‘This is the year this gets done’: State restrictions on high capacity magazines on path to passage

It was an hours-long marathon debate in the state Senate on Wednesday night as lawmakers took up a high priority bill, long sought by State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, concerning so-called high capacity magazines.

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The debate was on a version of a bill introduced last year from Democratic Senator Marko Liias, who noted last night the damage such magazines can cause.

“In the past half century, large capacity magazines have been used in about three quarters of gun massacres with 10 or more deaths, and in 100% of massacres with 20 or more deaths. More than twice as many people have been killed or injured in mass shootings that involve a large capacity magazine as compared with mass shootings that involved a smaller capacity magazine,” said Liias, as he cited research out of Boston University that suggests whether a state allows the sale of high capacity magazines is the single best predictor of mass shooting rates in that state.

Liias also noted a local example in his own jurisdiction as his motivation for sponsoring the bill.

“On July 30, 2016, my community was changed forever by a preventable tragedy — we lost three beautiful young lives,” he said, as he recalled the tragic murders of three recent high school graduates at a Mukilteo house party when a jealous teen was able to buy a semi-automatic rifle.

The father of another teen injured in that shooting would go on to sponsor a successfully-passed citizen’s initiative in 2018 — I-1639 — which barred the sale of such weapons for those under 21.

“I can still see the lasting loss that that family has experienced,” Liias continued. “These young people deserved many more tomorrows and they didn’t get them in a heinous act of violence. The only reason other young people were able to get to safety that night was because the mass shooter needed to reload his weapon. High capacity magazines make it easy for shooters to inflict maximum damage by allowing more shots to be fired without needing to pause to reload.”

Earlier versions of the proposal were straight bans that barred possession. Liias says that is not what this new bill does. Rather, it limits the prohibition to only the manufacturing, distribution, or sale of large capacity magazines, and does not include possession or transfer. The law applies to magazines with more than 10 rounds. Unlike earlier iterations of the bill, Liias’ version makes it a violation of the Consumer Protection Act rather than a gross misdemeanor.

That was not enough assurance to sway Republicans who pushed back against SB 5078.

“This is not a good bill for public safety — it jeopardizes the lives of our citizens and these are people,” argued Republican Senator Phil Fortunato, who pushed nearly 20 amendments to the bill on Wednesday, including tweaks that capped magazine capacity at 17, 21, or 30 rounds, and gave current firearm retailers a one-year grace period to sell any existing stock.

“I want you to think about what we are doing and what we are guarding against,” he added.

All of Fortunato’s proposed amendments failed to pass.

“We are saying that by passing this law, a person who is intent on mass murder is somehow going to pay attention to the size of his magazine and say, ‘Oh gee, I’m going to be in violation of the law,'” Fortunato posited. “If I have a magazine-overtake round, he’s already made the decision that he’s going to go in there and do harm to people. He’s going to go in there and do the very thing that Senator Liias spoke about in protecting those poor children that lost their lives. They didn’t lose their lives to a high capacity magazine. They lost their lives to a nutcase — that’s the problem.”

“This will not save one life and will jeopardize the lives of law abiding citizens, especially women,” he added. “Women are the biggest purchasers right now of firearms. Why is that? Because they fear for their safety, and you’re putting them at risk by minimizing the capacity of the weapon that they want to carry. This is a serious bill that will jeopardize public safety.”

Democratic Senator Patty Kuderer took issue with that.

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“As a woman, let me tell you what, a woman’s issue is fair pay. That’s a woman’s issue. Equal employment opportunities, that’s a woman’s issue. Health care is a woman’s issue. Housing is a woman’s issue. Domestic violence is a woman’s issue, reproductive rights. Those are women’s issues. Guns are not a woman’s issue,” she responded.

But on the other side, Republican Senator Linda Wilson firmly disagreed.

“I am a woman, and it is my issue, and it is my right to self-defense,” she stated. “I am my own first defense. The police are doing the best that they can, given the tools that they’ve been given to work with, and with a per capita of officers at the lowest in the country. Now you’re going to also limit my ability to keep myself and my family safe. Who’s coming to my aid? Me? And now I’ve been limited to 10 rounds to stop my attackers.”

The bill passed on a 28-20-1 vote in the Senate and is expected to get a warm welcome from House Democrats who are expected to give this a hearing right away. One source in the Legislature says that “this is the year this gets done.”

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