Washington state bill would make almost all gun owners criminalsMikael Thalen, Contributor The bill, S.B. 5737, proposes banning the sale of assault weapons. According to the legislation, an assault weapon is any semiautomatic pistol, pump-action rifle or shotgun that can accept a detachable magazine, with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds. Any magazine that accepts over 10 rounds itself will also be banned. Also included in the definition is any rifle or shotgun with a pistol grip, a stock of any kind, a muzzle brake or muzzle compensator. The bill also prohibits the manufacturing, possessing, purchasing, selling or transferring of an assault weapons conversion kit. In order to continue to possess a so-called assault weapon that was owned before the assumed passing of the legislation, the person must safely and securely store the assault weapon and allow the sheriff of the county to, no more than once per year, conduct an inspection to ensure compliance, despite some apparent civil liberties implications related to the Fourth Amendment. Not to mention the manpower, time and money that would be needed to search tens of thousands of Washington homes; it could prove to be very difficult and possibly divert much needed manpower from conducting actual police duties, especially in light of shrinking police department budgets. Any person who, after the effective date of the section, acquires title to an assault weapon by inheritance, bequest or succession must within thirty days either dispose of the weapon or have it permanently disabled so that it is incapable of discharging a projectile. Failure to comply will result in a class C felony. This legislation is similar to a bill introduced by California Sen. Diane Feinstein (D) whose legislation would ban over 120 specifically named firearms. Others such as President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have come out recently pushing for gun control. Holder gave a stern warning to gun traffickers, despite he and President Obama being involved in Operation Fast Furious, a program that allowed tens of thousands of firearms to be given to drug cartels that took the lives of countless Mexicans and most notably U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. The programs supposed intent was to track where guns went in Mexico, but government emails leaked to CBS News showed that the intent appeared to be to use the resulting deaths to blame American gun owners and push gun control. Video of Holder claiming that Americans needed to be brainwashed to be anti-gun was also recently uncovered. See more here atThe Examinerand check out Mikaels other articles. Mikael Thalen is a political activist and a self proclaimed history buff and current events junkie. He prides himself on being non partisan and standing up for fiscal responsibility and personal liberty in government. 