Michigan’s Nessel joins other state attorneys general to push age, background check requirements for semiautomatic rifles

(The Center Square) – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a coalition of 15 other state attorneys general in support of a Washington state initiative to enact greater regulations on so-called assault rifles.

The bipartisan coalition filed an amicus brief in Mitchell v. Atkins, a case currently being heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

At issue is whether states may regulate firearms further than federal laws. The coalition sides with Washington’s Initiative Measure No. 1639, passed in November 2018.

The initiative raised the legal age to purchase semi-automatic rifles to 21 years of age, added background checks and increased waiting periods, as well as enacted storage requirements.

“These provisions were enacted to promote public safety and reduce gun violence within the State by ensuring that purchasers of semiautomatic assault rifles – the weapons responsible for a large portion of the mass shootings that have occurred over the last decade, … – are subject to the same standards as purchasers of handguns,” according to the brief submitted by the attorneys general.

Passage of the initiative sparked a 2019 lawsuit in which a group of firearms dealers and prospective purchasers who did not meet the age requirement filed a lawsuit, alleging that Washington’s measure infringed on their Second Amendment rights and violated the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause regulating interstate transactions.

The plaintiffs lost, but filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court.

“States must have the ability to protect their residents from gun violence and they should be able to establish regulations that serve that purpose,” Nessel said in a statement.

“Congress has adopted measures for handguns that are similar to what the state of Washington requires for semi-automatic rifles, and the challenged regulations simply provide additional safeguards to the public over and above our federal standards. A single life lost to gun violence is one too many, and states have an obligation to ensure they are serving in the public’s best interests.”

According to the amicus brief, states can enact specific regulations that are best tailored to their residents’ needs. These regulations include restrictions that prohibit the sale of firearms based on the purchaser’s age, which are found in all 50 states.

Joining Attorney General Nessel in filing the brief are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.

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