Gun Laws & Legislation

Hoober: These States Prove The Fight For Gun Rights Never Stops

the DCNF

Guns and Gear Contributor
Font Size:

By Sam Hoober, Alien Gear Holsters

I hate resorting trite gnomes like “the fight for gun rights never stops” because they’re terribly mawkish, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an element of truth there.

At this moment, a number of states are proposing or considering anti-gun legislation and for all the usual reasons based on ignorance, misguided thinking, or the sheer arrogance of those who believe they really are acting in the name of the “collective good.” Some of the greatest evils are carried out by those who believe they know what’s best for everyone.

Start naming dictators and every single one of them, to a man, earnestly believed they were doing what was in the “best interests of the people.”

Virginia, with a freshly elected Democrat in the Governor’s mansion, is pushing an aggressive gun control agenda. Some of the gun laws he’s trying to get passed includes universal background checks, limiting gun purchases to one per month, banning guns from public events, prohibiting indoor shooting ranges in certain areas, magazine restrictions, an “assault weapons” ban, a suppressor ban, and an aggressive strain of risk protection orders as well.

The “assault weapon” ban failed, according to WHSV, but the “red flag” and universal background check laws passed both houses of Virginia’s legislature.

The state is a battleground for gun rights at the moment. Several counties and municipalities have declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, and at least one county was mulling annexation by West Virginia.

Elsewhere, a number of gun bills are also before the legislation in Washington state.

Washington state has been trending anti-gun in recent years, having passed a “red flag” law of its own, along with restrictions on purchase of semi-automatic rifles and a mandatory 10-day waiting period for all firearm purchases regardless of whether a person has a concealed carry permit or not.

Other gun bills currently before the Washington state legislature include changing Washington state’s background check system, so that all background checks are conducted through the Washington State Patrol instead of the current hybrid system (handgun checks are done through county sheriff’s offices, long gun purchases use NICS) and the establishment of an Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention. Additionally, the state legislature is considering a zoning law, restricting the areas where firearms can be sold, which will no doubt impact gun shows.

A magazine restriction – the 10-round magazine restriction of other anti-gun states – was also proposed, though that bill died in committee according to King 5. Naturally, an “assault weapon” ban was proposed but also fizzled.

And other examples are out there of other states looking to further restrict, curtail and otherwise interfere with law-abiding citizens’ rights; Hawaii is considering tightening their already Draconian gun laws, according to several news reports, and Connecticut recently failed to pass a massive ammunition tax.

However, this isn’t just a round-up of anti-gun legislation that’s in the news of late. There’s a second part, and this is really more the point:

Virginia’s “assault weapon” ban isn’t completely dead. As WHSV noted, it’s actually tabled until the 2021 legislative session.

Additionally, Washington state is actually at the end of the 2019 legislative session; the 2020 legislative session begins in March. The magazine restriction is effectively tabled; if any other gun bills fail to get out of committee in that state, they too will only have to wait a matter of weeks before they can be reconsidered for a vote.

And that’s just for that bill. Within hours of that bill’s failure to get out of committee, a new bill that would institute a 15-round magazine restriction and voluntary buyback program for all magazines holding more than 15 rounds was then submitted to the legislature. Per the Washington state legislature, it’s currently in the committee process.

The price of freedom, it’s said, is eternal vigilance. And our Second Amendment rights are in the crosshairs of people that think they know better than anyone else as to what those rights should be, despite any and all evidence to the contrary.

And it’s looking more and more like the fight to keep our rights safe is going to be long, hard, and unceasing.

Click here to get your 1911 Pistol Shopping Guide.

Click here to get The Complete Concealed Carry Training Guide

Sam Hoober is a Contributing Editor to AlienGearHolsters.com, a subsidiary of Hayden, ID, based Tedder Industries, where he writes about gun accessories, gun safety, open and concealed carry tips. Click here to visit aliengearholsters.com.