Local Gun Store Owners Share Concerns Over Proposed Gun Control Legislation

As House Bill 1240 currently sits in the Washington state Senate awaiting its second rules committee reading, owners of The Man Cave Outfitters — a gun store and indoor shooting range in downtown Centralia — shared some of the concerns they have for gun owners and their business if the bill is signed into law. 

Shoni and Hobe Pannkuk said the main issue is that law-abiding citizens will follow the law, while criminals will still purchase banned weapons illegally off the black market or traffic them from other areas. 

“Anytime they try to do legislation that stops the right of an individual to protect themselves, or to violate constitutional rights, it’s ridiculous,” Hobe Pannkuk said, later adding, “This state has defunded a lot of the police so there’s a lot less police officers on the road, a lot more crime and (if HB 1240 passes), we don’t have any way to protect ourselves.” 

He also felt HB 1240 ignores a major issue he feels is a root cause of many mass shootings in the nation. 

“If all of this was about safety then let’s look at the core of the problem, let’s look at mental health,” Hobe Pannkuk said.  

If HB 1240 is signed into law, it will go into effect immediately, leaving the Pannkuks with a lot of inventory they will not be able to sell or return to manufacturers. 

Bigger chain stores that sell guns, like Cabela’s or Big 5 Sporting Goods, will be able to move that inventory elsewhere, something the Pannkuks cannot do. 

“You have now impeded our ability to plan appropriately to be able liquidate and support ourselves through this huge change that will adversely affect our entire inventory,” Shoni Pannkuk said. “A huge portion of our inventory will go away with this bill.” 

She added they have already stopped ordering a lot of their inventory in preparation of HB 1240 becoming law. 

“It’s hurting law-abiding citizens and small FFLs (Federal Firearms Licence) who cannot manage to implement a bill like this that is such a large portion of inventory so dramatically without time to plan accordingly,” Shoni Pannkuk said. 

Local legislators the Pannkuks have reached out to don’t have immediate answers for their concerns.

The Pannkuks believe lawsuits will immediately be filed if the bill is signed into law, and think the courts will eventually rule the legislation as unconstitutional. 

“The (U.S.) Supreme Court via the Bruen decision has already ruled that these laws are unconstitutional,” Hobe Pannkuk said. 

He also believed legislators who continue to support HB 1240 do so simply for political purposes.

“They don’t want guns on the street, they want you to rely on the government, rely on law enforcement to protect you,” Hobe Pannkuk said. “So if something like this does eliminate a lot of these smaller stores, mom-and-pop FFLs, they’re OK with that because that’s just less stores that can sell a legal firearm to a law-abiding individual.” 

The Chronicle reached out to the Lewis County Democrats for their thoughts on the legislation, but did not receive a response prior to press deadline. 

According to the state Legislature’s website, HB 1240 was created to establish firearms-related safety measures for public safety by prohibiting, “the manufacture, importation, distribution, selling and offering for sale of assault weapons.” 

It goes further than just assault weapons, though, as it would ban a number of other guns and gun accessories. Those include: 

• Any center-fire, semi-automatic rifle with a grip independent or detached from the weapon’s stock that “protrudes conspicuously” beneath the weapon’s action including those with fins attached to the grip.

• Any center-fire, semi-automatic rifle with a thumbhole stock.

• Any center-fire, semi-automatic rifle with a folding or telescoping stock. 

• Any center-fire, semi-automatic rifle with a forward mounted vertical, angled, pistol or other grip designed to improve weapon control. 

• Any center-fire, semi-automatic rifle with a muzzle break, recoil compensator or any item designed to be affixed to a barrel to reduce recoil or muzzle rise. 

• Any center-fire, semi-automatic rifle with a threaded barrel designed to attach a muzzle break, sound suppressor, flash suppressor or similar items. 

• Any center-fire, semi-automatic rifle with a grenade or flare launcher. 

• Any center-fire, semi-automatic rifle with a barrel shroud designed to protect the shooter’s hand from barrel heat except for solid forearm stocks that only cover the bottom of a barrel. 

• Any center-fire, semi-automatic rifle with an internal, fixed magazine that has the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds. 

• Any semi-automatic pistol capable of accepting detachable magazines with a threaded designed to attach a sound suppressor, flash suppressor or forward handgrip.

• Any semi-automatic pistol capable of accepting detachable magazines with a second handgrip. 

• Any semi-automatic pistol capable of accepting detachable magazines with a barrel shroud designed to protect the shooter’s hand from barrel heat except for solid forearm stocks that only cover the bottom of a barrel.

• Any semi-automatic pistol capable of accepting detachable magazines with the capacity to accept a detachable magazine somewhere else other than the pistol’s grip. 

• Any semi-automatic shotgun with a folding or telescoping stock.

• Any semi-automatic shotgun with a grip independent or detached from the weapon’s stock that “protrudes conspicuously” beneath the weapon’s action including those with fins attached to the grip.

• Any semi-automatic shotgun with a thumbhole stock. 

• Any semi-automatic shotgun with a forward mounted vertical, angled, pistol or other grip designed to improve weapon control.

• Any semi-automatic shotgun with a fixed magazine that can hold more than seven rounds.

• Any semi-automatic shotgun with a revolving cylinder. 

It also lists 62 different weapon models from a variety of manufacturers that will be banned. 

Any semi-automatic rifle with an overall length shorter than 30 inches will also be banned along with any conversion kits, parts or combination of parts that can be used to modify a rifle into an assault rifle. 

HB 1240 does state that antique firearms, any permanently inoperable firearm or any firearm manually operated by bolt, lever, pump or slide actions will still be legal. It also allows, “existing legal owners to retain the assault weapons they currently own.”

For more information and to read HB 1240 in its entirety, go online to https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1240&Year=2023.