The 30-year-veteran officer died in a torrent of gunfire from a convicted felon armed with an illegally converted weapon. “But now machine guns are back, and they’re everywhere.”Īutomatic weapons have been used in several high-profile assaults in recent years, including a mass shooting in Sacramento, California, in which six people were killed and a dozen injured, a school shooting in Washington, DC, in which a sniper with automatic rifles unleashed a barrage of more than 200 shots, wounding four, and the slaying of Houston police officer William “Bill” Jeffrey during the service of an arrest warrant last year. Gun laws virtually eliminated automatic weapons from city streets for decades, Chittum said. 2 official before signing on as an executive with ShotSpotter earlier this year. “Not since Prohibition have we seen this many machine guns being used to commit crimes,” said Tom Chittum, who spent more than two decades with the ATF and retired as its No. In the years since, 3D printers have only added to the problem, law enforcement officials said. The ruling says the government must justify gun control laws by showing they are “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.There has been a corresponding spike in seizures of conversion devices by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in recent years, from fewer than 100 in 2017 to more than 1,500 last year.ĬNN earlier reported on an ATF effort in 2019 to recover what agents suspected were thousands of such devices illegally imported from China. Supreme Court ruling, which set new standards for reviewing the nation’s gun laws. Some gun-control legislation in other states has been struck down since last year’s landmark U.S. It would also impose a 10-day waiting period for all gun purchases - something that's already mandatory in Washington when buying a semi-automatic rifle. “We have to be able to give our kids reasons to feel hopeful.”Īnother gun-control bill that passed in Washington this session would allow people whose family members die from gun violence to sue if a manufacturer or seller “is irresponsible in how they handle, store or sell those weapons.” Under the state’s consumer-protection act, the attorney general could file a lawsuit against manufacturers or sellers for negligently allowing their guns to be sold to minors, or to people buying guns legally in order to sell them to someone who can’t lawfully have them.Ī second bill would require gun buyers to show they've taken safety training. They are asking for us to take action,” Lovelett said. Congress, he voted to make the ban a federal law. When the bill passed the state House in March, Inslee said he's believed it since 1994 when, as a member of the U.S. Jay Inslee, who has long advocated for such a ban. The law would go into effect immediately once it's signed by Democratic Gov. The measure does not bar the possession of the weapons by people who already have them. Some exemptions are included for sales to law enforcement agencies and the military in Washington. These guns fire one bullet per trigger pull and automatically reload for a subsequent shot. The Washington law would block the sale, distribution, manufacture and importation of more than 50 gun models, including AR-15s, AK-47s and similar style rifles. The ban comes after multiple failed attempts in the state's Legislature, and amid the most mass shootings during the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009. The high-powered firearms - once banned nationwide - are now the weapon of choice among young men responsible for most of the country’s devastating mass shootings. A ban on dozens of semi-automatic rifles cleared the Washington state Legislature on Wednesday and the governor is expected to sign it into law.
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