Washington state used to be a fairly pro-gun state. Then Seattle got to be big enough, along with a couple of other communities, to start pushing more and more gun control down people’s throats.

So, instead of being a pro-gun state, they’re a anti-Second Amendment state that also happens to be shall-issue for carry permits.

That’s not confusing at all.

As the new legislative year is set to begin soon, lawmakers there are gearing up for another run on the rights of law-abiding Washingtonians.

Gun safety advocates will take another shot at passing a ban on so-called high capacity magazines in the upcoming session.

For the fourth attempt, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility is hoping some slight changes in the make-up of the legislature can make the difference and get it across the finish line.

“Washington saw record-breaking levels of gun violence in 2020, and initial data suggests that 2021 has been worse. While high-profile mass shootings slowed during the pandemic, everyday gun violence in the form of community violence, domestic violence, and suicide persisted,” reads the Alliance for Gun Responsibility’s legislative priorities statement. “The communities hardest hit by the pandemic, chiefly BIPOC and low-income communities, have also been hit hardest by the surge in gun violence. In the face of this continued violence, bold action and meaningful investments in gun violence prevention from the Washington State Legislature are urgently needed.”

With shootings, especially in King County, up dramatically over the past two years, Renee Hopkins at the Alliance for Gun Responsibility says it’s more important than ever for the legislature to act.

The magazine ban tops that list. The proposed legislation would ban magazines with more than 10 rounds.

…

Hopkins says the Alliance for Gun Responsibility is also taking aim at more restrictions on ghost guns, or untraceable weapons, and what counts within that definition.

What’s amusing to me is how they try to tie these measures into somehow being a benefit for minorities and poor people. What they fail to note is guess who ends up in prison for breaking these laws? It ain’t rich white guys, let me tell ya.

No, it’s young black and Hispanic men, generally from lower-income households.

Hey, if you’re going to try and make this a racial issue, then you need to be ready to answer for the ramifications as well, and these laws don’t lock up the wealthy.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that while the state of Washington isn’t unique in seeing an uptick in violence lately, they are one of the states that enacted a number of gun control laws during the time that violent crime was rising. If activists are right and gun control works to reduce crime, then why didn’t Washington state see violent crime drop?

That always seems to not matter to these people.

See, when gun control doesn’t work, the problem is that we need more gun control. When an expansion in gun rights does work, then what we’re seeing would have been better if they’d passed gun control instead. There’s no world in which they can accept that their preferred policies don’t work.

And they hold the cards in Washington state right now.

My hope is that the forces of good can stave off this nonsense and protect at least some remaining rights up there. Many of the people there deserve better than what they’re getting.