BELLEVUE, Wash. – In response to a pair of shooting deaths in recent months, three Washington state lawmakers want to ban the sale of semi-automatic rifles. They also want to require owners to pass background checks.
As you might expect, there's already opposition.
Tiffany Teasdale loves her AR-15. She comes to Wade's Gun Shop for shooting practice and has recently gotten into semi-automatic rifles.
"I just love to shoot it," said Teasdale. "I love guns. I think they're fun. I've been shooting since I was five."
Chad Curtis practices on a hunting rifle, also a semi-automatic.
"It's a sportsman's rifle. It can be used for hunting or target shooting," said Curtis.
But the recent shooting deaths of 18-year-old Aaron Sullivan in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood and Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton have prompted a renewed outcry against semi-automatic weapons.
"These are weapons of war," said Ralph Fascitelli of the gun control group Washington Ceasefire," They can kill, shoot 200 bullets a minute."
Washington Ceasefire is backing the proposed ban.
"Anybody that uses a semi-automatic to hunt is an animal assassin. You know, that's someone who would take an M-80 and throw it in a pond of water to kill fish," said Fascitelli.
The ban would cover semi-automatics designed for military use, capable of rapid fire and can hold more than 10 rounds. Semi-automatics designed for hunting and sporting would not be banned.
Opponents say a ban would be unconstitutional.
"Just because they want to ban guns in general, they can't ban them all so they'll ban whatever they can get away with," said Alan Gottlieb, Citizen's Committee for the Right to Bear Arms.
Just in time for Christmas, Big 5 Sporting Goods stores have semi-automatic rifles on sale. Washington Ceasefire is threatening to picket in front of Big 5 stores if they don't remove semi-automatic rifles from their shelves.
