INVICTVS138 wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 1:55 pm
If I were in your situation I’d get an Anderson or DPMS stripped lower and a Aero stripped .308 lower. You can decide what components to build later.
Almost certainly not. Washington is FUUUUUCKED.
(Skip to my second-to-last block quote if you're in a hurry to get to the point.)
The previous bad gun law, Initiative 1639, used the following definition:
(25) "Semiautomatic assault rifle" means any rifle which
utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract
the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which
requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge.
"Semiautomatic assault rifle" does not include antique firearms,
any firearm that has been made permanently inoperable, or any
firearm that is manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide
action.
Note that includes .22LR with tubular magazines! Anyone who's used one of those would suggest that reloading them is cumbersome enough to be almost impractical, but they didn't bother with even that exemption. The mass shooter's favorite: the Marlin 60!
However, they screwed up in writing it because the requirements for buying an evil SAR (do "training" (one FFL has a free online class that takes about 7 minutes to complete) and add a 10 day waiting period, which previously only applied to handguns) DON'T apply if you buy only a lower! And uppers were not singled out for special regulation.
But they are now planning to go MUCH farther. I haven't read the whole thing, but it may surpass California in its level of strangling regulation. Definitely trying, at least. (And hang on, I am eventually getting to a response that's on point.)
They may not be using exactly the same definition of "assault weapon," but they include the following:
(ii) A semiautomatic rifle that has an overall length of less than 30 inches;
So, bullpups, even if rimfire, and presumably folding stocks. (Guess who just got a bullpup stock a few hours ago for a PCC that's still in jail at the FFL?)
The next definition specifies
(iv) A semiautomatic, center fire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has one or more of the following:
(A) A grip that is independent or detached from the stock that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon. The addition of a fin attaching the grip to the stock does not exempt the grip if it otherwise resembles the grip found on a pistol;
use
(B) Thumbhole stock;
(C) Folding or telescoping stock;
(D) Forward pistol, vertical, angled, or other grip designed for by the nonfiring hand to improve control;
(E) Flash suppressor, flash guard, flash eliminator, flash hider,
sound suppressor, silencer, or any item designed to reduce the visual or audio signature of the firearm;
(F) Muzzle brake, recoil compensator, or any item designed to be affixed to the barrel to reduce recoil or muzzle rise;
(G) Threaded barrel designed to attach a flash suppressor, sound suppressor, muzzle break, or similar item;
(H) Grenade launcher or flare launcher; or
(I) A shroud that encircles either all or part of the barrel designed to shield the bearer's hand from heat, except a solid forearm of a stock that covers only the bottom of the barrel;
so now the Marlin 60 (or even Ruger 10/22) is *not* an assault weapon? If so, that's the only part of this bill I don't hate. But it's still a "semiautomatic assault rifle" under I-1639.
And then
(vi) A semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has one or more of the following:
(A) A threaded barrel, capable of accepting a flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer;
(B) A second hand grip;
(C) A shroud that encircles either all or part of the barrel designed to shield the bearer's hand from heat, except a solid forearm of a stock that covers only the bottom of the barrel; or
(D) The capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip;
So any pistol, even a .22LR, with a threaded barrel is now an assault weapon. Also a Ruger Charger or a Pardini HP, due to the magazine location.
Now that we've established some of the common guns that will be "assault weapons," let's look back in the definitions to this:
(iii) A conversion kit, part, or combination of parts, from which an assault weapon can be assembled or from which a firearm can be converted into an assault weapon if those parts are in the possession or under the control of the same person;
So, they've learned from their mistake last time, and you're NOT going to be able to buy an upper through the mail. Or at an FFL. Or even a pistol grip. Buying any parts that give the evil features to a centerfire rifle or any pistol is banned. Buying a threaded barrel for a Ruger 10/22 appears to be legal (I think), but buying a threaded barrel for a Ruger Mark IV or your favorite Glock will be banned. And I finally got to the point of my reply!
I suppose it will also be illegal to have someone move the front sight back on your Ruger Mark IV and thread the barrel. (edit: I had something else here and changed it, because I decided I made a mistake.)
What's really unclear is, if I'm correct in concluding that a typical 10/22 is still legal, because they're generally over 30" in length and rimfire, will it be legal to buy a 10/22 *receiver,* which may or may not be assembled into a > 30" gun? I'm betting that most companies will refuse to ship them here for fear of potential entanglement in that issue.
As always, IANAL, nor have I studied this very carefully or talked much to anyone who has, so I'm probably wrong.
https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?bill ... &year=2023
- 1240.pdf
- (173.42 KiB) Downloaded 146 times
As a parting shot, I particularly like this word salad from the introduction to the bill...
1 features of an assault weapon are not "merely cosmetic"; rather,
2 these are features that allow shooters to fire large numbers of
3 rounds quickly. An analysis of mass shootings that result in four or
4 more deaths found that 85 percent of those fatalities were caused by
5 an assault weapon. The legislature also finds that this regulation is
6 likely to have an impact on the number of mass shootings committed in
7 Washington. Studies have shown that during the period the federal
8 assault weapon ban was in effect, mass shooting fatalities were 70
9 percent less likely to occur. Moreover, the legislature finds that
10 assault weapons are not suitable for self-defense and that studies
11 show that assault weapons are statistically not used in self-defense.
12 The legislature finds that assault weapons are not commonly used in
13 self-defense and that any proliferation is not the result of the
14 assault weapon being well-suited for self-defense, hunting, or
15 sporting purposes. Rather, increased sales are the result of the gun
16 industry's concerted efforts to sell more guns to a civilian market.
17 The legislature finds that the gun industry has specifically marketed
18 these weapons as "tactical," "hyper masculine," and "military style"
19 in manner that overtly appeals to troubled young men intent on
20 becoming the next mass shooter. The legislature intends to limit the
21 prospective sale of assault weapons, while allowing existing legal
22 owners to retain the assault weapons they currently own.
IMR4227: Zero to 900 in 0.001 seconds
I'm only killing paper and my self-esteem.
