The cowardly Senate Ds pulled a boneheaded move: they pulled SSB 5078 directly to the Senate floor. While technically they can do so, the traditional path for a bill that didn’t advance out of rules in the first session year is to send it back through the committees for public discussion.

Demand your legislators VOTE NO on SSB 5078.

A huge thank you to discord member WAgunner for researching the information and providing these extremely well-justified talking points!

Talking Points

Magazines holding more than 17 rounds are standard capacity and commonly owned by the over 1 million Washington State resident gun owners

• Over 1 million Washington State residents own firearms and they overwhelmingly choose to own for self defense and sport shooting magazines of capacities commonly up to 35 rounds.  At large online gun magazine dealer Gunmagwarehouse, all of the top ten best selling rifle magazines hold over 17 rounds.  Magazines holding over 17 rounds are also common in handguns.  For example one of the most popular handguns right now, the P320 series has standard capacity 21 round magazines.

Magazine capacity limit laws do not reduce gun homicides

• Since the implementation of Colorado’s 15 round capacity limit in 2013 to data available in 2019, their gun homicide rate has gone UP 23%.  Likewise the CDC’s own study about the 1994-2004 AWB and LCM ban found “there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence, based on indicators like the percentage of gun crimes resulting in death or the share of gunfire incidents resulting in injury, as we might have expected had the ban reduced crimes with both AWs and LCMs”, in other words even a national ban of both AWBs and LCMs had no effect in the reduction of “gun violence”.  A local ban can only be less effective than a national ban.

Since this bill was passed out of committee in early 2021 thousands of Washington State voters have bought their first firearm.  They deserve the right to have input on this bill.

• Despite the resounding opposition to the bill from the actual people affected by it, the Senate Law and Justice Committee passed the bill out of committee in early 2021.  Since then thousands of Washington State residents have purchased their first firearm, many of them opting to purchase a firearm that holds more than 17 rounds.  Pushing the bill to a vote a year later without hearing their input is wrong.

Concealed carry permit holders are extremely law abiding and should be exempt from a magazine capacity limit law

• Concealed carry permit holders are extremely law abiding, in fact a 2017 study found that in Florida and Texas Concealed Carry Permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors or felonies at one sixth the rate of police officers.  If police are exempt from this why are concealed carry permit holders who are more law abiding not exempt?

Passing this bill will send a message to the over 1 million “large capacity magazine” owning voters that the legislators who vote for this believe they are one step away from committing mass murder and one accidental non-compliance away from being felons.  They may not know about the law now, but we will make sure they find out and know who voted for it.

• Following Colorado’s passing of their magazine capacity limit law in 2013 two state senators were successfully recalled.  Senator Angela Giron had previously won her election with 55% of the vote, yet was recalled following her support of the magazine capacity law.

Gun control, including the proposed “assault weapon” ban, is used disproportionately against BIPOC.  Supporting these laws is supporting racism.

• In the past two years in Wayne County, home of Detroit, 97% of those charged with just carrying a concealed weapon without a license and no other crime were black.  This is just another example of the long storied history of racism through gun control.  Gun laws have always disproportionately been applied to BIPOC and always will be.  The proposed assault weapon ban will be used as a tool for law enforcement and prosecutors against our BIPOC community.

The magazine capacity limit law furthers the prison pipeline for victimless crimes

• In this day and age when we are finally aware of the lifelong effect a criminal charge has on someone and their family we should not be destroying people’s livelihoods, sending them to prison, just over the mere possession of a magazine over an arbitrary number of rounds.  This bill isn’t about banning dangerous use of firearms or magazines, this bill is about sending someone to prison for a victimless crime, creating generational poverty, separating people from their families. Stop adding to the prison pipeline and reject the magazine capacity limit.

Magazine capacity limit laws are doubtfully constitutional and this issue is currently before the Supreme Court

• ANJRPC v Bruck which challenges New Jersey’s magazine capacity limit law is currently before the Supreme Court and held, pending a decision on NYSRPA v Bruen.  Passing a law that the Supreme Court has already indicated needs to be reviewed for constitutionality is an affront to our judicial system.

Either the legislature is purposely arming law enforcement to commit murder, or magazines holding more than 17 rounds are useful for self defense.

• Law enforcement is exempt from this ban, yet they have no need for firearms beyond self defense.  Law enforcement respond to the exact same threats we do and they commonly carry 19 and 20 round handgun magazines as well as 30 round rifle magazines.

Even 15 and 17 round magazines are mostly illegal under this law and this law criminalizes safe functioning magazines

• Almost all 15, 16, and 17 round magazines can readily accept magazine extensions that bring their capacity to over 17 rounds, which makes them prohibited under this law.  Further magazines that are permanently made to not accept more than 17 rounds are also unable to be cleaned.  A dirty magazine is an unsafe magazine.

“Grandfathering” with gun control laws always leads to confiscation

• We only have to look south to California to see proof that first the government promises we can keep what we already own, then several years later they say we have to turn in our property.

Criminal thieves become the confiscatory arm of the government under this law

• Under this proposed law if a criminal breaks into your home, threatens your family, and steals your “grandfathered” magazines over 17 rounds, you cannot replace them or even have them returned by the police if recovered.  This effectively makes criminals the confiscatory arm of the government and helps them achieve their purpose.

This law criminalizes family property.

• Under the proposed law a spouse taking their spouse’s identical capacity magazine over 17 rounds to the range would be a felony.  Sending people to prison, creating generational poverty over this is wrong.