Reported by Cesar Canizales

Washington Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson proposed a series of gun safety measures, including a ban on military-style assault weapons, a gun-licensing law, and a bill that would make gun makers liable for their products.

Surrounded by local and state officials, gun restriction advocates and gun violence survivors, Inslee called the rash of gun deaths an “epidemic” and said it’s time to take action. 

“Our gun safety laws are not the only things we’re going to do to fight gun safety violence. We are going to provide more mental health to our young people,” Inslee said. “We are going to attack the homelessness crisis. We are going to train more police officers, so there are more police officers to protect us.”

The governor said last month’s shooting at Ingraham High School was a sign of how gun violence affects the state and the country as a whole.

“Other nations have difficulties in mental health. Other nations have people who get into arguments, but we have the scourge of gun violence because of the presence of the wrong kind of guns in the wrong hands,” said Inslee

Sofie Glazejova, a senior at Ingraham who was there when the shooting took place, spoke about how that incident affected her.

“It is hard to put into words the amount of fear that I felt. Fear for my friends, fear for my community and fear for myself. Fear that no child should ever feel,” said Glazejova.

This would be the seventh time that a ban on assault weapons has been proposed, but State Senator Jamie Pedersen is confident that this year, the legislation will succeed.

“We elected gun violence prevention supporters. And we are going to be set up to be able to pass this stuff, and I think that it’s a priority,” said Pedersen, who represents the 43rd Legislative District.

Attorney General Ferguson spoke with Converge Media about the chances of the gun restrictions surviving challenges at the U.S. Supreme Court, which seems to have taken a pro-Second Amendment stance recently. This summer, the country’s highest court struck down a concealed-carry law in New York. Analysts say that decision could doom gun laws across the nation, but Ferguson thinks these new gun regulations would be upheld by the court.

“While it’s not directly about the situation here in Washington, it’s about a specific New York law that’s unrelated to our proposals, they did analyze common sense gun reform and changed some of the analysis,” said Ferguson. “We are confident, even in light of that Supreme Court decision, that we can successfully defend these laws if and when they’re adopted.”

State Representative David Hackney said his bill to hold gunmakers liable for their products will allow victims of gun violence to sue the manufacturers.

“If you think you’re going to make a profit by flooding my community with these weapons that cause harm, we’re going to take that profit away from you in a civil lawsuit. It’s not strict liability,” said Hackney, who represents the 11th Legislative District. “It’s not every time a gun that you sold is used. It’s a gun that was improperly sold, marketed or distributed, that’s what we’re going to do. Like any other business, be held accountable.”

KeAnna Rose Pickett, whose husband D’Vonne Picket Jr. was killed outside of their business in October, said she and her husband were both Second Amendment supporters and took their children to gun ranges and educated them about gun safety. 

“It was important to come today to meet the different people—governor Inslee, state representatives, the people who are working for more gun safety, just so they can hear D’Vonne’s story, meet me, so they can put a name and a face to the things they are pushing,” said Pickett. 

Tyler, a Second-Amendment advocate and gun owner who asked that his last name not be used because of privacy reasons, is skeptical that new laws will reduce gun violence in the state.

“It’s more of a mental health issue within our state, that our state no longer actually helping with mental health issues and people that need help. Most incidences with firearms and homicides and things like that are generally from people who are restricted and are not even allowed to have firearms,” Tyler said. “These are not your law-abiding citizens that are procuring firearms through a shop legally and going through a background check. These are people who are stealing guns or acquiring them on the black market.”

Photos by Jordan Somers