Washington State appears to be competing with California for “looniest state government in America” honors. Governor Inslee is about to sign a blatantly unconstitutional anti-free speech bill that pays up to $2000 for accusing others of “bias,” and the consequences of the Legislature’s anti-liberty/gun dementia are becoming apparent:

Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed one of the nation’s most restrictive gun laws in 2023, and now highway shootings are surging in the state.

Over 50 models of guns are banned under the legislation, including popular rifles such as AR-15s and M-16s, and the Democratic Legislature wants to crack down further with several more gun control bills in the body. The state is now seeing a surge in highway shootings, with more than a dozen reported on state highways since the beginning of the year, according to KOMO News.

So, banning guns doesn’t reduce “gun violence?”

There have been over 190 reported “shooting incidents” in the state year to date as of Friday, [02-09-24] Washington State Police (WSP) told the DCNF. Of these, nine are freeway shooting incidents from the Seattle area that are actively under investigation.

The number of reported shooting incidents in 2023 was similar, at 199 by this time last year, WSP told the DCNF.

Yes. Banning popular guns seldom used in crime has no effect on crime.  Who coulda thunk it?

At least seven shootings were reported on freeways near King County, Washington, in January, according to KOMO News. On Jan. 22, two separate shootings occurred in King County within two hours, according to KOMO News.

Graphic: Twitter screenshot

Nor do gun bans affect mass shootings, which remain, despite what the Media thinks, thankfully rare:

Mass shootings have surged in the state, rising from four in 2019 to 15 in 2023, according to Axios.

Washington state Democrats painted the bill outlawing assault rifles as a solution to mass shootings and an answer to anti-gun activist outcry, according to PBS. “They are marching in the streets. They are asking for us to take action,” Democratic Washington state Sen. Liz Lovelett said in March 2023.

“We are very pleased that this long overdue legislation passed,” Mike Faulk, Inslee’s press secretary told CNN in April 2023. “The governor has been advocating for this policy since he voted for the federal ban in Congress in 1994. It will save lives working in tandem with other gun reforms moving this session.”

Yeah, no.

Several more gun control bills have been introduced in Washington state’s legislature.

One bill, H.B. 1902, would impose a requirement to have a permit to purchase firearms in the state. Another proposed bill, S.B. 5444, would ban guns in several public places, including parks, zoos, libraries and bus stations. A separate bill currently moving through the Legislature, H.B. 2054, would restrict gun-dealers to delivering only one gun per person every 30 days.

Despite the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, blue states continue to pass blatantly unconstitutional anti-liberty/gun laws, knowing it will almost surely take years, and untold millions of taxpayer dollars before the Supreme Court strikes them down. When that inevitably happens, they’ll just pass more to start the process over.

Constitutional gun laws now require a direct, American historical precedent. There is no precedent for purchase permits, bans in most public places, or restrictions on how many guns one can buy per month. Nor may guns in common use—like the AR-15—for lawful purposes be banned.

Gun bans are a notoriously useless means of stopping crime. Criminals don’t obey the law. Shooting at people on the highway already violates a wide variety of felony laws, including murder, but no criminal is going to say: “oh no! The Legislature banned my favorite gun. Guess I can’t shoot anyone anymore.” This applies nowhere more obviously than in mass shootings. Someone contemplating shooting up a school is planning mass murder. They’re not going to be deterred by any gun law, which is surely a lesser felony or misdemeanor.

The contemporary focus on AR-15 pattern rifles and their like is nonsensical. The most deadly school attacks in American history were not committed with such weapons. The top two, in deaths and injuries, were:

(1) Bath, MI, 1927: 44 killed, 58 wounded by exclusive means of explosives.  This remains the school attack with the highest death/injury toll.

(2) Virginia Tech, 2007: 32 killed, 17 wounded.  The killer used two common handguns, one in 9mm, and one in .22LR caliber with ten round magazine capacity.

Violating the Constitution and harassing Americans posing no danger to anyone makes no one safer. Virtue signaling may make the uninformed feel safe, but only accepting personal responsibility for one’s safety, and rigorously, fairly and equally enforcing the law and prosecuting criminals can reduce crime of any kind. 

If Washingtonians ever knew that, they seem to have forgotten.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.