Washington State Bars 18-20-Year-Olds from Semiautomatic Rifle Purchases

Washington state ushered in 2019 by barring 18-20-year-olds from purchasing semiautomatic rifles.

This prohibition is but the first portion of the implementation of I-1639, the gun control initiative pushed by millionaires and billionaires and passed by voters on November 6, 2018.

The language of the initiative gives the impression that it only covers firearms which the left describes as “semiautomatic assault rifles,” but in reality the initiative includes all operable semiautomatic rifles as “assault rifles,” except for antiques.

On September 25, 2018, Breitbart News reported that the language of I-1639 clearly defines “semiautomatic assault rifles” as “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.” In other words, I-1639 bars 18-20-year-olds from purchasing semiautomatic rifles in general.

The Associated Press reports that the prohibition against 18-20-year-olds went into effect January 1, 2019, The remainder of the gun controls in I-1639 include gun storage laws, enhanced background checks, and fees to cover the cost of the new checks, among other things. The remaining gun controls take effect on July 1.

Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility’s Kristen Ellingboe supported the prohibition curtailing 18-20-year-olds’ exercise of Second Amendment rights. She said, “We’ve seen that assault rifles are the weapon of choice for mass shootings, and when they’re used, more people are killed and injured.” But a look at mass shootings during the time frame of 1966-2016 shows that mass shooters’ weapon of choice is a handgun.

On May 30, 2018, Breitbart News reported a Rockefeller Institute of Government study showing that mass shooters during that 50 year period chose handguns over rifles of any kind by nearly a 3 to 1 margin.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.