{"id":33290,"date":"2018-02-28T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-28T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/home2\/lawmakers-introduce-new-gun-legislation-late-in-session\/"},"modified":"2018-02-28T08:26:39","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T16:26:39","slug":"lawmakers-introduce-new-gun-legislation-late-in-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/northwest\/lawmakers-introduce-new-gun-legislation-late-in-session\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers introduce new gun legislation late in session"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
With less than two weeks left in the session, state lawmakers have introduced a new bill in response to the recent high school shooting in Parkland, Florida.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
SB 6620, and its companion in the House, HB 3004, introduced Friday, Feb. 23, would create a mechanism for students to report dangerous behavior and would require the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to allocate grants to school districts to implement emergency response systems.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
It also raises the age to purchase an assault rifle from 18 to 21. The Parkland shooter was reported to be a 19-year-old who had legally purchased an AR-15 rifle.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
And, in bringing back a debate from a previous bill, the new bill would require purchasers of such weapons to undergo a federal and state background check as well.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“You cannot really address this issue in full unless you do some reasonable things around these particular firearms that are being used over and over in mass killings,” said the senate bill’s prime sponsor and Vice Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee David Frockt, D-Seattle.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The bill was scheduled for a hearing with less than 24-hours notice and lawmakers voted to suspend the five-day public notice requirement, yet the Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing room was packed with people on both sides of the issue on Tuesday, Feb. 27.<\/p>\n