BELLEVUE, Wash. — Gun shops are seeing an increase in customers after the Senate in Washington state approved a bill Saturday that bans the sale, manufacture and import of assault weapons statewide.
Wade Gaughran, the owner of Wade’s Eastside Guns, said the store has seen a 400% increase in gun sales this month. “There’s no other reason that people are buying these guns right now, they might have bought them three months from now, six months from now or a year from now but since the doors are being closed they’re going to buy as many as they can or as many as they want I should say," he said.
House Bill 1240, requested by Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee, aims to establish firearms-related safety measures to increase public safety.
Gaughran does not agree with the assault weapons ban and said it will impact his business in the long run.
"It's violating the second amendment rights of every other citizen in the state of Washington," he said. "I think it's an extremely badly-written law and it actually goes against public safety."
Wade said he’s had people waiting in line before their store even opens because so many people are interested in buying a gun right now. “In all my years of selling military style rifles, again what the other side would call assault weapons we’ve never had one traced back that was used in a serious crime and I’ve sold thousands and thousands of them over the past 35 years," said Gaughran.
Student’s like Natalya McConnell told KOMO they think this assault weapons ban will prevent school shootings and violence.
“It’s disgusting that there are so many guns in this state and in this country, guns are the issue here. We need to limit the amount of guns that are in people’s hands," she said.
The bill must now return to the House since it was amended in the Senate.