WA residents: Tell all your friends to vote against Initiative 594

[Theohazard]

To all TFLers in WA state: Make sure you vote against Initiative 594 on the upcoming ballot in November. And, more importantly, make sure you tell your friends to vote against it too, especially your friends who might normally support gun control. I think if we explain the actual provisions of the bill, we can convince a lot of people in the middle to vote against it.

I don’t recommend using the registration argument. Many middle-of-the-road people support gun registration as a “common sense” gun control measure, and getting into the weeds on the downsides to gun registration may hurt your argument. Instead, I recommend arguing against it on the grounds that it’s far too restrictive of even temporary gun transfers. In most cases, even just handing a gun to a friend is against the law.

This bill would require background checks on ALL transfers, with exceptions only made for immediate family members, people in danger, hunters, and people at officially sanctioned ranges. This means that if you go shooting with a buddy out in the woods, shooting each other’s guns would be illegal. Or if a friend came over to your house and you showed him your new gun, as soon as he touched it you’re both breaking the law.

The problem is that this bill is sold as a universal background check law, and that’s what it will be referred to on the ballot. Many people in WA will vote for it because they don’t know the details, they just think background checks are a good thing. But if they knew that it could make criminals out of two law-abiding people who simply hand each other a gun, they may decide to vote against it.

[Armorer-at-Law]

In most cases, even just handing a gun to a friend is against the law.

Can you post the language of the proposed law?

[JimDandy]

The text is available here For a general overview, start with Manchin-Toomey and then make it worse.

[Tom Servo]

If my reading is correct, section 5 also imposes registration of pistols.

[JimDandy]

I'm not 100% sure, but that may already be the case- at least at FFL points of purchase.

[carguychris]

+1 JimDandy.

My (quick) reading of Section 5 is that it changes the waiting period for non-licensed WA residents who do not hold a valid CPL from 5 business days to 30 calendar days, unless the CLEO in the person's city, town, or county of residence approves the sale sooner. IOW under current law, I believe the CLEO has to act within 5 business days to stop the sale, but this amendment would lengthen that time period to 30 calendar days, and there is no impetus for the CLEO to act sooner.

[EDIT TO ADD:] Under the current system, the CLEO may request a 30-day extension from a court, and the proposed amendments would not change this; however, the CLEO would obviously have more time in which to make the request, and the potential maximum wait time would thus be lengthened from 35-37 days (depending on weekends) to 60 days.

Tom Servo, as most of Section 5 appears to be existing law, and this proposal would only amend it, I gather that WA already has some form of de facto pistol registration; I believe that the forms are sent to the CLEO under the existing system, and he/she is allowed to destroy the forms, but is not required to do so. [Disclaimer: I read the proposed amendment quickly, and if someone familiar with WA law wants to correct my interpretation, PLEASE do so. ]

One other tidbit: The proposed law would specifically define a "dealer" as a FFL licensed under 18 U.S.C. § 923(a), but 03 Collector or C&R FFL's are licensed under § 923(b), so C&R FFL's do NOT get a pass from the onerous transfer requirements.

[44 AMP]

We defeated this, the last time it came about, but they are back, again....

Under the proposed bill, as written, a loan is a transfer. And while it does provide specific exceptions from the background check, if a friend visited, and you "loaned" him/her the gun (meaning they took physical possession of it) even if in your own house, to comply with the bill, you would have to take the gun, and go to an FFL dealer, give the dealer the gun, have him run the check, and then he would give the gun to your friend, who would have to fill out all the forms as if it was a purchase from the dealer.

IF a friend helps you carry your guns to the car, to pack for a trip, and you BOTH haven't been through the dealer, its a crime under this bill.

Literally, outside of the listed exceptions, handing a friend a gun, without having he background checks done, and the forms filled out is a crime.

This is NOT good law.

[Barnacle Brad]

Washington State is a good state to be from.

I moved away almost ten years ago. The liberal loons have ruint that wonderful country...

[JimDandy]

Washington State is a good state to be from.

It's not so bad here. For being in the blue heart of a blue state I have more than a half dozen gun shops within a 20 minute drive, about as many ranges within an hours drive, and two within a 10 minute drive. I have a shall issue permit, unlicensed OC, no AWB or ridiculous magazine laws, no FOID, and not much of the other crap you can find in supposedly gun-happy Southern states. Remember that "Guns Everywhere" bill in Georgia. Living in Washington I still wonder what the big deal was. Most of what was in that, I already had.