Washington State Senate passed SB 5078 to prohibit high-capacity magazines

OLYMPIA, WA – The Alliance for Gun Responsibility issued the following statement in response to the Senate passage of Senate Bill 5078, which prohibits high-capacity magazines.

“This is a huge victory for the people of Washington,” said Renée Hopkins, CEO of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility. “The Senate stood up against the gun lobby and stood with gun violence survivors for the safety of our communities. There is no question that SB 5078 will save lives in Washington. 

The data is clear: high-capacity magazines make shootings deadlier. By allowing a shooter to fire more rounds, faster they increase the scope of shootings resulting in more people wounded and killed. These lethal devices have no place in our communities.

We have been working for years to get this evidence-based legislation passed and we are so proud to see it passed in the Senate. We are grateful for the many elected leaders, survivors, advocates, and volunteers who worked tirelessly to get to this point. We’re looking forward to its swift passage in the House.” 

About high-capacity magazines: 

In Washington state, high-capacity magazines have been used in mass shootings in Mukilteo, Burlington, Seattle, and Spokane. Shooters also used them in the five deadliest mass shootings in our nation’s history: Las Vegas, Orlando, Sutherland Springs, Sandy Hook, and Parkland. Whether a state allows high-capacity magazine sales is the single best predictor of mass shooting rates in that state. Limiting magazine capacity forces shooters to pause to reload, buying precious seconds for victims and law enforcement. During Sandy Hook, 11 children were able to escape while the shooter was forced to reload. In Parkland, the mass shooting ended only when the shooter’s assault weapon jammed while he attempted to reload. And in the 2011 Tucson shooting of then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the gunfire was interrupted when the shooter, who was using a 33-round magazine, stopped to reload and fumbled with the fresh ammunition.

You can see the Alliance’s full 2022 Agenda here, and a fact sheet on gun violence in Washington here.

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