[Photo Credit: By Noah Wulf - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115890740]

Washington State Passes New Ban on ‘Assault Weapons’

Washington state lawmakers have now reportedly approved a measure that would outright outlaw assault rifles in the state, with limited exceptions. As a result, Washington is now on line to become one of the few states with comprehensive limits on these weapons.

With Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s signature, the bill, which passed the Senate earlier this month and received final House approval on Wednesday, would outlaw at least 60 distinct types of assault rifles (D).

The law provides a number of important exceptions to the ban, such as not impacting persons who already possess firearms in the state or those who inherit them. Moreover, it would enable law enforcement organizations to keep purchasing such weapons.

While he was in Congress in the 1990s, Inslee voted in favor of a national assault weapon prohibition. He has stated his intention to sign the legislation.

It would be one of the most thorough statewide assault weapon prohibitions in the nation, even with the limitations included in the law.

The drive to adopt the law in Washington comes after a series of mass shootings in the United States that have made headlines and have featured the use of assault weapons.

These incidents include a shooting at a private school in Tennessee earlier this year that resulted in the deaths of three children and three adults as well as an attack at a bank in Kentucky that resulted in the deaths of five people.

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