Could Washington state ban assault-style weapons?

There were a number of changes to Washington state law following the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting a decade ago. Now, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson hopes there could be local momentum for further changes.

The school shooting in Uvalde, Texas — like Sandy Hook — could be a galvanizing moment. And it could spur action, either legislatively or at the ballot.

"Those AR-15s are legal in Washington state, they should not be legal in Washington state," Ferguson said at a recent press conference. "I have proposed, six years in a row, banning the sale of assault weapons like the AR-15. And every year it has gone nowhere. I don't know what more we need than seeing what unfolded in Texas."

When Gov. Jay Inslee was a member of Congress in the 1990s, he voted for a federal assault weapons ban. Inslee has backed AG Ferguson’s proposal for a state ban. There is also support for the idea in Olympia.

But whether the political climate come January will be such that there will be the momentum and the votes to pass such a regulation (which hasn't been there before), remains to be seen.

Read the full story here.

Hear insights from KUOW's Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins by clicking the audio above.