It only cost $13 million, but Washington State voters have passed a bill [pdf] mandating “universal” background checks for all transfers of firearms. This is bad law. It will punish those whose only failing was not knowing its stipulations in detail, and it will do nothing to deter crime.
Under the law, a transfer is pretty much any situation in which possession of a gun changes. It doesn’t just cover the sale of firearms–a transfer occurs whenever someone besides the registered owner is in possession of the gun. So, “hold my rifle while I tie my shoes” is a transfer. If a background check hasn’t been done, with a licensed dealer as the intermediary, both parties commit a gross misdemeanor.
I’m afraid it’s going to take a few innocent people getting thrown in jail or losing their right to own guns in Washington before the defects of this law come to light.
Consider two scenarios. In the first, Harry knows the law but chooses not to follow it. He buys a gun privately from Dick with the understanding that mum’s the word. Harry comes into contact with law enforcement.
“Hi there! Nice gun. Where’d you get it?”
“From my friend.”
“Didya get a background check?”
“I, uh, got it before the law passed.”
“Can you prove you did?”
“Nope. Can you prove I didn’t?”
“Well, huh. You got me there. Um…have a nice day, I guess.”
In the second scenario, Tom’s uncle passes away and leaves a rifle behind. Tom doesn’t care for guns, so he asks Bob if he wants it. Bob says sure. After all, it’s not a sale, right? Bob didn’t read the whole law. How many people do?
One day, Bob comes into contact with law enforcement. When asked, Bob unwittingly admits to a gross misdemeanor, gets charged, and gets convicted.
In short, this law will punish the honest and well-meaning, and it will encourage dishonesty.
The general public has been misled on this. To the misinformed voter (which is pretty much most of them), “background checks for gun sales” makes sense. The gun-control lobby has done a fiendishly brilliant job of embedding that meme into the debate.
The 2nd Amendment Foundation is based in Washington, so I’m hoping they have a strategy for challenging this.
2 thoughts on “I-594: A Recipe for Disaster”
Let’s face it, it is too hard to catch real criminals and charge them using the already extant Gun Laws. Much easier to pass new laws that make formerly law abiding citizens into easy to catch criminals.
I-594 isn’t the end of it, either. Sandy Brown, President of the Center for Gun Responsibility, had this to say:
From Rep. Ruth Kagi: