I don’t think this Assault Weapons Ban will get through the Washington legislature, which makes me wonder if this is prep for accomplishing the same thing via ballot measure. While Bloomberg very nearly lost the vote in Nevada, and was outright defeated in Maine, he got a stronger margin for his Washington ballot initiative on “gun violence restraining orders” than he did on the private transfer ban. He might be feeling like Washington voters are in the mood for some gun control.
Generally speaking, gun bans have not done very well on the ballot even in liberal states, but as California has shown, things might have changed since the gun control movement last had money for this kind of thing. California is a lost cause, however. I don’t think Washington is. But I also think Bloomberg will keep pushing until he’s rebuked.
This is 100% the plan, and it is a near certainty that it will pass. Ballot measures are Seattle’s shadow legislature. This thing will get over 90% support in Seattle, and that will be more than enough to pass it statewide, no matter what happens elsewhere.
They need to do what Colorado did, and make it so that support for ballots needs to come from more than just the Capitol region…
Not to mention the virus of californians who have fled north to escape the disease they created. They’re like locusts, coming to your state too.