Laws To Restrict AR-15 Rifles In Wash. Languish In Senate

SEATTLE, WA - On the same day 17 students and staff were killed at a Florida school by a gunman armed with an AR-15, the state Legislature failed to act on two bills that would restrict sales of AR-15-style assault rifles in Washington.

The two laws never made it out of state Senate committees, and the deadline to pass legislation this session passed on Feb. 14. The AR-15 is the weapon of choice for mass shooters, and was used most recently to kill at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

The first bill, SB 5444, would require a person attain a gun license before being allowed to buy an AR-15. That would effectively raise the buying age from 18 to 21. That law would also prevent people from outside the state from buying AR-15s here.

The other bill, SB 5050, would outright ban assault rifles. The law allows people to keep assault rifles that they already own, and still allows police departments to buy AR-15-style rifles.

Both bills were requested by Attorney General Bob Ferguson and sponsored by state Sens. David Frockt, D-Seattle; Kevin Ranker, D-Anacortes; Patty Kuderer, D-Redmond; Lisa Wellman, D-Mercer Island; Rebecca Saldana, D-Seattle; Marko Liias, D-Lynnwood; Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma; Maralyn Chase, D-Shoreline; and Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver.

On Thursday, a state House committee approved a measure banning bump stocks - the accessory that allows semiautomatic rifles to effectively shoot automatically. The Senate approved the measure in January, but there's no House vote scheduled yet.

Caption: Gun shop owner Tiffany Teasdale-Causer demonstrates a Ruger AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, the same model, though in gray rather than black, used by the shooter in a Texas church massacre two days earlier, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017, in Lynnwood, Wash. Gun-rights supporters have seized on the Texas church massacre as proof of the well-worn saying that the best answer to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Gun-control advocates, meanwhile, say the tragedy shows once more that it is too easy to get a weapon in the U.S.

Photo by Elaine Thompson/Associated Press