State Gun Laws

Sydeney Spaulding, Photographer

Washington State gun laws have been a topic of debate wondering just how safe our state gun laws are. Washington State Laws say that open carry of a gun is legal if not loaded. A loaded handgun in a vehicle needs a concealed weapons permit and loaded long guns are illegal to carry no matter the permit.

The legal age to purchase a gun has been raised to the age of 21 due to the most recent results of the initiatives passing.

You cannot have any criminal activity represented on your record nor can you purchase a gun if you hav been convicted of a felony.

Washington State has beome the most restrictive in the nation with other states referring to Washington as leading the cause.

There are still debates over whether or not there exists enough data to prove that gun restrictions actually save lives in the face of guns.

According to Devin Hughes and Mark Bryant, writing for the LA Times, “The misconception that gun violence has not been researched began with the infamous 1996 Dickey Amendment, a gun-lobby rider attached to an omnibus appropriations bill that prevents the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using any funds “to advocate or promote gun control.” This means that it has been illegal for the government to reseaarch and collect data on gun deaths and abuses.

Additionally, “Congress cut the agency’s budget by the exact amount it used to research gun violence,” which means listening to opposition who prevent research on gun violencfrom happening and then claim there is no research to be offensive.

These gun laws are common sense and needed.