Lawmakers weigh proposal to ban high-capacity ammunition magazines in Washington state

OLYMPIA — Testifying in favor of a bill to ban high-capacity ammunition magazines, Ami Strahan on Monday recounted to Washington lawmakers the fatal shooting of her son at Spokane County’s Freeman High School.

That September 2017 day, a student brought an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and a .32-caliber handgun to school, according to news reports. But the rifle jammed, and the student used the handgun to shoot four, killing Strahan’s son Sam.

The shooter “had a plan to unleash bullets out of an assault rifle into the busy hallway at the busy time of the morning,” Strahan told lawmakers in a Senate Law and Justice Committee hearing for Senate Bill 6077. “The only reason that my son was the only loss that day was because the assault rifle jammed.”

SB 6077, the proposed high-capacity magazine ban sponsored by Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue, was one of several firearms proposals Monday that drew a crowd to Olympia from both sides of the highly-charged debate over guns.

Lawmakers also held a hearing on SB 6294, which would require safety training in order for people to get a concealed-pistol licenses. And they heard GOP-sponsored bills — including SB 6402 and SB 6406 — that would create new crimes for the theft of a firearm from a store, home or sales outlet, as well as for the use of a stolen gun.




https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/lawmakers-weigh-proposal-to-ban-high-capacity-ammunition-magazines-in-washington-state/