All of us – no matter our ZIP code, background, or political party – value and deserve the freedom to be safe from gun violence, and we believe that our kids should be able to learn alongside their peers in schools that are safe from violence.
Republican politicians who are more responsive to the gun lobby than to the will of the people feebly tried to distract us from their failure to protect us from gun violence by rehashing preposterous proposals to add even more guns into our schools, neighborhoods, and places of work. These politicians have flooded our communities with guns and prevented commonsense legislation that would prevent gun violence. A 2018 report showed that Washington GOP legislators were the top recipients in the nation of NRA campaign contributions, so it's no surprise that they are happy to do the gun lobby’s dirty work.
Here in Washington, Republican lawmakers voted unanimously against these gun safety bills passed by our Democratic Legislature:
- Banning bump stocks, devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire more quickly and were used in the Las Vegas Massacre that killed 61 people (SB 5992)
- Creating rules for removing firearms from domestic violence perpetrators, including a requirement that the guns must be seized in a criminal case (HB 1225)
- Prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or possession of untraceable and undetectable firearms. This closed a loophole in state law regarding 3D-printed "ghost guns," which previously could be sold without any background check (HB 1739)
- Protecting childcare and early learning facilities with the same prohibitions on deadly weapons that apply to K-12 schools (SB 543)
- A bill making Washington the first state in the nation to collect statewide data on firearm violence, make the data available for public health research, and fund innovative prevention programs in local communities (SB 6288)
Not only did Washington Republicans reveal their support for endangering our kids, families, and neighbors with their votes on these bills, they also introduced legislation just last year that would create more gun violence:
- Allowing public and private schools to arm teachers and employees with firearms on school grounds (HB 1038). Our students need books, art and music programs, nurses, and school counselors; putting more guns in schools makes them more dangerous
- Reversing and repealing the hard-won safe storage of firearms requirements like gun safes. HB 1098 was sponsored by Republican Rep. Jesse Young of Gig Harbor
The vast majority of Americans are behind the gun safety solutions the WA GOP fights against – the will of the people to end gun violence should matter more than gun lobby profits.
We’re coming together across Washington to keep our communities safe from gun violence, and you can join us by signing up for Fuse’s mobilization texts!
