By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Washington state gun rights activists have scheduled a Legislative Workshop on Monday, Jan. 6 at the Tacoma Sportsmen’s Club, as they prepare for what promises to be a nasty 2025 legislative session at the state capitol in Olympia.
Democrats have a stranglehold on the Legislature, incoming Democrat Gov. Bob Ferguson is an affirmed gun control proponent closely allied with the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility, and his party is dutifully introducing legislation to push each of the items on the Alliance agenda. The session opens Monday, Jan. 13.
Second Amendment activists were handed what amounts to a political lump of coal Christmas Eve when State Reps. Darya Farivar (D-46th District) and Timm Ormsby (D-3rd District) pre-filed House Bill 1132, a bill which would impose a one-gun-per-month purchase limit, while also restricting ammunition purchases to 1,000 rounds per month regardless of caliber, plus a 100-round limit on .50-caliber cartridges.
If the legislature passes this measure, Ferguson is certain to sign it.
All of this underscores the results of a McLaughlin poll reported by TGM back on Dec. 17, in which the majority of respondents said they trust Republicans more than Democrats to protect the Second Amendment. Out in the Evergreen State, Democrats appear to be eager to prove their disdain for not only the Second Amendment, but Article I, Section 24 of the state constitution, which protects the right of individual citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves or the state.
HB 1132 covers 3 ½ pages, and it is specifically in reaction to the billionaire-backed Alliance’s 2025 wish list of restrictive gun control measures. Predictably, gun control proponents contend their legislation will somehow contribute to reducing “gun violence,” but a little history is in order.
Washington began adopting the Alliance’s gun control agenda back in 2014, with passage of Initiative 594, requiring so-called “universal background checks” on all firearms transactions, even private sales.
In 2018, voters passed another Alliance initiative, this one limiting sales of semi-auto rifles and mandating training for such purchases.
Over the past couple of years, state lawmakers have adopted other measures, including a 10-day waiting period on all gun sales, mandatory proof of safety training to buy a gun, and prohibiting gun sales to young adults.
In 2025, they also want to institute a permit-to-purchase requirement, add a special tax on guns and ammunition, and undo state preemption.
Since adoption of the first gun control initiative in 2014, the number of murders in Washington state overall has doubled. The number of homicides in Seattle—where anti-gunners enjoy a stronghold—has tripled. They have yet to explain why their gun control measures haven’t worked.
