this license is unconstitutional and will likely see challenges in court if passed, much like I-1639, which was passed in 2018 but still has not been fully implemented due to Constitutional challenges being fought in court. Kirk said that HB 1144 represents the seventh time a bill of this type has been attempted in Washington State. Both Walsh and Kirk said that this bill is essentially a “ban on semi-automatic rifles,” as the sale of such weapons are severely restricted in this legislation.

Rep. Walsh did not hide his dismay for the introduction of the bills during the webinar. 

“Tyrants often steal rights and sell them back to you one license at a time,” he said. “Remember that these rights don’t come from the Constitution. You have these rights already; they’re just outlined and written out [in the document].” 

Walsh indicated that due to the restrictive and poorly-written legislation passed in 2021 regarding law enforcement and the decriminalization of drugs, it’s even more important for the citizenry to arm themselves for protection. 

“Armed citizens are people, not subjects,” Rep. Walsh said. “The executive branch think they’re entitled nobility- they don’t like guns, or they fundraise off of taking people’s guns. That sounds un-American to me. Take the guns from the peasants? This is a Republic, not a monarchy.” 

The bills represent an attempt to chip away at citizens’ gun rights in Washington, according to Kirk, who said that the Washington State Constitution Article 1 Section 24 provides even more rights than the US Constitution. 

“Can you imagine having to get a ‘hall pass’ of sorts for any other rights?” Kirk posited. “To pick your church, to vote, etc.? Would it be ok to have to do that if it wasn’t a gun?” 

Kirk indicated that the negative labeling has been what has gotten many to jump on the “gun-ban” bandwagon.

“There’s no such thing as an ‘assault weapon,’” he said, “or ‘ghost guns,’ or ‘high-capacity magazines.’ Labeling like this makes guns look bad. What we need is to educate the public. People are thirsty for knowledge right now, and we need to take advantage of that and tell them [the truth about guns].” 

This need for education is why he offers training on the issues. “Gun control has never been about the guns,” Kirk said. “It’s always been about control.” 

Along with the labeling, Rep. Walsh said that misinformation regarding guns is also something used by anti-gun activists to attempt to take them away from lawful citizens. 

“They tend to blur together homicides and suicides [to make the numbers look far worse than they are],” he said. “The vast majority of gun deaths are actually suicides.” 

This statement is confirmed by looking at information from the Pew Research Center, which shows that in 2020, gun deaths were 54 percent suicide compared to 43 percent murders (the remaining three percent was a combination of accidental deaths, law enforcement deaths, and those with undetermined circumstances). The website also says that suicides have “long accounted for the majority of U.S. gun deaths.”  

An update on I-1639 was given as well. Kirk said that a decision on one of the challenges, Brumback v Ferguson, was supposed to be reached by the end of 2022, which did not happen.

“We need action by the courts so the legislature can fix [the issues],” said Rep Walsh. “The initiative was not really questioned by the public initially because it was framed as a school safety measure. But in reality, it had very little to do with schools at all. Now that it’s passed, we can repeal it, but that’s not likely with the current legislature. It’s all about education.” 

Kirk argued that there are many on both sides of the political aisle who need to work together against this “gun-grabbing” legislation. He said that the transgender and minority communities are being targeted for violence. 

“They’re in need of their gun rights more than anyone. We need to focus on what we have in common to fight together for our rights.” 

As an example of this, Rep Walsh mentioned the group “Armed Gays Don’t Get Bashed,” which is a group that advocates for gun ownership by members of the LGBTQ community. 

“We have dominating one-party control in this state,” Rep. Walsh said, “and it’s been that way for almost two generations. They don’t look for bipartisan solutions. It’s said, ‘That which cannot go on forever will not go on forever.’ This cannot go on forever. Gun rights are fundamental rights, just as much as freedom of speech or religion. Everyone needs to contact all members of committees and their own elected officials to make sure they’re heard.”