Any Capitol Hill residents who participated in the Elway poll finding 79% of Washington voters supported a universal background check on all firearms sales were likely dumbfounded to learn that the state’s House of Representatives couldn’t find the votes this week to pass the legislation.
“[B]ecause background check requirements apply only to transfers by licensed firearms dealers,” read House Bill 1588, “many firearms are currently sold without a background check, allowing felons and other ineligible persons to gain access to them.” In requiring universal checks, the bill would have applied even to sales between family members, allowed a fee of up to $20 for the check, and made contravention a gross misdemeanor.
If you boiled down the legislative opposition’s concerns, said bill sponsor Jamie Pedersen (D-43rd), who was joined by a remarkable 37 co-sponsors, it was the sense that HB 1588 amounted to a new burden on law-abiding citizens without strong proof of the societal benefit. House colleagues commonly asked what good a new law would do, if criminals wouldn’t be expected to obey it anyway. Continue reading
