Guns do not kill people. People kill people, but some guns enable handlers to commit large-scale slaughter. These weapons are typically labeled assault weapons. They fire rapidly and have a large ammunition capacity, ideal for mass murders and civilian shootings like the Columbine shootings in 1999.

Currently, the Washington state Legislature is debating the Aaron Sullivan Public Safety and Police Protection Bill. The legislation would ban any new sale of “military-style” assault weapons.

According to The Seattle Times, the bill was named in honor of 18-year-old Aaron Sullivan, who was shot and killed by a SKS 7.62-caliber rifle in Seattle in July.

Many of these weapons were banned until 2004, when the Bush administration opted not to renew the Clinton administration’s Federal Assault Weapons Ban. If the new Washington state ban passes, guns already legally owned will need to be inspected to ensure they are properly stored, but will not be taken from their owners.

In spite of what the National Rifle Association claims, the Second Amendment clearly cannot apply to all weapons. Private citizens are not allowed to buy nuclear warheads, rocket launchers or fully automatic weapons. However, there are many weapons capable of killing dozens of people in a crowded stadium that no private citizen should have the right to own.

Many argue that an armed populace is necessary to protect citizens from government tyranny in the case of another revolution. This is patently absurd. The days of revolution died at Yorktown, and the likelihood of another armed revolt is probably on par with a zombie outbreak.

These weapons are just not necessary. The only use for a large magazine is killing people. A 100-round capacity weapon is not needed for self-defense. There is a reason that the International Association of Police Chiefs endorses the new Washington state Legislature bill. Quite simply, they are sick of seeing citizens and fellow policeman gunned down with these weapons.

Hunters do not need these assault weapons. Recreational hunting does not require a semiautomatic gun with a huge magazine. A bolt-action rifle or a shotgun is ideal for true sportsmen. I come from a rural background where seeing cougars and bears is not unheard of. My dad keeps guns for that very purpose, yet none of them are considered assault weapons.

Former President Jimmy Carter spoke out against allowing the assault weapons ban to expire in a New York Times Op-Ed. “None of us wants to own an assault weapon, because we have no desire to kill policemen or go to a school or workplace to see how many victims we can accumulate before we are finally shot or take our own lives,” Carter said.

Washington should be a state where we keep these assault weapons in the hands of military and the police, not in the hands of everyone else.