The bill was introduced in response to numerous killings over the past year, most recently and prominently, the murder of a teenager, Aaron Sullivan, in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood, the murder of Seattle officer Timothy Brenton, and the slaying of four Lakewood officers.
Rep. Ross Hunter was part of the discussions about the proposal and chose not to introduce legislation in the House this year, primarily because of the difficulties in defining which weapons to ban.
Just prior to the start of the legislative session, he met with Aaron Sullivan's mother to talk about why a ban on certain assault weapons might have saved her son.
During their meeting, Hunter described the challenge of writing legislation that reasonably balances strong protections for individuals' gun rights with reasonable restrictions on military weapons.
"Trying to say where is the line between military weapons and non-military weapons, and how can we do that, will be the trick. If we can't convince people that we have excluded normal sporting weapons from the ban, it won't pass...We ought to be able to have a calm and reasoned conversation about that."The bill appears to be faltering and it's uncertain whether it will move forward this session. But Dr. Sullivan provides a personal perspective on a highly politicized issue that's worth watching. You can take a look at her meeting with Hunter here.
