Editor's Note: This article is from Gun Pulse, an email-only newsletter from The Sentinel published six days per week to cover the battle over the Second Amendment.
Leaders of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, a gun control organization based in the state of Washington, unveiled a list of policy proposals that would make firearms harder to acquire.
The entity included a permit-to-purchase regime in their policy agenda for next year to “ensure that background checks occur before a firearm purchase rather than at the point of sale.”
Renee Hopkins, who works as the chief executive officer of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, commented in a press release provided to local media outlets that permit-to-purchase laws are the “single most effective policy to save lives and reduce gun violence,” adding that “all of our work in Washington over the last decade has been leading to this pivotal moment.”
Similar permit-to-purchase legislation was proposed in the last session by Washington Democratic State Representative Liz Berry, though the bill did not advance out of committee.
Alan Gottlieb, the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, told local news that “no other enumerated constitutional right requires a permit from the government to be exercised.”
“Can you imagine requiring a journalist to get a permit before he can write or publish breaking news?” Gottlieb asked with respect to the policy. “Likewise the exercise of other constitutional rights cannot be subjected to a punitive tax. Why single out the Second Amendment?”
Other proposals from the Alliance for Gun Responsibility include a bill to “hold dealers accountable” by threatening to remove their licenses if they are deemed noncompliant with record keeping, as well as support for community safety, restrictions on sales of airsoft guns and lookalikes, safe storage requirements, and bans on guns at parks and public buildings.
The gun control activists also proposed a new tax on firearm and ammunition sales that would come in the form of a state excise tax to “support victims and service programs.”
