Late last night, the Washington State House passed a “high capacity” magazine ban bill. As king5.com reports, “SB 5078 prohibits the sale of gun magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, along with the manufacturing, distribution, possession, import or purchase of high-capacity magazines in Washington state.”
The bill now goes to Governor Jay Inslee, who will sign it with glee.
It’s important to note that the magazine ban won’t outlaw possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. Those who currently own them in Evergreen State can legally keep them.
As a practical matter, that means lots of gun owners will be buying their magazines in Idaho and Oregon…at least until Oregon catches up with their left coast neighbors and enacts a similar law.
The high capacity magazine ban has been proposed in the state legislature several times but failed to pass the Senate. The bill was re-introduced at the request of Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who first introduced the bill in 2016.
Ferguson released a statement on Twitter Friday night, saying “Today is the fulfillment of years of hard work from so many. More than five years ago, I stood with the parents of shooting victims, legislators, mayors, police chiefs and representatives from faith communities to say enough is enough and proposed banning the sale of high capacity magazines in Washington state.”
AG Ferguson releases statement on the passage of legislation to ban the sale of high-capacity magazines, which he has proposed as Attorney General Request legislation every year starting in 2016. #waleg pic.twitter.com/rFo2qHGfjF
— Washington State Attorney General (@AGOWA) March 5, 2022
What a legislative achievement.
Just as in other jurisdictions that have enacted artificial limits on magazine capacity, Washington’s new law will have no impact whatsoever on “gun violence” in the state. It will, however, give hacks like Inslee and Ferguson a prime photo op at the bill signing ceremony which, let’s face it, is really the whole point of this meaningless exercise.
Don’t forget that Washington gun owners who don’t want to burn $5-a-gallon gas and drive outside the state to procure their standard capacity magazines have other options available to them now. You can turn out an awful lot of magazines with a $279 printer and a spool of Zytel.
Brrrrrrrrrrrr.
By Dan Zimmerman via TTAG and republished with permission.