WA Gun Law president: WA ‘just trying to invade the privacy of responsible gun owners’ regarding new restrictions

Forced reset triggers, a device that accelerates the rate of fire of AR-15-style rifles, will not be returning to Washington after the Trump administration agreed to not redistribute them to states involved in a coalition blocking the device’s return.

The trigger modifiers were seized by the federal department while President Joe Biden was in office, but were ruled to return to their previous owners throughout the country under President Donald Trump, except in the 16 states that created a coalition to block the return of forced reset triggers.

“What really happened is that the ATF promulgated a rule under the Biden administration that said that these triggers, standing alone, constituted machine guns and attempted a federal confiscation effort,” Bill Kirk, the president of Washington Gun Law, said on “The John Curley Show.” “Subsequent lawsuits proved that the ATF had acted in an Ultra vires fashion, contrary to the Administrative Procedures Act, and, in a settlement agreement between the ATF and the National Association for Gun Rights, agreed that they would withdraw that rule-making order and return all of the confiscated triggers.

“What happened in the interim time between the confiscation and return date is [that] many states did pass laws that ban these items specifically,” Kirk added. “What the Attorneys General wanted to do is say, if we have these laws in place, our people shouldn’t have those items returned. That’s what actually happened with that.”

Washington is a state that defines automatic weapons by rate of fire, meaning any device that increases the rate of fire beyond the statutory limitation can be outlawed.

The states involved in the coalition to block this gun modification alongside Washington are Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.

“Why does somebody who has one of these need one of these?” KIRO host John Curley asked. “Does it not actually turn the thing basically into an automatic weapon?”

“I don’t know if anyone does need one,” Kirk said. “I don’t think we define rights by need.”

All conversations recorded in WA gun stores

Effective July 1, all gun stores with $1,000 or more in monthly sales are required to have an audio recording of every conversation that takes place inside the shop. This law comes in addition to requirements of needing 24-hour video surveillance, bars, grates, and security screens on all windows, and commercial-grade metal doors for each point of entry.

“They’re just trying to invade the privacy of lawful, responsible gun owners,” Kirk said. “They believe that somehow or another, gun stores are contributing to the gun violence problem, when in fact, they’re not.”

Kirk shared that, at the very least, the audio is only required to be stored for 90 days. He claimed that the original law would have put many stores out of business due to the infrastructure changes needed.

“What the listener needs to be aware of is that anytime you see a camera inside a gun store right now, on the inside of it, there is a microphone that is recording the audio that’s taking place underneath it,” Kirk said “So again, I don’t want this to have a chilling effect, which is exactly what the state of Washington wants to have on the FFL [Federal Firearms License] industry, but I want people to be mindful of the fact that they are, in fact, being recorded when they step into their favorite gun store.”

“Why does [Washington] say they need the audio?” Curley asked.

“They believe that they need the audio to ensure that firearms are not being sold to people who are otherwise unlawful in possessing them,” Kirk answered. “Shockingly, the gun stores can tell that from the background check that they run on every single person that tries to buy a gun at their gun store.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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